The Reich Stuff
This is second in a series of articles appearing in a new publication on the Haven website later this fall. Each article features the insight, advice, events, and storytelling of Haven artists.
New York City's hallowed halls of music pay tribute to a legendary composer.
by Sarah Baird
This fall, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center team up to launch the international celebration of Steve Reich's 70th Birthday with a comprehensive program entitled Reich @ 70. Healthy and prolific, Reich continues to write pieces for groups like the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Pat Metheny. His music (available on Nonesuch Records) is often remixed by artists such as Coldcut and DJ Spooky. Dancers, too, love his music-Reich is one of the most choreographed of all living composers.
 Bridging the gap between contemporary art music and popular music, Reich attracts classical connoisseurs and DJs alike. He changed the concept of the genre in the 1960's by experimenting with phase music, concrete music, and minimalism and put himself on the map in world of contemporary art music with pieces like Piano Phase, a duet for two pianos that requires one pianist to play slightly faster than the other-producing his signature "phasing" effect. Reich also recorded street evangelists and voices from his past, looping them to create harmonic progressions based on the inflection of their voices. This use of organic, everyday sounds like people talking (Come Out) and train whistles (Different Trains) came to be known as "concrete music."
Classified as a minimalist composer, the music is driven by percussion-rhythmically complex, mathematical, and energetic. To check out clips, read his bio, and connect with his fans you can go to visit his Myspace or his website. But if you want to go to a concert hall without feeling like you should have donned a powdered wig, make the most of the Reich @ 70 celebration. Grab some friends, pay for the cheap seats, and enjoy!
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Oct 3, 5-7 at 7:30pm
Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich
Music by Steve Reich
Choreography by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and Akram Khan
Featuring the London Sinfonietta
Carnegie Hall
October 19 at 7:30pm
Steve Reich Young Artists Concert
Music for Pieces of Wood, Triple Quartet , Sextet, City Life
Music by Steve Reich
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
October 28 at 8:00pm
You Are (Variations)
Music by Steve Reich
Featuring the Los Angeles Master Chorale
November 2-4 at 8:00pm
The Cave
A music-theatre video piece by Steve Reich and Beryl Korot
 Sarah works in music publishing and currently resides in the lovely borough of Brooklyn. To read more about her thoughts on life and the city, check out her blog.
Early fall is a great time to get out and explore what the city has to offer. Here are our top picks for the season's artistic pleasures.
Looking Back From Ground Zero: Images from the Brooklyn Museum Collection
Brooklyn Museum of Art
August 30, 2006-January 7, 2007
The Brooklyn Museum marks the five-year anniversary of September 11, 2001, with an exhibition of works from the permanent collection that includes paintings, photographs, prints, and drawings of the Lower Manhattan area around the World Trade Center site before, as well as after, the attack.
Wired Next Festival
September 25-October 1
WIRED's vision of a new world's fair, WIRED NextFest is a four-day festival of innovative products and technologies that are transforming our world. Patterned on the great World's Fairs of the past, this year's NextFest in New York features more than 130 interactive exhibits from leading scientists and researchers around the world. Experience the future of exploration, entertainment, transportation, health, communication, design, security, and green living.
2006 Fall For Dance Festival
City Center
September 28 - October 8
All Tickets $10
The third annual Festival at New York City Center will showcase 30 companies from across the country and around the world; five companies will perform on each night offering four repeated programs and two single programs, which will expand the Festival from six to ten nights.
CMJ Music Marathon 2006
October 31-November 4
At venues all over Manhattan
Expanding to five days, this year's festival will give attendees an additional day to experience the best new artists at hundreds of shows throughout the city, the fall's hottest films at CMJ FilmFest, and dozens of speakers including artists, executives, and pop culture icons at over 100 panel discussions covering all aspects of the music industry. Called "the Sundance of Rock n' Roll" (The Associated Press), CMJ Music Marathon is one of the largest and longest-running music events in the world, drawing tens of thousands of music lovers to NYC each year.
|
