Steve Reich's 75th birthday year is being celebrated around the world in 2011. Cité de la Musique in Paris has now announced details of its plans for a week of concerts in October to mark the occasion. Dubbed Steve Reich, Pulsations, the festivities features works from throughout Reich's career and even a performance by the composer himself. Reich discusses his career in a new short film from his publisher, an excerpt of which can be seen here.
Steve Reich's 75th birthday year is being celebrated around the world in 2011, with multi-day explorations of the composer's music having already taken place at the Konserthuset in Stockholm, Baylor University, and Duke University, where Kronos Quartet gave the world premiere of Reich's WTC 9/11 last Saturday. Cité de la Musique in Paris has now announced its 2011/12 season and with it details of the hall's plans for a week of concerts in October to mark the occasion.
Dubbed Steve Reich, Pulsations, the festivities begin on Tuesday, October 11, with the titular concert, Pulsations, in the Salle des Concerts, featuring an all-Reich program performed by Ensemble Modern and Synergy Vocals, with Brad Lubman conducting, and the composer himself joining on piano. The concert includes the French premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Double Sextet, as well as the classic works Drumming (Part 1) and Music for 18 Musicians.
Events continue on Saturday, October 15, at the Rue Musicale with a free concert from students of the Conservatoire de Paris percussion program, who will perform Reich’s Six Marimbas. Later that night, in the Salle des Concerts, choreographer Karine Saporta, in collaboration with multimedia artists Keiko Courdy and Angie Eng, presents her 2008 piece Notes, a visual and gestural interpretation of various Reich works performed by Quatuor Thymos, including Triple Quartet, Violin Phase, Different Trains, and It’s Gonna Rain. The performers will give an encore presentation of the program the following day, October 16.
The festival ends with a big finish on Tuesday, October 18, in a performance by the Brussels Philharmonic and the Radio Flamande Chorus that pairs Reich’s The Desert Music with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.
For more information on the concerts of Steve Reich, Pulsations, visit citedelamusique.fr.
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There's much more music in store before October, with upcoming performances including an all-Reich program at Carnegie Hall, a weekend festival at the Barbican in London, Opening Night of the Sónar Festival in Barcelona, and the week-long Sacrum Profanum Festival in Kraków. Check back with the Nonesuch Journal for more information throughout the year as these events unfold.
In advance of the April 30 Carnegie Hall Music of Steve Reich concert—which features the New York premieres of WTC 9/11, Mallet Quartet, and 2x5, along with a performance of Double Sextet and performances by Bang on a Can All-Stars, eighth blackbird, Kronos Quartet, and So Percussion—the composer spoke with the Carnegie Hall blog about writing for ensembles and about that highly weighted word "minimalism." You can read what he has to say at blog.carnegiehall.org.
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A new 10-minute documentary produced by Steve Reich's publisher, Boosey & Hawkes, in honor of his 75th birthday, explores the composer's music in conversation with the Reich himself. In the film, he discusses his work through the example of several groundbreaking pieces from throughout his career, including It's Gonna Rain, Drumming, Music for 18 Musicians, Different Trains, The Cave, and Sextet. You can watch a five-minute excerpt from the film below and watch the full piece at boosey.com:
To peruse the Steve Reich Nonesuch catalog, head to the Nonesuch Store now.
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