The performance, at the Noblessner Foundry (Noblessneri valukoja) was also the first time an Estonian audience got to experience a work whose libretto was written by beat poet Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997).

Philip Glass' music addresses themes ranging from love and rebellion, to anti-war sentiments and political resistance, and the latest offering, a modern opera, sees Glass' interface with the visionary poetry of Allen Ginsberg.

The performance (see gallery) offered a minimalist and poetic insight into a world teetering on the brink of apocalypse.

Director, translator, and video artist Veiko Tubin told "Aktuaalne kaamera": "Glass is a genius composer in that he can incorporate both the roaring, trembling world plus also the beautiful, lyrical theme of love, all into the one piece."

"In this material, all realities meet and meet, and thanks to Ginsberg's poetry, which is that dense and intense, serves to create a whole-body experience," Tubin went on.

Top Estonian conductor Tõnu Kaljuste led the soloists and musicians.

"This hybrid world all around us is very much reflected in this piece," Kaljuste said.

"This really shines in this work, and although it was written back in the 1950s, in present times it has a type of hybrid reflection that resonates strongly today, and this fascinates me. Also this: The ability to fly over various genres, with those who are capable of doing so, put my thoughts in motion," he told "Aktuaalne kaamera."

One performer, singer Ivo Uukkivi, said of the performance: "What is peace, and what is war and what is a person, and why do they do so, attacking smaller ones and take their toys and sandbox awat? Why do we end up in situations like this? You start thinking about it on a much deeper level, not just from the news we hear and see every day."

"When I was young, then I dealt with these same issues, wallowing in the mud, but now I have attained that 'lotus flower' which grew out of that mud, addressing the same issues in a completely different way, in an opera," Uukkivi added.

The "Hydrogen Jukebox" is to be performed five times through July, at the Nobeli Hall in Noblessner, in North Tallinn.

Born in Baltimore, Philip Glass, 87, is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. His work is often described as minimalist, built up from repetitive phrases and shifting layers, and Glass himself describes his music as having repetitive structures", which he has helped to evolve stylistically. He was a  close friend of David Bowie and wrote a symphony based on the 1976 "Low" album.

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