Telluride Musicfest outside the box canyon

For two years running, the man who is arguably America's greatest living composer of classical music was artist-in-residence for the Telluride Musicfest. During that time Philip Glass was pretty busy doing what he does. He performed all over the world, wrote two new operas and several more film scores. One of the classical pieces Glass agreed to write at the time was commissioned through the Meet the Composer program by Martin Murray as a special birthday gift for his wife, Lucy Miller Murray. Mrs. Murray was celebrating her 70th birthday and 27 years as the founding director of Market Square Concerts. Glass's "Sonata for Violin and Piano," premiered in Harrisburg, PA, in February and got raves. Maria Bachmann of the Trio Solisti, artistic director of the Telluride Musicfest, was the violinist.

Glass and Bachmann performed "Glass Sonata for Violin and Piano (2008)," a Colorado premiere, on July 2, 2009 at the Mai resident, where most of the Musicfest concerts are held. A program on December 18, noon, Rockefeller University/Caspary Auditorium, New York, features the piece in its New York premiere, with the Trio Solisti's Jon Klibonoff on piano.
 
On July 5, 2009, the Telluride Musicfest performed a concert at The Palm, featuring the Trio Solisti and friends, all world-class musicians, and a work Glass wrote especially for Telluride Musicfest, Glass Sextet for Strings (2009). The event marked a world premiere. A program on December 12, 8 p.m.,  at The Baryshnikov Arts Center, 450 West 37th Street, New York, includes the New York premiere of the sextet.