“Steve Reich, who turned 81 last month, is a grand old man of minimalism,” writes John von Rhein in Tuesday’s (11/21) Chicago Tribune. “Reich’s 80th birthday season was celebrated in 2016-17 with more than 400 performances of his works in 20 countries…. Audiences in [New York and London] got to hear two of his newest pieces, ‘Pulse’ and ‘Runner,’ for small and large ensembles, respectively. ‘Pulse’ also turned up in its local premiere by the Bienen School’s Contemporary Music Ensemble [at Northwestern University] … last week…. That players of their generation, not only in Chicago but all over the globe, are delighted to be exploring Reich’s rich corpus of music … gives him hope…. Two projects are claiming his attention at present. The first is ‘Music for Ensemble and Orchestra,’ a 21st-century take on the baroque concerto grosso, commissioned by a consortium of orchestras in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, London and elsewhere; it’s scheduled to be premiered in Los Angeles next fall. The second is a collaboration with the German visual artist Gerhard Richter, based on a 1990 collection of Richter’s prints. The performance-piece-cum-installation is planned for a spring 2019 unveiling.”
Posted November 27, 2017
