2009 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal Recipient

Through his operas, his symphonies, his compositions for his own ensemble, and his wide-ranging collaborations with other leading artists, Philip Glass has had an extraordinary impact upon the musical and intellectual life of his times. The operas—"Einstein on the Beach,” "Satyagraha,” "Akhnaten,” and "The Voyage,” and others—play throughout the world’s leading houses. Mr. Glass has written music for experimental theater and for Academy Award-winning motion pictures such as "The Hours” and Martin Scorsese’s "Kundun.” He is the first composer to win a wide, multi-generational audience in the opera house, in the concert hall, in the dance world, in film, and in popular music—simultaneously. Mr. Glass studied at the University of Chicago, the Juilliard School, and in Aspen with Darius Milhaud. Dissatisfied with much of what then passed for modern music, he studied in France on a Fulbright fellowship with the legendary Nadia Boulanger and worked closely with the sitar virtuoso and composer Ravi Shankar. In 1967, he formed the Philip Glass Ensemble. He continues to appear regularly with the Philip Glass Ensemble and to present lectures, workshops, and solo keyboard performances around the world.