THE phrases ‘cult following’ and ‘classical composer’ rarely appear in the same sentence, but the American composer Philip Glass is an exception.

He is, without doubt, one of the world’s most popular living composers. He is acclaimed for his operas, symphonies and film scores, but is also recognised for the profound influence that his style has had on the music we listen to every day - from commercials to film and television soundtracks.

Philip Glass has collaborated with everyone from Allen Ginsberg, Woody Allen and David Bowie – and now Anvil Arts in Basingstoke is celebrating this legendary composer’s work with two unmissable events – a performance of Glass’s newest opera, The Trial, based on Kafka’s classic book (Tuesday, November 4) in a production by leading opera group Music Theatre Wales, and a one-off gig by his own Philip Glass Ensemble – with the composer himself at the helm (Wednesday, November 12).

Glass was in London recently to attend the World Premiere of The Trial at the Royal Opera House and talked about his music, and his life-long ambition to write an opera based on Kafka’s most compelling novel, which he described as “one of the half dozen most important literary works of twentieth century”.

Kafka's nightmarish tale of a man arrested and prosecuted for an unknown crime by a relentless and inaccessible authority has fascinated Philip Glass since he was a teenager.

The Trial has reputation as a dark and prophetic tale and yet Glass, who has chosen the Oscar-winning screenwriter and playwright Christopher Hampton to adapt the story into an opera, confesses that he was drawn to Kafka’s “demented logic” and bizarre sense of humour - and he likes to point out that one of Kafka’s favourite writers was Lewis Carroll.

Certainly many critics who came to the opening night at London’s Royal Opera House, found that Music Theatre Wales’ production trod a fine line between comedy and paranoia.

Glass at 77 has over 20 operas under his belt. He first shot to fame in the heady experimental days of downtown New York in the 1970s with Einstein on the Beach. Now opera companies worldwide compete to present classics such as Akhnaten, with its lush orchestration and unmistakeable pounding rhythms evoking ancient Egypt.

Film producers vie with one another for the latest Glass film score and there are orchestral commissions galore. He is, in short, a worldwide phenomenon.

And yet it wasn’t always so. He first got the bug for classical music as a boy in his father’s radio repair shop in Baltimore. In addition to servicing radios, Ben Glass carried a line of records and, when certain ones sold poorly, he would take them home and play them for his three children, trying to discover why they didn’t appeal to customers.

These happened to be recordings of the great chamber works, and it was in this way that the future composer became familiar with the classics.

Later, in order to make his way as a composer and performer, he worked variously as a taxi-driver, plumber, furniture remover. “I was finally able to give up my day job at the 41, he says. By that time, the new musical language that he had been evolving, eventually dubbed ‘minimalism’, had taken root in the American musical consciousness.

During his recent London visit, Glass was given a characteristically thoroughgoing grilling by the Radio 4 Today Programme’s John Humphrys. Did he deliberately write his music for a wide audience, he was repeatedly asked.

“My generation was the one that rebelled against the restrictions that were put on us by academic music. My aim is to be a populist”.

Music Theatre Wales’ production of The Trial by Philip Glass & Christopher Hampton is at The Anvil, Basingstoke on Tuesday, November 4 at 7.30pm.

Hear The Philip Glass Ensemble at The Anvil, Basingstoke on Wednesday, November 12 at 7.30pm.

Box office: www.anvilarts.org.uk, 01256 844244