Brooklyn Rider: Complete Glass String Quartets

Brooklyn Rider is taking over the Walker Art Center's McGuire Theater from March 18 to 20, 2027, for a three-night run that works through all nine of Philip Glass's string quartets. It's a live retrospective of the composer's work for the format, and since it's split across three evenings, you can drop in for one night or stick around for the whole thing.

The first night, March 18, is titled Boundless Creativity: Recent Works for String Quartet. It focuses on the later years: Quartet Satz (2017), No. 6 (2013), No. 8 (2018), No. 7 (2014), and No. 9 'King Lear' (2022). The second, March 19, is Temples of Resonance: Thirty Years of Invention, with a saxophone quartet arrangement from 1995, No. 1 (1966), No. 4 'Buczak' (1989), and No. 5 (1991). The third, March 20, is Tone Narratives: Film, Stage, and Occasional Music, featuring a suite from Bent (1997), No. 2 'Company' (1984), a concert suite from Dracula (1998), an arrangement of Mad Rush (1979), and No. 3 'Mishima' (1985).

Between them, the nights trace Glass's evolution over half a century—from the minimalist dissonance of String Quartet No. 1 (1966) to the neo-romanticism of No. 5 (1991) and the theatrical sweep of No. 9 'King Lear' (2022). The material draws from a wide range of sources: Shakespeare, Beckett, Mishima, and Dracula, and references to Schubert and Bach. NPR has described Brooklyn Rider as "a string quartet of boundless imagination," and they're known for virtuosic precision and deep research. This series follows their previous cycles of Beethoven and Shostakovich.

The run is part of Philip Glass @ 90, the Walker's season honoring the composer's 90th birthday and his history with the museum, which dates back to 1970. It's copresented with the Schubert Club. All three performances start at 7:30 PM at the McGuire Theater, 725 Vineland Place. Tickets start at $25, and you save 15% if you see all three nights—30% if you're a Walker member.