The Glass Box, the new 10-CD Nonesuch retrospective of works by Philip Glass, is recommended in The Republican, out of Western Massachusetts,  among "the more notable box sets" of the year, describing it as "one of the most innovative of this year and certainly one of the most musically fascinating." Glass has also announced the initial line-up for his annual Tibet House Benefit Concert at Carnegie Hall in February. Slated to perform are Vampire Weekend, Patti Smith, and The National.

The Independent's Larry Ryan, in his round-up of the best on the web, recommends the Nonesuch site for fans of Philip Glass and prospective purchasers of the Glass Box, the new Nonesuch retrospective of 40 years of the composer's music to wrap their ears around the abundance of music. He suggests sampling the sound clips at the album page—with one available there for each of the collection's 102 tracks. Ryan also recommends tuning into Nonesuch Radio for full-length tracks by the composer and for a sampling of music from the broad array of artists on the label, "from Wilco to Amadou & Miriam to The Wire soundtrack to Glass and everything else in between."

The Glass Box, the 10-CD Nonesuch retrospective covering 40 years of the works of Philip Glass, hits stores today, just one day after the New York City Opera announced that it has commissioned the composer to create a new opera on the life of another iconic American figure, Walt Disney. The new work for City Opera will be Glass's 24th opera and will honor his 75th birthday when it premieres in 2012–2013. In the nearer future, City Opera has scheduled Glass's Einstein on the Beach for 2009–2010; it will be the company's first production in its newly refurbished home at Lincoln Center.

The Glass Box, Nonesuch Records' 10-CD collection of works by Philip Glass, is due out at the end of the month and is available for pre-order now in the Nonesuch Store. Yesterday on BBC Radio 3, In Tune featured a discussion with Glass plus three excerpts from works in the box, including the seminal Einstein on the Beach. Lincoln Center has announced that its 50th anniversary season, 2009–10, will include a production of Einstein on the Beach by the New York City Opera in its newly renovated New York State Theater.

Philip Glass is featured in The Independent on Sunday with a preview of his forthcoming Nonesuch retrospective, the 10-CD Glass Box. Glass gives insight into a few of his most renowned collaborations, including his groundbreaking 1976 work with Robert Wilson, Einstein on the Beach, and his score to Martin Scorsese's Kundun, both featured on The Glass Box; as well as his work with artists like Doris Lessing, David Bowie, Brian Eno, and Leonard Cohen.

Works by John Adams, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Frederic Rzewski, Bill Frisell, John Zorn, John Cage meet the music of Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's second annual 8 Days in June music festival, which kicks off tonight. It's a multidisciplinary affair aiming to examine the relationship between music and the explosive changes of the 20th and 21st centuries and harness the "The Power of Change."

On the same day Alex Ross, the New Yorker music critic, enjoyed the Stephen Colbert treatment as a guest on the Colbert Report, Gothamist published an interview with Ross, in which he discusses his new book, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the 20th Century. In the interview, Ross is asked what he would recommend to someone just learning to explore classical music. To get the full experience suggests both attending a live concert and buying a few representative CDs, including Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's album of Bach cantatas, BWV 82 and 199, and Steve Reich and Musicians playing Reich's Music for 18 Musicians. As for his current "soundtrack to the city," Ross cites two film scores: Jonny Greenwood's There Will Be Blood and Philip Glass's Koyaanisqatsi.

The Tacoma Art Museum will present the exhibition A Couple of Ways of Doing Something: Photographs by Chuck Close, Poems by Bob Holman, March 1–June 15, 2008. The exhibit includes portraits by Close of such esteemed artists as Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, and Robert Wilson, among many others (including the self-portrait at right), along with praise poems written in conjunction with Close's work by Holman, the founder of the Bowery Poetry Club.

"Einstein on the Beach changed my life. Everything I thought musical theater was, abruptly wasn’t." So writes New York Times music critic Bernard Holland in yesterday's paper, previewing this Thursday's concert version of the seminal 1976 Philip Glass / Robert Wilson collaboration. The performance by the Philip Glass Ensemble, at Carnegie Hall, will be the first time it has been done live in 15 years.