Namekawa is one of Glass’s closest collaborators and has been touring with the composer since 2012. All that remained to complete the relationship would be for Glass to compose a work specifically for Namekawa and her particular brand of joyful precision. The opportunity came in 2019 and Glass composed his First Piano Sonata for the occasion. A major work, the Piano Sonata is twice as long as anything the composer had previously written for the instrument, and was premiered at the Piano Festival Ruhr in Germany in the summer of 2019 before having its US premiere in New York in November 2019. Large in scope, Glass’s latest published work embraces the exacting expertise, playfulness, and joy which Namekawa brings to all of her music making.