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In celebration of Baltimore native Philip Glass' 70th birthday, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra hosted the East Coast premiere of "LIFE: A Journey Through Time." The multimedia presentation combines the dazzling work of National Geographic photographer Frans Lanting with seven adapted pieces of Glass' music.

"LIFE" marks the culmination of a seven-year project for Lanting. Inspired by a self-proclaimed interest "in tracing biodiversity back to its origins," Lanting sought to compile a series of images that traced the natural history of life on Earth.

The fruit of Lanting's labor is a one-hour presentation of 500 to 600 images divided into seven segments: Elements, Beginnings, Out of the Sea, On Land, Into the Air, Out of the Dark, and Planet of Life. The organization of images sketches a rough picture of evolution, interspersing geologically timeless landscapes with microscopic prokaryotes, fossils and present-day flora and fauna.

A portion of the images that Lanting chose for the "LIFE" presentation is available in the September 2006 book of the same name. Despite the temptations of digital enhancement, the vibrancy of color in Lanting's work is authentic -- no small feat, considering the visual intensity of the photographs.

Lanting worked in collaboration with visual choreographer Alexander Nichols to coordinate his photographic portfolio with Glass' music. As the orchestra performs in dimmed light, Lanting's images are projected onto three large flat screens above the stage.

The driving force behind "LIFE" is the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's new maestra, Marin Alsop. She is incidentally the first woman in history to lead a major American orchestra. Lanting approached Alsop in 2004 with the idea of setting his photography to music.

Together they consulted with Glass, who agreed to provide the "soundtrack" for their production. After soliciting the artistic expertise of Nichols, "LIFE" premiered in August 2006 at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music (of which Alsop is the former music director and conductor).

Lanting and Nichols continually edited the sequence of images, which plays at Alsop's feet on three monitors during performances. She consequently has to rush or slow the orchestra in accordance with the sequence, which became especially difficult when that sequence had been recently altered. "Life does change, but `LIFE: A Journey Through Time' is finished," Alsop jokes.

As for the "final" sequence of images, the rapid transitions between the photographs may at times prove dizzying for some spectators, while the choreography itself risks emulating a desktop screensaver (at one point, an image of a kangaroo "hops" across the three screens).

Overall, the brilliance of the artwork in conjunction with the energy of Glass' pieces is stunning. Nichols' choreography is, on the whole, nothing short of mindblowing. He successfully equates the microscopic surface of a cell to a vast plain of palm trees, and concludes a complex sequence of primate photographs with a pair of dirty human feet.

These feet, along with an intra-womb image of a fetus, comprise the only human presence within "LIFE." When asked why he chose to exclude Homo sapiens from his project, Lanting responded that he wanted to inspire audiences with awe -- he contends that including people and cities might have been a "downer." For Alsop, these subtle implications of human presence on Earth are the most moving part of the arrangement.

Is "LIFE" an indication of things to come for orchestras nationwide? Alsop hopes so. She harkens back to the movie theatres of the 1920s and 30s, in which live orchestras would play along with the films. "There is so much room for creativity in presentation," Alsop says. For her, "LIFE"'s brand of multimedia experimentalism "is what art is all about."

The maestra feels as though presentations such as "LIFE" "should impact people in a very deep way. ... People should leave thinking about other issues, feeling provoked, emotional." Subsequently, she hopes to perform "LIFE" internationally, citing London and Stockholm as two potential destinations. "But," she grants, "things take a while to catch on." For those of us who might be unable to make it to the UK or Sweden, Alsop discussed the idea of releasing "LIFE" on DVD when finances allow.

As for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Alsop hopes to continue to "enliven" the concert-going experience, making it more accessible and engaging for all audiences. After the standing applause of Friday's presentation died down, Alsop bowed once more, smiled, and, before walking offstage, wryly promised: "We gotta lot more where that came from."

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