In the Upper Room

The collaboration of Philip Glass and Twyla Tharp united two stars of contemporary music and dance. Commissioned by Tharp for her newly structured company, Twyla Tharp Dance, In the Upper Room previewed as an untitled work-in-progress on July 7, 1986, at the Saratoga Arts Center Little Theater, where the audience’s enthusiasm and subsequent reviews immediately hailed it as a new, dynamic creation. Divided into nine segments, In the Upper Room features thirteen dancers, whose costumes evolve from black and white to dominant red, in a variety of groupings and abstract styles (some on pointe, some in sneakers) that culminates in a dazzling finale for the entire ensemble. 

Notes courtesy of Twyla Tharp Productions.

Philip Glass
Composer

Born in Baltimore, Philip Glass studied the violin and flute, and obtained early admission to the University of Chicago. After graduating in mathematics and philosophy, he went to New York’s Juilliard School, drove a cab and studied composition with Darius Milhaud and others. 

At 23, he moved to Paris to study under the legendary Nadia Boulanger. While there, he discovered Indian classical music while transcribing the works of Ravi Shankar into Western musical notation. A creative turning point, Glass researched non-Western music in India and parts of Africa, and applied the techniques to his own composition. 

Back in the United States, Glass spent the late 1960s and early 1970s creating a major collection of new music. In 1976 his landmark opera Einstein on the Beach was staged by Robert Wilson to a baffling variety of reviews. His compositions were so avant-garde that he had to form the Philip Glass Ensemble to give them a venue for performance. Although called a minimalist by the Western classical mainstream, he denies this categorization. His major works include opera, theater pieces, film soundtracks, dance and song. Glass remains one of the most important American composers. More recently, a major reexamination of Glass’s oeuvre has led him to be labeled “The Last Romantic” by the musical press. 

Through his opera, symphonies, compositions for his own ensemble, and collaborations with artists, Glass has had an extraordinary impact on the musical and intellectual life of his times. In the past 25 years, Glass has composed more than 25 operas; twelve symphonies; three piano concertos; concertos for violin, piano, timpani, saxophone quartet, and orchestra; soundtracks for films; string quartets; and a growing body of work for solo piano and organ. 

Santo Loquasto
Scenic Designer

Santo Loquasto is a Tony and Drama Desk award winning designer for dance, theater, and film. Twyla Tharp’s Push Comes to Shove marked the beginning of a long-term relationship with American Ballet Theatre. He also collaborated with choreographers Jerome Robbins, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Paul Taylor, Agnes de Mille, James Kudelka, and Mark Morris. For film, Mr. Loquasto has received Academy Award nominations for production design for Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway and Radio Days, and for costume design for Allen’s Zelig. Other film credits include Desperately Seeking Susan and Big.

Norma Kamali
Costume Designer

Norma Kamali has been in the fashion industry for over 50 years and is known for her innovative designs. In 1973 her designs were referred to as ‘vintage of the future.’ In 2019 NORMALIFE was launched under the concept of a healthy lifestyle. NORMALIFE is democratic and inclusive for men and women of all ages, skin color, and type. I Am Invincible, Norma’s healthy lifestyle guide on aging with power, was released February 2021. Norma continues to live through her purpose in life of empowering women.

Jennifer Tipton
Lighting Designer

Jennifer Tipton was born in Columbus, Ohio, and attended Cornell University. After graduation, she came to New York to study dance, and her interest in lighting began with a course in the subject at the American Dance Festival at Connecticut College. She has been awarded two Bessies and a Laurence Olivier Award for lighting dance; her work in that field includes pieces choreographed by Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jiří Kylián, Dana Reitz, Jerome Robbins, Paul Taylor, and Twyla Tharp, among many others. In 1991, she received a Dance Magazine Award and has been a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Theater Program Distinguished Artist Award and a grant in the National Theatre Artist Residency Program funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Her theater work has garnered a Joseph Jefferson Award, a Kudo, a Drama-Logue Award, two American Theatre Wing Awards, an Obie, two Drama Desk Awards, and two Tonys for The Cherry Orchard and Jerome Robbins’ Broadway. She was the recipient of the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize in 2001 and the Jerome Robbins Prize in 2003. In 2008, she became a United States Artist “Gracie” Fellow and a MacArthur Fellow. Ms. Tipton is on the faculty at the Yale University School of Drama.