초연 연주를 했던 아티스트들의 연주로 공연을 즐길 수 있다니, 동시대를 살아간다는 걸 꽤 멋진 일로 느끼게 해 준 연주회. (아 물론 뉴욕에 있는 것도 복이고...) 나눠준 공연 책자들도 아주 알찼음. 첫번째로 나타난 Pat Metheny. 활짝 미소짓는 모습이 어찌나 정감가던지 ^^; 연주 시작하기도 전부터 좀처럼 그치지 않는 긴 박수소리에 얼마나 사랑받는 아티스트인지 문득 실감. (나부터도 미소에 이끌려 멍하니 계속 박수치고 있었음;) 기타 소리는 또 어찌 그리도 따뜻하고 맑은지. 마치 영혼이 음으로 체현되는 듯한 느낌. 카네기홀 이번 시즌 티켓 오픈일에 미리 예매해둔 덕분에 맨 앞줄 중앙 좌석에서 봤다. (사실 무대턱이 꽤 높아서 그리 좋은 자리는 아닌데, 빛 속에서 고개숙인 채 눈을 꼬옥 감고 몰입해 연주하는 팻 매스니의 표정을 놓치지 않고 가장 가까이에서 볼 수 있었기에 나름대로 만족. 나중에 기립박수 치면서 돌아보니까 5층까지 꽉꽉 찬 관객들의 기립박수도 장관이더라는.) Steve Reich, 고희의 나이이면서도 활력넘치는 젊은 미소와 격식없는 소탈한 스타일의 모습이 보기 좋았다. 이 작곡가에 대한 사전 지식은 거의 없었는데(음악 듣다 보니 왠지 전에 들은 적이 있는 것 같아 집에 와 찾아보니 과연 전에 도서관에서 빌려 백업해놨던 CD 중에 이 사람 게 있더라;) 미니멀리즘도 아름답게 들릴 수 있다- 랄까 ^^; (전에는 별로 안 좋아했음) 집요한 반복 속에서 리듬포인트의 다채로운 변화, 실에 꿰어지는 구슬처럼 이어지는 매력적인 모티브들.
CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
Pat Metheny Kronos Quartet Steve Reich and Musicians
Pat Metheny, Guitar Kronos Quartet ·· David Harrington, Violin ·· John Sherba, Violin ·· Hank Dutt, Viola ·· Jeffrey Zeigler, Cello Steve Reich and Musicians Synergy Vocals
STEVE REICH Electric Counterpoint STEVE REICH Different Trains STEVE REICH Music for 18 Musicians Nonesuchat Carnegie New YorkCelebrates Steve Reich @ 70
By the Composer
STEVE REICH Born October 3, 1936, in New York.
Electric CounterpointComposed in 1987, Electric Counterpoint received its world premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on November 5, 1987, with guitarist Pat Metheny. The Carnegie Hall premiere took place in Weill recital Hall on December 22, 2005, with William Anderson, guitar, and the Queens College Guitar Ensemble conducted by Jason Sagebiel.
Scoring: guitar soloist and guitar ensemble of 12 guitars and 2 electric bass guitars (with the ensemble either live or taped).
Performance time: approximately 15 minutes.
Electric Counterpoint was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival for the guitarist Pat Metheny. It was composed during the summer of 1987. It is the third in a series of pieces all dealing with a soloist playing against a pre-recorded tape of himself. In Electric Counterpoint,the soloist pre-records as many as ten guitars and two electric bass parts and then plays the final 11th guitar part live against the tape.
The work is in three movements—fast, slow, fast—played one after the other without pause. The first movement, after an introductory pulsing section where the harmonies of the movement are stated, uses a theme derived from Central African horn music that I became aware of through the ethnomusicologist Simha Arom. That theme is built up in eight-voice canon, and while the remaining two guitars and bass play pulsing harmonies, the soloist plays melodic patterns that result from the contrapuntal interlocking of those eight pre-recorded guitars.
The second movement cuts the tempo in half, changes key, and introduces a new theme, which is then slowly built up in nine guitars in canon. Once again, two other guitars and bass supply harmony, while the soloist brings out melodic patterns that result from the overall contrapuntal web.
