VIDEO OF THE DAY: PHILIP GLASS AT 75

One of the most influential musicians and composers of the last fifty years, Baltimore-born Philip Glass turns seventy-five today. Never one to slow down, the composer of an endless array of operas, symphonies, dances, and films will be celebrating the event with a series of special concerts and performances over the next several weeks, beginning tonight with a 75th Birthday Concert at Carnegie Hall in which he will premiere his ninth symphony, performed by the American Composers Orchestra, with Maki Namekawa at the piano. Though not technically part of his birthday celebration, Glass will once again serve as artistic director for the Tibet House Concert on February 13 also at Carnegie Hall, where it wouldn’t be surprising to hear Laurie Anderson, Antony, James Blake, Das Racist, Stephin Merritt, Rahzel, Lou Reed, and Dechen Shak-Dagsay sing “Happy Birthday” to Glass at the twenty-second annual event. And Glass will be the centerpiece of the Park Avenue Armory’s second annual Tune-In Music Festival next month, when “Celebrating the American Icon” honors Glass’s late friend Allen Ginsberg and the classic poem “Kaddish” with Bill Frisell, Hal Willner, and Chloe Webb and visual design by the great Ralph Steadman on February 23, then continues with “Philip Glass and Patti Smith: The Poet Speaks” on February 24 (also paying tribute to Ginsberg), “Music in 12 Parts” with the Philip Glass Ensemble on February 25, and concluding on February 26 with an afternoon concert featuring Nico Muhly and Nadia Sirota, Tania León, Samuel Torres, Zack Glass, Ruben Gónzaléz, Ashley Marcus, and Tirtha with Vijay Iyer, Prasanna, and Nitin Mitta, the artist talk “Composers in Conversation” with Glass, Iyer, Muhly, León, and Zack Glass, moderated by Kristy Edmunds, and “Another Look at Harmony — Part IV” with the Collegiate Chorale, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and organist Michael Riesman.