Carnegie Hall has announced that Steve Reich will hold the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair for the 2016–2017 season. His residency includes an all-Reich 80th birthday celebration, a Kronos Quartet concert, a performance of his Tehillim, and Three Generations, a multi-event, Reich-curated exploration of the changing direction of concert music from the mid-20th century to the present, including works by and discussions with Reich, John Adams, Nico Muhly, and more. Watch a video previewing the events here.
Carnegie Hall has announced, with its 2016–2017 concert season, that Steve Reich will hold the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair for the season. His residency includes an all-Reich 80th birthday celebration, a Kronos Quartet concert, a performance of his Tehillim, and Three Generations, a four-concert, Reich-curated exploration of the changing direction of concert music from the mid-20th century to the present. You can watch a video previewing the events below.
The festivities begin with the Steve Reich 80th Birthday event in Stern Auditorium on Tuesday, November 1, 2016, less than a month after the composer's birthday on October 3. The celebratory concert features his and Beryl Korot's 2002 video opera, Three Tales, and the world premiere of Pulse, a work co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall and performed by ICE and conductor David Robertson.
Kronos Quartet continues to the festivities with a performance of Reich's Triple Quartet (1999), the second of three quartets the composer has written for Kronos, in Zankel Hall on Saturday, February 11, 2017. The program also includes new works by Rhiannon Giddens and others, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall as part of the Kronos Fifty for the Future commissioning project.
Steve Reich's 1981 piece for voices and ensemble Tehillim (Hebrew for "psalms") will be performed by American Composers Orchestra in Zankel Hall on Friday, March 24, 2017. The Daily Mail has written of the piece: "Harmonies and rhythms from jazz, the Middle East, Africa, and the Western tradition combine to form something truly special."
The Reich-curated Three Generations events begin with a concert pairing John Adams's Shaker Loops with Terry Riley's revolutionary In C performed by Ensemble Signal led by conductor Brad Lubman in Zankel Hall on Thursday, March 30, 2017. Begun in 1977 as a piece for string quartet, Shaker Loops evolved as Adams experimented with different minimalistic techniques. It was quickly modified for septet, then revised for orchestra in 1983, and became one of his most performed pieces. The evening also includes a conversation with Reich and Adams.
The next Three Generations concert features music by Reich along with Arvo Pärt and Philip Glass in Zankel Hall on Thursday, April 6, 2017. The performance features Reich's 1988 piece Different Trains, in which he evokes his American childhood during World War II while also addressing the Holocaust. The New York Times declared it "a work of such originality that 'breakthrough' seems the only possible description." Also on the program are Pärt's Für Alina and Fratres and Glass's String Quartet No. 5. There will also be a discussion with Reich and Nadia Sirota, host of Q2 Music's Meet the Composer podcast.
Three Generations continues with a program of works by a group of composers associated with the Bang on a Can collective—David Lang, Julia Wolfe, and Michael Gordon—performed by Band on a Can All-Stars and JACK Quartet in Zankel Hall on Wednesday, April 19, 2017. There will also be a discussion among Reich and the three featured composers.
And finally, the Three Generations concerts conclude with the world premiere of Nico Muhly's No Uncertain Terms and works by Bryce Dessner performed by an ensemble that includes Muhly on piano in Zankel Hall on Wednesday, April 26, 2017. This event includes a conversation with Reich, Muhly, and Dessner.
Among the other highlights of the 2016–17 Carnegie Hall concert season are a recital by pianist Richard Goode in Stern Auditorium (March 15, 2017); the world premiere of a new work by Chris Thile performed by yMusic in Zankel Hall (December 2, 2016); a performance of John Adams's The Gospel According to the Other Mary by David Robertson and the St. Louis Symphony in Stern Auditorium (March 31, 2017); the New York premiere of a new work by Donnacha Dennehy in Weill Recital Hall (February 27, 2017); and a concert by Brooklyn Rider and Anne Sofie von Otter featuring works by Adams, Björk, and Nico Muhly in Zankel Hall (October 13, 2016) .
For more on Carnegie Hall's 2016–17 season, visit carnegiehall.org.
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