Philip Glass to write an opera for Music Theatre Wales

American music composer Philip Glass has approached Music Theatre Wales (MTW) with plans for a new opera.
Glass asked the Cardiff-based group if they would be interested in staging the production, which is based upon Franz Kafka’s The Trial.
The company are now planning to premiere the work as part of their 25th anniversary celebration in 2013.
It is the latest development in a long-standing relationship between Glass and MTW, with the Welsh company having previously staged two of his operas, although this will be the first time that he has written a piece especially for them.
Michael Rafferty, co-founder and music director of MTW, revealed his excitement at the prospect of receiving an opera from the legendary composer.
“We’ve had an association with him for a long time and it’s wonderful that such a major figure in the music world wants to write an opera for us,” he added.
“He gets commissions from major companies around the world but he actually asked us if we wanted him to write a piece for us. He said he was thinking of writing a piece based on Kafka’s The Trial so we said yes.”
Through his operas, symphonies, compositions and collaborations, Glass has had an unprecedented impact upon the music world. Indeed, he has managed to captivate an audience which crosses from opera houses and concert halls to the dance and film worlds.
Over the course of his career, Glass has composed a large catalogue of work. He has written pieces for his own musical group, as well as operas, musical theatre works, symphonies, concertos, solo works, string quartets and film scores.
Speaking in a recent interview with BBC Radio 3, Glass said: “I’ve enjoyed working with MTW. They are wonderful to work with and they seem to like these ‘odd’ pieces of mine, and they do them very well … I think of my pocket operas as neutron bombs – small, but packing a terrific punch”.