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CONTACT:
Ellen Schantz, Director of Communications and Marketing
(847)
491-5726
eschantz@northwestern.edu
PDF version of this statement
NEW MUSIC NORTHWESTERN PRESENTS
STEVE REICH 70th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION OCTOBER 3
New Music Northwestern presents A Steve Reich 70th
Birthday Celebration,
comprising three events that will take place on October 3 at Northwestern's
Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive on the Evanston Campus, beginning
at 6:45 p.m.
The celebration offers an overview of the entire span of Reich's
compositional career and includes a pre-concert lecture by Reich
specialist D.J. Hoek, a sampling of Reich's electronic pieces,
and a concert focusing on his seminal and innovative minimalist
works of the late '60s and early '70s. Curated by Aaron
Cassidy, co-director of New Music Northwestern and a member of
Northwestern's composition faculty, the event features Northwestern's
Contemporary Music Ensemble (CME) and School of Music alumni,
under the direction of Ryan Nelson, director of the CME.
D.J. Hoek, Head of the Northwestern University Music Library, is the author
of the Steve Reich Bio-Bibliography (Greenwood Press). In his
lecture, Hoek will address Reich's life, work, and wide-ranging influence on
young composers and musicians in the classical, rock, and experimental music
communities.
Following Hoek's presentation, Reich's electronic music will be featured in
a mini-concert in the Pick-Staiger Hall Lobby. The program will include
a rare presentation of Pendulum Music (1968), performed by generating
feedback from swinging microphones suspended from the ceiling above several
loudspeakers, and Come Out (1966), one of Reich's earliest acknowledged
works.
Closing the evening will be a concert devoted to notable examples of Reich's "phasing" process
pieces, Piano Phase (1967), Violin Phase (1967), and Clapping
Music (1972), as well as later works, such as Eight Lines (1983), New
York Counterpoint (1985), and Nagoya Marimbas (1994), which demonstrate
an evolution away from more rigorous processes.
A pioneer of musical minimalism, Steve Reich is one of America's most influential
living composers. His use of static diatonic harmonies, repetition, colorful
and percussive textures, and processes designed to be both gradual and easily
perceptible were revolutionary compared to the predominately atonal, pointillist,
rhythmically unstable, and structurally complex works in vogue among mid-century
American composers.
A STEVE REICH 70th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
October 3, 2006, at 6:45 p.m.
Pick-Staiger Concert Hall
| 6:45 p.m. |
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Lecture by DJ Hoek, Head of the Northwestern Music Library discussing
the life, work, and influence of Steve Reich.
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| 7:00 p.m. |
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Mini-Concert featuring
Reich's early electronic music Come Out(1966)
for tape and Pendulum Music (1968) for
3-5 microphones and loudspeakers. (Pick-Staiger Lobby)
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| 7:30 p.m. |
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Celebration Concert
NU Contemporary Music Ensemble
Ryan Nelson, conductor
David Yonan, violin
Clapping Music (1972) for two musicians clapping, amplified
Piano Phase (1967) for two pianos
New York Counterpoint (1985) for amplified saxophone quartet & tape
(arr. by NU alumna, Susan Fancher)
Violin Phase (1967) for violin and tape
Nagoya Marimbas (1994) for 2 marimbas
Eight Lines (1983) for amplified large ensemble |
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