The third movement returns to the original tempo and key and introduces a new pattern in triple meter. After building up a four-guitar canon, two bass guitars enter suddenly to further stress the triple meter. The soloist then introduces a new series of strummed chords that are built up in three-guitar canon. When these are complete, the soloist returns to melodic patterns that result from the overall counterpoint when suddenly the basses begin to change both key and meter back and forth between E minor and C minor and between 3/2 and 12/8 so that one hears first three groups of four eighth-notes and then four groups of three eighth-notes. These rhythmic and tonal changes speed up more and more rapidly until at the end the basses slowly fade out and the ambiguities are finally resolved in 12/8 and E minor.
Different TrainsCommissioned by Betty Freeman for the Kronos Quartet, Different Trains was composed from January through August of 1988 and received its world premiere at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, on November 2, 1988, with the Kronos Quartet. It received its Carnegie Hall premiere in Weill recital Hall on March 5, 1997, with Elizabeth Lim-Dutton and Paul Woodiel, violin; Lois Martin, viola; and Jeanne LeBlanc, cello.
Scoring: string quartet and tape.
Performance time: approximately 27 minutes.
Different Trains, for string quartet and tape, begins a new way of composing that has its roots in my early tape pieces It’s Gonna Rain (1965) and Come Out (1966). The basic idea is that speech recordings generate the musical material for musical instruments. The idea for the piece comes from my childhood. When I was one year old, my parents separated, with my mother going to Los Angeles and my father staying in New York. Since they arranged divided custody, I traveled back and forth by train frequently between New York and Los Angeles from 1939 to 1942, accompanied by my governess. While these trips were exciting and romantic at the time, I now look back and think that, as a Jew, if I had been in Europe during this period I would have had to ride very different trains. With this in mind, I wanted to make a piece that would accurately reflect the whole situation. Inorder to prepare the tape, I did the following:
1. Record my governess Virginia, now in her 70s, reminiscing about our train trips together.
2. Record a retired Pullman porter, Mr. Lawrence Davis, now in his 80s, who used to ride lines between New York and Los Angeles, reminiscing about his life.
3. Collect recordings of Holocaust survivors Rachella, Paul, and Rachel, all about my age and now living in America, speaking about their experiences.
4. Collect recorded American and European train sounds of the ’30s and ’40s.
The process of combining the taped speech with the string instruments was to select small speech samples that are more or less clearly pitched and then to notate them as accurately as possible in musical notation. The strings then literally imitate that speech melody. The speech samples and train sounds were transferred to tape with the use of sampling keyboards and a computer. Three separate string quartets are also added to the pre-recorded tape, and the final live quartet part is added to the performance.
Different Trains is in three movements, although that term is stretched here, since tempos change frequently in each movement. They are:
1. America—Before the War
2. Europe—During the War
3. After the War
The piece thus presents both a documentary and a musical reality, and begins a new musical direction. It is a direction that I expect will lead to a new kind of documentary music video theater in the not-too-distant future.
1. America—Before the War “From Chicago to New York” (Virginia) “one of the fastest trains” “the crack train from New York” (Mr. Davis) “from New York to Los Angeles” “different trains every time” (Virginia) “from Chicago to New York” “in 1939” “1939” (Mr. Davis) “1940” “1941” “1941 I guess it must’ve been” (Virginia)
2. Europe—During the War “1940” (Rachella) “on my birthday” “The Germans walked in” “walked into Holland” “Germans invaded Hungary” (Paul) “I was in second grade” “I had a teacher” “a very tall man, his hair was concretely plastered smooth” “He said ‘Black Crows invaded our country many years ago’ ” “and he pointed right at me” “No more school” (Rachel) “You must go away” “and she said ‘Quick, go!’” (Rachella) “and he said, ‘Don’t breathe!’” “into those cattle wagons” (Rachella) “for four days and four nights” “and then we went through these strange sounding names” “Polish names” “Lots of cattle wagons there” “They were loaded with people” “They shaved us” “They tattooed a number on our arm” “Flames going up to the sky-it was smoking”
3. After the War “And the war was over” (Paul) “Are you sure?” (Rachella) “The war is over” “going to America” “to Los Angeles” “to New York” “from New York to Los Angeles” (Mr. Davis) “one of the fastest trains” (Virginia) “but today, they’re all gone” (Mr. Davis) “There was one girl, who had a beautiful voice” (Rachella) “and they loved to listen to the singing, the Germans” “and when she stopped singing they said, ‘More, more’ and they applauded”
Music for 18 MusiciansThe first sketches for Music for 18 Musicians were made in May 1974, and it was completed in March 1976. It received its world premiere at Town Hall, New York, on April 24, 1976, with Steve Reich and Musicians, who also gave the Carnegie Hall premiere on June 23, 1990.
