Philip Glass Violin Concerto No. 1

Full digital album available on streaming services June 13, 2025.

Philip Glass Violin Concerto No. 1 marks GRAMMY^® Award-winning violinist Anne Akiko Meyers’ second album with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel following Fandango (2023), which won two 2024 Latin GRAMMY^® Awards (Best Classical Album and Best Classical Contemporary Composition [Arturo MÁRQUEZ Fandango]).

Following a commission from the American Composers Orchestra in 1987, Philip Glass set out to compose a violin concerto his father would have enjoyed. The composer grew up working in his father’s Baltimore, Maryland, record store – and after years of study and success with his minimalist music, the ACO commission gave him a chance to return to more traditional styles. Sadly, his father died in a car accident and was never able to hear the piece written for him.

“Even though Ben Glass had passed away 13 years prior, he was very much in Philip’s mind,” says Meyers. “There are actually three notes inside the score, D-A-D.” After the introduction in the first movement, the percussion sets the stage for the entrance of the violin soloist, who plays the notes D-A-D. “Over these decades, many performances and many recordings, no one has ever mentioned that to me,” Glass says. “I don’t know how I could have made it any more obvious.”

During the recording, Gustavo Dudamel could feel the deep history of the piece. “The music of Philip Glass is full of beauty,” he says. “I always listen to his music and conduct it as if you’re on a trip — always moving forward … like you can touch the future.”

This collection also includes the world-premiere recording of New Chaconne, a work that meditates on friendship, collaboration, and the joy of making musicmaking. Featuring Los Angeles Philharmonic principal harpist Emmanuel Ceysson, this work was composed by Glass for Meyers in 2023 following their initial meeting in New York.

Closing the album is Echorus, performed by Meyers and rising star Aubree Oliverson with the Colburn School’s Academy Virtuosi.

Philip Glass Violin Concerto No. 1 is available for streaming and download at these destinations:

Featured Artists:

Violin Concerto No. 1
Los Angeles Philharmonic  
Gustavo Dudamel, Music & Artistic Director
Anne Akiko Meyers, violin

New Chaconne
Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
Emmanuel Ceysson, harp

Echorus
Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
Aubree Oliverson, violin
Academy Virtuosi

About the Composer:

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Philip Glass is a graduate of the University of Chicago and The Juilliard School. In the early 1960s, Glass spent two years of intensive study in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and, while there, earned money by transcribing Ravi Shankar’s Indian music into Western notation. By 1974, Glass had a number of innovative projects creating a large collection of new music for The Philip Glass Ensemble and for the Mabou Mines Theater Company. This period culminated in Music in Twelve Parts and the landmark opera Einstein on the Beach, on which he collaborated with Robert Wilson.

Since Einstein, Glass has expanded his repertoire to include music for opera, dance, theater, chamber ensemble, orchestra, and film. His film scores have received Academy Award nominations (Kundun, The Hours, Notes on a Scandal) and a Golden Globe (The Truman Show). Glass’ memoir Words Without Music was published by Liveright Books in 2015.

Glass received the Praemium Imperiale in 2012, the U.S. National Medal of the Arts from President Barack Obama in 2016, and 41st Kennedy Center Honors in 2018. Glass’ recent works include music for Errol Morris’ The Pigeon Tunnel co-composed with Paul Leonard-Morgan, Symphony No. 13, Symphony No. 14, and The Triumph of the Octagon for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His 15th symphony, commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra, is scheduled to premiere in June 2026.