APPROACHING PHILIP GLASS’S 90TH BIRTHDAY: RECITAL BY JAPANESE PIANIST MAKI NAMEKAWA

As the 90th birthday of one of the most influential composers of our time, Philip Glass, approaches, renowned Japanese pianist Maki Namekawa – one of the most distinguished interpreters of Glass’s music – will perform in Lithuania. The composer himself has said of her: “She is one of the strongest pianists.” At the virtuoso pianist’s recital, which will take place on October 28 at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic, works by the legendary minimalist and music by American jazz legend Keith Jarrett will be performed. Almost all of the works on the programme will be performed in Lithuania for the first time.

Maki Namekawa is regarded as one of today’s most distinguished pianists. She has performed at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Barbican Centre in London, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo, as well as at the Salzburg Festival, Ars Electronica, and the Ruhr Piano Festival. She has performed with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the Bamberg Symphony, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, and the Seattle Symphony.

Among other exceptional pianists, Maki Namekawa stands out for her particular dedication to contemporary music and, above all, for her close creative relationship with legendary American composer Philip Glass. The pianist has performed and recorded a large part of his work, and in 2013, at the Perth International Arts Festival, in the presence of the composer himself, she gave the world premiere of the complete cycle of all 20 of Glass’s piano études. A year later, her recording of all of Glass’s études reached number one among classical music albums on the iTunes platform. In 2018, Maki Namekawa also recorded a piano version of Glass’s music for the film Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters – her performance received the prestigious Pasticcio Prize from Austria’s national broadcaster ORF.

“Maki Namekawa is a very strong performer. She is one of the strongest pianists and undoubtedly has a deep feeling for music. She plays from the heart,” Philip Glass himself has said of the pianist. The special relationship between the performer and his music is also reflected in the fact that in 2019 Glass composed his first Piano Sonata especially for Maki Namekawa. The pianist gave its premiere at the Ruhr Piano Festival in Germany, with the composer himself in attendance.

This is not the only work the renowned minimalist has written for the Japanese pianist. Together with her husband, conductor Dennis Russell Davies, Maki Namekawa has performed as a piano duo since 2003, and Glass has also composed works for the duo – Four Movements for Two Pianos and Two Movements for Four Pianos (the latter together with the piano duo Katia and Marielle Labèque).

Writing about Namekawa’s interpretations of Glass’s music, The Guardian described the “longtime interpreter of Glass’s music” as possessing “quiet wisdom”, while reviewing her performance of the 20th étude, the newspaper’s critic stated that “Maki Namekawa completely merged with the music”. At the Vilnius concert, the pianist will perform Glass’s Études Nos. 11 and 12, the music written for the dance production Tesra, and the First Piano Sonata dedicated especially to her. Maki Namekawa will also perform Ritual by American jazz legend Keith Jarrett.

The central figure of the concert is Philip Glass, who will celebrate his 90th birthday next January. One of the most influential composers of our time, he is perhaps the first composer to attract a broad audience to opera houses, concert halls, the world of dance, cinema, and popular music. His operas (Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha, Akhnaten, The Voyage, and others) are staged at the world’s most renowned opera houses and are often sold out. Glass has also composed music for the Oscar-winning films The Hours and Kundun, as well as Koyaanisqatsi, renowned for its distinctive connection between music and visuals. The composer has collaborated with Allen Ginsberg, David Bowie, Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Yo-Yo Ma, Leonard Cohen, Doris Lessing, and many other world-renowned artists.