Composer Philip Glass to Receive
2009 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal

            WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 6, 2009) – The Fulbright Association will award composer and musician Philip Glass the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal on May 12 at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C.  Poet Rita Dove, educator and civil rights activist John D. Maguire, and entrepreneur Ruth Owades will also receive the honor.  The award recognizes distinguished Fulbright Program alumni for their career achievements and civic, educational, and cultural contributions. 

            Mr. Glass has had an extraordinary impact upon the musical and intellectual life of his times through his operas, his symphonies, his compositions for his own ensemble, which he formed in 1967, and his wide-ranging collaborations with other leading artists.  His operas—“Einstein on the Beach,” “Satyagraha,” “Akhnaten,” and “The Voyage,” and others—play throughout the world’s leading houses.  He 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 audience in the opera house, in the concert hall, in the dance world, in film, and in popular music.  He continues to appear regularly with the Philip Glass Ensemble and to present lectures, workshops, and solo keyboard performances worldwide. 

            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 continued his studies in France on a Fulbright fellowship.

            “For me the Fulbright year in Paris in 1964 was a life changing experience.  It allowed me to begin studies with a world famous teacher, Nadia Boulanger,” Mr Glass said.  “I extended my stay there beyond that year for another 18 months or so to continue my studies and also to embark on a lengthy excursion into Central Asia and India.  It was also during this period that I met the great sitarist Ravi Shankar, becoming his assistant, his student, and in more recent years, his collaborator.  I think it goes without saying that the music I’ve composed in my lifetime took on its definitive direction through the years I spent as a Fulbright recipient.  My coming to Washington for this dinner is a way of thanking the Fulbright Program for the tremendous impact it has had on my life.”  

             The Fulbright Program is an international educational exchange initiative administered by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State.  It was created in 1946 by legislation sponsored by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas.  There are Fulbright exchanges between the United States and more than 150 other countries.  There are more than 275,000 Fulbright alumni throughout the world.

            “For many decades now the Fulbright Program has helped in the development of scholars, scientists, and artists.  Many thousands, I’m sure, of men and women who have made major contributions to our culture have benefited from this program,” Mr. Glass said.  “To be chosen by the Fulbright Association from among such a large array of accomplished people with well-known careers is a singular honor.  Many other people could receive this award in any particular year so naturally I am most honored to be among the recipients this year.” 

            The Fulbright Association is a private, nonprofit organization of Fulbright alumni and friends committed to advancing international education and people-to-people diplomacy.  It has 46 chapters throughout the United States and collaborates with more than 70 sister Fulbright alumni organizations abroad.  The Fulbright Association inaugurated the biennial Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal Dinner in 2000 to recognize the important role Fulbright grantees have had in creating a better future for communities throughout the world.

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