'Einstein on the Beach' revival set to begin in A2

Followers of the minimalist movement in music can point to the 1976 staging of the Philip Glass-Robert Wilson opera Einstein at the Beach, as the moment the movement went big time. With performances in a half-dozen or so European cities and New York, it was a seminal piece — five hours, no intermission — that was more heard about than actually heard.

But according to Alex Ross’ blog therestisnoise.com., there’s a tour set for 2012, 20 years after the last full revival, and marking the 75^th birthday of Philip Glass, whose opera career began with Einstein. Einstein “changed forever the image of opera," with a non-narrative piece, starring dancers not singers, positioned  “somewhere between a spectacle and a meditation” in the words of the short documentary about Einstein also linked at Ross’ site.

The revival tour, according to Ross, is to kick off in Ann Arbor in January 2012, continuing to Canadian, U.S. and European concert halls through 2013.