Glass House Presents

Glass Etudes

In partnership with the Highland Green Foundation

October 20th, 4:00pm
First Presbyterian Church
1101 Bedford Street, Stamford, CT 06905

Tickets: $75 per person. A discounted rate ($40) is available for students. Please enter promotional code STUDENT2024 when making reservations to secure the discounted student rate.

On the occasion of The Glass House’s 75th Anniversary, join three renowned pianists — Timo Andres, Aaron Diehl, and Jenny Lin — for an hour-long concert of a selection of Philip Glass’ Etudes in Stamford’s extraordinary modernist First Presbyterian Church designed by Wallace K. Harrison, one of the grantees of the National Fund for Sacred Places, and a National Historic Landmark.

One of the most influential artists of our time, Philip Glass has transformed how we listen to music. His most personal work is a series of 20 piano etudes. Majestic and intimate at the same time, these compositions for solo piano have been performed and recorded by dozens of artists and streamed over 100 million times. Longtime interpreters of The Glass Etudes, this program’s three featured pianists each bring a unique approach to their instrument and to Glass’s work.

First Presbyterian has been an active house of worship since its completion in 1958 and was recently designated a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service for its architectural significance. Known as the Fish Church for its angular mid-century modern exterior profile, Harrison aimed to evoke Ste. Chapelle, Paris, in its soaring structure bathed in intense colored light, filtered here through more than 20,000 hand-faceted chunks of glass set in concrete panels. Largely abstract in composition, the glass continues the medieval story-telling tradition of stained glass by suggesting biblical themes with representational fragments.

Produced by Pomegranate Arts.

Glass House Presents is an ongoing series of talks, performances, and other live events that extend the site’s historic role as a gathering place for artists, architects, and other creative minds.

The Highland Green Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that supports secular programs in the areas of education, music and arts, and architectural preservation at The First Presbyterian Church of Stamford. The church is one of 97 community-serving congregations in 36 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico that has received funds from the National Fund for Sacred Places, a program of Partners for Sacred Places in collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and funded by the Lilly Endowment, Inc.