Definitive American composer Philip Glass
Philip Glass' compositions transformed the world of classical music and, eventually, popular music in general. Time spent in Paris set Glass on a course toward the repetitive, dramatic and conceptually rigorous style that has become his trademark. He's behind compositions like Music In Twelve Parts and Einstein On The Beach, and became a popular sensation, a serious composer who wasn’t willfully obscure or too difficult to understand. Here, Glass discussed musical tradition and the art of performance.