The Concerto Project is a collection of concerti written by Philip Glass. The series was begun in 2000 and contains eight works, the most famous of which is probably the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra. Some of the concerti in the volumes were written before the commencement of the project and were categorized into the series.

The Cello Concerto No. 1 was written by Philip Glass in 2001. It was one of the first concerti of the twenty-first century. The piece was commissioned by William and Rebecca Krueger, friends of both the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and the conductor Yu Long in celebration of Lloyd Webber's 50th birthday and the first anniversary of Maestro Yu's China Philharmonic Orchestra. The work was premiered by Lloyd Webber with Long Yu conducting the China Philharmonic during the 2001 Beijing Music Festival, and attracted significant attention as the first time the work of a major western composer had its world premier in China. A typical performance takes about 30 minutes. The work is paired with the Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra as part of Glass' Concerto Project, a series of collected concerti by the composer. The cello concerto is among the most famous of Glass' works for a solo instrument.