HUDSON (N.Y.) -- The Oscar-nominated avant-garde composer Philip Glass will perform an intimate concert on April 17th for an audience of 200 in Rhinebeck.

Glass will perform on piano, accompanied by flute, in a one-hour concert scheduled for Saturday, April 17th at 8 pm at Clifton Point, a complex of stone barns owned by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz. The barns were built as a dairy for the Vincent Astor estate, and were completely restored by Leibovitz in the past few years. It is rare for Glass to perform for audiences of this size, making the concert a must-attend event for aficionados of his music.

The event will benefit Friends of Hudson, the 3,900-member citizens group known as a watchdog of the Hudson Valley cement industry, most notably St. Lawrence Cement's coal proposal in Columbia County.

The honorary committee for the concert includes a host of other notable cultural figures who live in the region, including the poet and Hudson resident John Ashbery, Bard College president Leon Botstein, architect Hugh Hardy, New York Botanical Garden president Gregory Long, former Metropolitan Museum of Art vice-president Ashton Hawkins, artist Ellsworth Kelly, and photographer Annie Leibovitz, among others. For a full list of benefit committee members, click here.

"Obviously, we are thrilled that a composer of this caliber is donating a concert to benefit our organization," said Friends' executive director Sam Pratt on Tuesday. The group has held two similar events in recent years, a 1,000-person event with rock-poetry legend Patti Smith in 2003 and an 800-person concert with the Tom-Tom Club (former members of the Talking Heads) in 2002.

Tickets for the concert begin at $100. A buffet supper ($250 including the concert) will be held beforehand at the Hall; in addition, there will be a private after-concert reception with Glass at The Creamery, a guest house adjoining the barns for $500 ticket holders. The post-party will be tered by Bolgen & Moi, the new Norgwegian-owned restaurant in Hudson.

Tickets may be purchased online (see below) or at the group's Hudson storefront at 362 1/2 Warren Street, just below 4th Street in Hudson.

Click HERE to read a full biography of Philip Glass. For more information, call (518) 822-0334, or click HERE to send us an email.

TO PURCHASE BENEFIT TICKETS SECURELY ONLINE, CLICK HERE

.