Philip Glass, one of America’s best-known composers, whose work spans five decades and a myriad of musical, theatrical and cinematic genres, will establish an annual summer festival in Carmel Valley, CA and Big Sur beginning this August. The Days and Nights Festival will present a series of performances across music, dance, theater, poetry and film in collaboration with Hidden Valley Music Seminars, General Director Peter Meckel, and the Henry Miller Library, Magnus Toren, Director—August 19-September 4. All performances—with the exception of an evening of poetry and a live Philip Glass Ensemble music and film performance at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur—are scheduled for the Hidden Valley Theatre in Carmel Valley. Tickets are on sale now at www.daysandnightsfestival.com.

Glass envisions Days and Nights Festival as encompassing and nurturing the arts in a way that welcomes the future while exploring the seminal developments in the arts throughout history. The first season reflects keystones in Glass’s career in terms of the selection of works and performers, while future seasons will delve ever further into the evolution of the arts across time and space.

The world famous beauty of Big Sur and the surrounding area will be met with a broad diversity of performances: traditional classical music repertoire will be performed alongside 20th- and 21-century works including Philip Glass Ensemble retrospective performances; Molissa Fenley & Company, longtime Glass friends and collaborators, will perform several pieces; composer John Moran will present a music and theatre duet with dancer/gymnast Saori Tsukada; films including Martin Scorcese’s Kundun and Errol Morris’ Tabloid will be screened; the interaction between film and music will be highlighted through Philip Glass Ensemble’s critically acclaimed live orchestra performance of Todd Browning’s Dracula; and an evening of poetry curated by Glass and Magnus Toren featuring readings by Jerry Quickly, Eleni Sikelianos, Francesco Levato and Mario Teutsch will take place at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur. Throughout the festival Glass will be accompanied by the Days & Nights Festival players, whose lineup includes Maria Bachmann, Tim Fain, David Harding, Matt Haimovitz and Jon Klibonoff.

The festival’s Managing Director, Jim Woodard is pleased to announce a partnership with YOA (Orchestra of the Americas), a touring orchestra of young professionals based in Washington, D.C, which will contribute a traditional string quartet during the festival’s first season. They will also be performing with the Days and Nights String Quartet, thereby expanding programming to include string sextets and octets.