I got home last night and was thrilled to see in this month's issue of Opera News, a glowing review of Orphée in the Recordings section. In fact, it was this month's Critic's Choice.  The magazine isn't out yet but there's a special type of gratification in the last line of the review where writer William R. Braun writes: "If people continue to buy recordings as physical objects, it will be because of releases like this one."

Last night I attended the talk between Philip Glass and Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard moderated by Mark Epstein.  The talk focused on the connection between Buddhist teachings and creativity.  Glass was on hand to talk about the connection between the two for him. The most interesting part for me as right at the outset when he stated, "the discipline in Buddhist teachings and my music teaching are identical, not similar, but identical."  He elaborated by saying that so much was the same, the oral tradition passed on from teacher to student, the great discipline that needed to be exercised in order to achieve something, etc.  It was an interesting night at the French Institute.

Tomorrow night is an unexpected and unadvertised surprise.  Glass will be premiering a new work tomorrow for piano trio called Pendulum. It's written for an event benefiting the ACLU on Ellis Island and will have Tim Fain on violin, Wendy Sutter on cello, and the composer at the piano.  I have managed to have the great fortune of an invitation. I'll report back.