The Metropolitan Opera’s nightly streams have included “Satyagraha” and “Akhnaten.” Opéra Nice Côte d’Azur has posted Lucinda Childs’ luminous new virtual production of “Akhnaten” on YouTube. New recordings have come along: Of particular value are the recent Piano Sonata, written for and performed by Maki Namekawa (which also got a lovely, streamed performance by the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA), and a superb recording of parts of the soundtrack to the film “Mishima,” performed by violinist Pekka Kuusisto. But his infinitely adaptable music that so easily captures the moods of the times - melancholic or merry, and all points in between - has nonetheless provided a pandemic soundtrack from just about everywhere. All and all, the past year has been a time of Glass lost and Glass found, the first time a peripatetic composer stopped in his tracks. “Circus Days and Nights” is the Glass method for how that can be done. Trust and balance, of course, are the two essential things our polarized societies need to regain. The life of every acrobat lies in unerring balance. Cut through a thin layer of tawdriness and cheap tinsel that may be on its surface, and you discover that a circus can exist only thanks to absolute trust. The revelation of “Circus Days and Nights” is existentially simple and direct. Yet embedded in all this is a guide to how we can best put one post-pandemic foot in front of the next to ensure our and our planet’s survival. The magical score, discerning libretto and enchanting production do not specifically bespeak timeliness or autobiography. The composer’s collaboration with Cirkus Cirkör, which commissioned the opera, well predates the pandemic. Glass long ago licensed Lax’s circus poetry. This “Circus” is free in its associations with our time. “Circus Days and Nights,” which miraculously elevates the circus to godliness, brings him full circle. Then again, ever since his first opera, “Einstein on the Beach,” 45 years ago, Glass has been upending opera on a reliable basis (averaging a new opera every 18 months or so).

Philip glass la opera