On Wednesday, October 28, Nova Linea Musica honors one of the defining composers of our time with four extraordinary artists and a world premiere by Alex Weston.
On January 31, 2027, Philip Glass turns ninety. Few composers have changed the way so many people listen. Through his operas, symphonies, film scores, and decades with the Philip Glass Ensemble, he reached audiences in the opera house, the concert hall, the dance world, film, and popular music at once. His music reshaped how we hear time itself: its patterns, its repetitions, its slow accumulations of beauty.
This fall, Nova Linea Musica marks the milestone with Philip Glass at 90: A Celebration, an evening at 11 E Adams that traces both the intimacy and the expansive reach of Glass’s chamber writing.
At the heart of the evening is cellist Wendy Sutter, one of Glass’s most cherished collaborators and the dedicatee of his solo cello suites Songs and Poems (2007) and Songs and Poems 2 (2022). She is joined by Nova Linea Musica Artistic Director Desirée Ruhstrat, Professor and Head of the Chamber Music Department at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, and by Nova Linea Musica Artist-in-Residence Rabia Brooke.
The concert also brings flutist DeMarre McGill home. A Chicago native who began his career here, McGill is now principal flute of the Seattle Symphony and has appeared as soloist with orchestras across the country.
“DeMarre McGill began his career in Chicago, and today he is principal flute of the Seattle Symphony,” said Michele Mohammadi, President and Executive Director of Nova Linea Musica. “Bringing him home to celebrate Philip Glass at ninety, alongside a world premiere written for this evening, is the kind of moment Nova Linea Musica was created for.”
The evening moves through Glass’s writing for solo instruments and duos. McGill performs Arabesque in Memoriam for solo flute, Love Divided By, and the third of the Taoist Sacred Dances with pianist Nathanael Canfield joining him for the last two. Sutter plays selections from Songs and Poems, Brooke performs movements from the Partita for Solo Violin, and Ruhstrat and Sutter join for a set of Glass duos for violin and cello.The program also reaches back to Darius Milhaud, Glass’s teacher and an early influence, whose Sonatina for Violin and Cello appears alongside the music of his student. It is a chance to hear where Glass came from and how far he traveled.
The evening closes with the world premiere of Through Philip and Lou by Alex Weston, commissioned by Nova Linea Musica and written for McGill, Ruhstrat, and Sutter. Weston’s voice has been formed in dialogue with Glass’s, and his new work extends the lineage of mentorship and influence that has long defined Glass’s life in music. Weston will be in attendance for the premiere and will lead a post-concert Q&A.
Every Nova Linea Musica concert premieres a new work, and Season 3 features 10 world premieres across its two series, bringing the total to 28 commissioned works in three years.
As with every Nova Linea Musica mainstage concert, the evening offers three points of connection: an intimate chamber concert, a post-concert Q&A led by the composer, and a chef-curated reception where the dialogue continues.
Ninety years is a long arc. Philip Glass at 90: A Celebration honors the composer not as a monument, but as a living presence, still shaping the way we hear, still inviting us closer.
Philip Glass at 90: A Celebration
Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Concert at 6:30 PM, reception at 8:00 PM
11 E Adams, Chicago
Tickets are $50 and include the concert, the post-concert Q&A with Alex Weston, and the reception. Get tickets
