Tonight is your chance to see famously reclusive author and academic J.M. Coetzee in person. (That’s cut-ZEE-uh, should you need to say it aloud.) Winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature and one of UT Austin’s most prominent graduates - he received a PhD in Linguistics here, back in the sixties - Coetzee will be speaking in a rare public appearance at UT's LBJ Auditorium at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. He’ll talk about his time in Texas and his boyhood in South Africa.
Doesn't Happen Every Day: Nobel Laureate J.M. Coetzee to Speak at UT
Review: Philip Glass at the Bass Concert Hall
Anticipation was in the coldish air as legions of students, faculty, patrons of the arts and everyone else queued up outside the beautifully revamped Bass Concert Hall, which opened just last month to the public at large. The reason? Not George Lopez or Gordon Lightfoot (who will visit in April and March, respectively), but a performance by Philip Glass, a minimalist, trailblazing composer who was performing his homage to the poetry of Leonard Cohen.
Giveaway: Phillip Glass Performs "Book of Longing" [Song Cycle Based on Leonard Cohen's Poetry]
The UT Performing Arts Center will host a remarkable performance this Saturday evening that encompasses the work of two major figures in the arts; Leonard Cohen, the multi-talented poet, musician and illustrator, and Phillip Glass, one of those rare figures in experimental and minimalist composition whose work has been celebrated and influential both in the mainstream and avant-garde.
Capsules: Nico Muhly & Helena Espvall + Masaki Batoh
Muhly has been a student and employee of Phillip Glass since his sophomore year of college, and much of that influence shows in his work. He likes performances --in as many varied contexts as possible-- and adores repetition, sparse soundscapes and esoteric composition. He's worked on Bjork's albums, and favors 16th century English composers (particularly those who wrote religious, devotional pieces). His work is unique, obtuse and addictive, and his mentor Glass has said he has "a curious ear, a restless listening."

