{"id":387,"date":"2026-05-15T11:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T11:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=387"},"modified":"2026-05-15T11:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T11:42:11","slug":"inside-the-lincoln-symphony-that-philip-glass-pulled-from-trumps-kennedy-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=387","title":{"rendered":"Inside the \u2018Lincoln\u2019 symphony that Philip Glass pulled from Trump\u2019s Kennedy Center"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Singer and actor Zachary James was expecting an audition much like any other \u2014 \u201cat a studio, people behind a table\u201d \u2014 when he agreed to try out for Philip Glass\u2019s opera \u201cThe Perfect American\u201d in the early 2010s. Instead, when James knocked on the door at the address he\u2019d been given on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the \u201cGlassworks\u201d and \u201cKoyaanisqatsi\u201d composer answered the door and welcomed James into his own apartment, where they talked for \u201cover an hour\u201d about theater, art, and \u201chow we got into these crazy lives in showbiz.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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Eventually, Glass said \u201cI guess you should sing for me, but I don\u2019t feel like playing piano. Could you sing a cappella<\/i>?\u201d James recounted in a phone interview.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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James sang his prepared excerpt, from Carlisle Floyd\u2019s opera \u201cSusannah,\u201d unaccompanied. Glass\u2019s reaction was something along the lines of \u201cokay, that\u2019s great. I\u2019ll see you in Madrid!\u201d James said. \u201cAnd I thought, \u2018did I just get hired on the spot by Philip Glass?!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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