Scoring:violin, cello, 2 clarinets doubling bass clarinet, 4 women’s voices, 4 pianos, 3 marimbas, 2 xylophones, and vibraphone (with no motor). All instruments are acoustic. The use of electronics is limited to microphones for the voices and some of the instruments.
Performance time: approximately 60 minutes.
Although its steady pulse and rhythmic energy related to many of my earlier works, the instrumentation, harmony, and structure of Music for 18 Musicians are new.
There is more harmonic movement in the first five minutes of Music for 18 Musicians than in any other complete work of mine to date. Though the movement from chord to chord is often just a re-voicing, inversion, or relative minor or major of a previous chord, usually staying within the key signature of three sharps at all times, nevertheless, within these limits harmonic movement plays a more important role in this piece than in any other I have written.
Rhythmically there are two basically different kinds of time occurring simultaneously in Music for 18 Musicians. The first is that of a regular rhythmic pulse in the pianos and mallet instruments that continues throughout the piece. The second is the rhythm of the human breath in the voices and wind instruments. The entire opening and closing sections plus part of all sections in between contain pulses by the voices and winds. They take a full breath and sing or play pulses of particular notes for as long as their breath will comfortably sustain them. The breath is the measure of the duration of their pulsing. This combination of one breath after another gradually washing up like waves against the constant rhythm of the pianos and mallet instruments is something I have not heard before and would like to investigate further.
The structure of Music for 18 Musicians is based on a cycle of 11 chords played at the very beginning of the piece and repeated at the end. All the instruments and voices play or sing pulsing notes within each chord. Instruments (like the strings) which do not have to breathe nevertheless follow the rise and fall of the breath by following the breath patterns of the bass clarinet. Each chord is held for the duration of two breaths, and the next chord is gradually introduced, and so on, until all 11 are played and the ensemble returns to the first chord. This first pulsing chord is then maintained by two pianos and two marimbas. While this pulsing chord is held for about five minutes, a small piece is constructed on it. When this piece is completed there is a sudden change to the second chord, and a second small piece or section is constructed. This means that each chord that might have taken 15 or 20 seconds to play in the opening section is then stretched out as the basic pulsing harmony for a five-minute piece very much as a single note in a cantus firmus, or chant melody of 12th-century organum by Perotin might be stretched out for several minutes as the harmonic center for a section of the organum. The opening 11-chord cycle of Music for 18 Musicians is a kind of pulsing cantus for the entire piece.
On each pulsing chord, one, or, on the third chord, two small pieces are built. These pieces or sections are basically either in the form of an arch (A-B-C-D-C-B-A), or in the form of a musical process, like that of substituting beats for rests, working itself out from beginning to end. Elements appearing in one section will appear in another but surrounded by different harmony and instrumentation. For instance the pulse in pianos and marimbas in sections I and II changes to marimbas and xylophone in section IIIA, and to xylophones and maracas in sections VI and VII. The low piano pulsing harmonies of section IIIA reappear in section VI supporting a different melody played by different instruments. The process of building up a canon, or phase relation, between two xylophones and two pianos, which first occurs in section II, occurs again in section IX but building up to another overall pattern in different harmonic context. The relationship between the different sections is thus best understood in terms of resemblances between members of a family. Certain characteristics will be shared but others will be unique.
One of the basic means of change or development in many sections of this piece is to be found in the rhythmic relationship of harmony to melody. Specifically, a melodic pattern may be repeated over and over again, but by introducing a two- or four-chord cadence underneath it, first beginning on one beat of the pattern, and then beginning on a different beat, a sense of changing accent in the melody will be heard. This play of changing harmonic rhythm against constant melodic pattern is one of the basic techniques of this piece, and one I have never used before. Its effect, by change of accent, is to vary that which is in fact unchanging.
