Philip Glass's 'Music in Twelve Parts' February 16, 2009

Composer-performer Philip Glass and the Philip Glass Ensemble will perform the West Coast premiere of his four-hour tour de force "Music in Twelve Parts," presented by San Francisco Performances.

First performed in its entirety at New York City's Town Hall in 1974, "Music in Twelve Parts" summed up nearly a decade of Glass's musical thought. The work will be performed with two intermissions and, between Parts 6 and 7, a dinner break. Box meals will be available for purchase at Davies Hall.

The Davies Hall performance will include two musicians who were part of the New York premiere 34 years ago: Glass, on keyboards, and woodwind player Jon Gibson (who graduated from San Francisco State University.) Michael Riesman, who joined the Philip Glass Ensemble later that year, serves as conductor and music director, as well as keyboardist. Other members of the Ensemble are: Dan Dryden doing live sound mix (member since 1983); native San Franciscan Lisa Bielawa, vocals and keyboards (1992); Andrew Sterman, woodwinds (1992); Stephen Erb, onstage audio engineer (2004); Mick Rossi, keyboards (2004); and David Crowell, woodwinds (2007).

The ambitious, wide-ranging work is still considered by some critics to be Glass's masterpiece, even though his output since its premiere has included such operas as "Einstein on the Beach," "Satyagraha" and "Appomattox" (which had its world premiere last season at the San Francisco Opera), and scores for such films as the "Qatsi" trilogy, "The Hours" and "Notes on a Scandal."

This will be the eighth time Philip Glass appears under the auspices of SFP.

$25-$55.

Official Website: http://www.performances.org