BAM celebrates minimalist composer Steve Reich to open the 2006 Next Wave Festival.
OCT 3, 5—7 AT 7:30PM
BAM HOWARD GILMAN OPERA HOUSE
TICKETS: $20, 40, 55
Recognized as one of the world’s most renowned living composers, from his earliest ventures Steve Reich has had a uniquely global reach, drawing inspiration from a range of non-Western structures, rhythms, and harmonies as well as those of Western classical and vernacular music. He also happens to be one of the world’s most sought-after collaborators—musicians, singers, and choreographers leap at the chance to work with him, attracted to his irresistibly kinetic scores.
The composer’s relationship with BAM has been long and fruitful, beginning in 1971 with the world premiere of the profoundly influential Drumming. So it’s entirely fitting that BAM kicks off Steve Reich @ 70, a month-long, citywide birthday celebration organized in cooperation with Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. BAM focuses on Reich’s standing as one of today’s most choreographed composers. Longtime Reich collaborator Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker opens the evening with her fiery Fase, four movements to the music of Steve Reich, a 50-minute series of solos and duets featuring De Keersmaeker set to Reich’s Violin Phase, Piano Phase, Clapping Music, and Come Out, completed in 1982. Acclaimed British dancer and choreographer Akram Khan follows with the US premiere of Variations for Vibes, Pianos and Strings, a work for three dancers set to a commissioned Reich score for four vibraphones, two pianos, and three string quartets performed live by the intrepid London Sinfonietta, conducted by Alan Pierson.
APX. RUNNING TIME: 98MIN, INCLUDING 20MIN INTERMISSION