Sound of a Voice
an opera by
PHILIP GLASS & DAVID HENRY HWANG
DATES & TICKET INFO
Ticket Information Coming Soon!
Thursday, March 25, 2027 - 8:00pm
Friday, March 26, 2027 - 8:00pm
Saturday, March 27, 2027 - 8:00pm
GERALD W. LYNCH THEATER AT JOHN JAY COLLEGE
524 W. 59TH ST. NEW YORK, NY 10019
Accessible via the 1,A,B,C,D trains at 59th St. Station.
LISTEN TO THE MUSIC
Listen | Ensemble Sentieri selvaggi
THE STORY
Sound of a Voice is the setting of an earlier play by Hwang in which we come to know two characters sorely in need of forging a human connection, yet both alternately work toward the connection and avoid it. In the opera, an unnamed, aging Japanese warrior has arrived at the home of a mysterious woman named Hanako who lives like a hermit deep in the woods. Has he come as her suitor, or her assassin? Does she intend to love him or imprison him? They distrust each other from the outset, yet they make tentative steps to get to know one another. Their emotional ambivalence is the subject of Sound of a Voice.
THE CREATORS
PHILIP GLASS. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Philip Glass is a graduate of the University of Chicago and the Juilliard School. In the early 1960s, Glass spent two years of intensive study in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and, while there, earned money by transcribing Ravi Shankar’s Indian music into Western notation. By 1974, Glass had a number of innovative projects creating a large collection of new music for The Philip Glass Ensemble and for the Mabou Mines Theater Company. This period culminated in Music in Twelve Parts and the landmark opera Einstein on the Beach for which he collaborated with Robert Wilson.
Since Einstein, Glass has expanded his repertoire to include music for opera, dance, theater, chamber ensemble, orchestra, and film. His film scores have received Academy Award nominations (Kundun, The Hours, Notes on a Scandal) and a Golden Globe (The Truman Show). Glass’s memoir Words Without Music was published by Liveright Books in 2015. Glass’s recent works include opera Circus Days and Nights, Symphony No. 14 and Prelude pour Orgue, written for the reopening of the Notre-Dame de Paris in Paris, France. Glass’ Symphony No. 15 will premiere July 5th, 2026 at Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Glass received the Praemium Imperiale in 2012, the U.S. National Medal of the Arts from President Barack Obama in 2016, the 41st Kennedy Center Honors in 2018, and the GRAMMY Trustee’s Award in 2020.
Glass celebrates his 90th Birthday in 2027 with a multi-season, global celebration.