Over the course of an exceptionally prolific career he has written symphonies, operas, musicals and film scores and collaborated with everyone from artist Richard Serra and choreographer Twyla Tharp to Allen Ginsberg, David Bowie and even Stephen Colbert, so it’s no surprise that Philip Glass’s inaugural Days and Nights Festival spans genres, mediums, time periods and audience demographics.
The work of Glass himself, and of several of his famous friends and collaborators, will be featured at the festival, which opened Aug. 19 for a 17-day run at the Hidden Valley Institute of Performing Arts in Carmel Valley and the Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur. The event includes performances of theater, dance, poetry and chamber music, as well as three film screenings, two retrospective ensemble concerts and a solo performance by the man who is credited with bringing contemporary classical music to the masses.
This Thursday and Friday, festival organizers are transforming the Hidden Valley Institute for Performing Arts into a drive-in movie theater. Thursday will see a screening of Kundun, Scorsese’s biopic based on the life of the 14th Dalai Lama, for which Glass created the score. Friday’s movie is Tabloid, the most recent work of documentarian Errol Morris, with whom Glass has collaborated on several films (Thin Blue Line, The Fog of War).
Those screenings will be followed a week later (Thursday, Sept. 1) by an outdoor screening at the Henry Miller Library of the 1931 monster flick Dracula with live accompaniment by the Philip Glass Ensemble using Glass’s commissioned score. Also this week are two dance performances by Molissa Fenley and Company, accompanied by Glass on piano (Aug. 27-28), and an evening of spoken word poetry featuring Eleni Sikelianos, Jerry Quickley, Francesco Levato and Maria Teutsch, backed up by Glass and the Orchestra of Americas string quartet (Aug. 31).
THE DAYS AND NIGHTS FESTIVAL runs through Sept. 4 at locations in Big Sur and Carmel Valley. For tickets and schedule visit DaysandNightsFestival.com