Born in Kansas City, Pat Metheny first burst onto the international jazz scene in 1974. During his three-year stint with vibraphone great Gary Burton, he was already displaying what would become his trademark playing style, which blends a loose and flexible articulation customarily reserved for horn players with an advanced rhythmic and harmonic sensibility. With the release of his first album, Bright Size Life (1975), he reinvented the traditional jazz guitar sound for a new generation of players. Over the years, he has performed with artists as diverse as Steve Reich, Ornette Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Jim Hall, Milton Nascimento, and David Bowie. In addition, Metheny has been part of a writing team with keyboardist Lyle Mays for more than 20 years—an association that has been compared to the Lennon/McCartney and Ellington/Strayhorn partnerships by critics and listeners alike.
Metheny’s body of work includes compositions for solo guitar, small ensembles, electric and acoustic instruments, large orchestras, and ballet pieces, with settings ranging from modern jazz to rock to classical. As well as being an accomplished musician, Metheny is also a dedicated music educator. He has also taught workshops all over the world, from the Dutch Royal Conservatory to the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz to clinics in Asia and South America. He has been a pioneer in the realm of electronic music, and was one of the very first jazz musicians to treat the synthesizer as a serious musical instrument. Years before the invention of MIDI technology, Metheny was using the Synclavier as a composing tool. He also has been instrumental in the development of several new kinds of guitars, such as the soprano acoustic guitar, the 42-string Pikasso guitar, Ibanez1s PM-100 jazz guitar, and a variety of other custom instruments. Metheny has won countless awards, including three gold records for (Still Life) Talking, Letter from Home, and Secret Story, and 14 Grammy Awards spread out over a variety of different categories, including 7 with the Pat Metheny Group.
For more than 30 years, the Kronos Quartet has pursued a singular artistic vision, combining a spirit of fearless exploration with a commitment to expanding the range and context of the string quartet. In the process, Kronos has become one of the most celebrated and influential ensembles of our time, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than 40 recordings of extraordinary breadth and creativity, collaborating with many of the world’s most eclectic composers and performers, and commissioning hundreds of works and arrangements. Kronos’ work has also garnered numerous awards, including a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance (2004) and Musicians of the Year (2003) from Musical America.
Kronos’ adventurous approach dates back to the ensemble’s origins. In 1973, David Harrington was inspired to form Kronos after hearing George Crumb’s Black Angels, a highly unorthodox, Vietnam War–inspired work featuring bowed water glasses and spoken-word passages. Kronos then went on to start to build a compellingly eclectic repertoire, performing and recording works by 20th-century masters (Bartók, Shostakovich, Webern), contemporary composers (Sofia Gubaidulina, Arvo Pärt, Alfred Schnittke), jazz legends (Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk), and artists from even farther afield (rock guitar legend Jimi Hendrix, Pakistani vocal master Pandit Pran Nath, avant-garde saxophonist John Zorn). Integral to Kronos’ work is a series of in-depth collaborations with many of the world’s foremost composers. One of the Quartet’s most frequent collaborators is Terry Riley, whose work with Kronos includes Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector; Salome Dances for Peace; 2002’s Sun Rings, a multimedia, NASA-commissioned ode to the earth and its people; and, most recently, The Cusp of Magic, premiered by Kronos and Chinese pipa virtuoso Wu Man in 2005. Kronos has also collaborated extensively with composers like Philip Glass, recording his complete string quartets and scores to films like Mishima and Dracula; Azerbaijan’s Franghiz Ali- Zadeh, whose works are featured on the full-length 2005 release Mugam Sayagi: Music of Franghiz Ali-Zadeh; Steve Reich, whose Kronos-recorded Different Trains earned a Grammy; Argentina’s Osvaldo Golijov, whose work with Kronos includes both compositions and extensive arrangements for albums like Kronos Caravan and Nuevo; and many more.
In addition to composers, Kronos counts numerous artists from around the world among its collaborators, including the legendary Bollywood “playback singer” Asha Bhosle, featured on Kronos’ Grammy-nominated CD You’ve Stolen My Heart: Songs from R. D. Burman’s Bollywood; the renowned American soprano Dawn Upshaw; and the Romanian gypsy band Taraf de Haïdouks. Kronos has performed live with the likes of icons Allen Ginsberg, Modern Jazz Quartet, Tom Waits, Betty Carter, and David Bowie, and has appeared on recordings by such diverse talents as Dave Matthews, Nelly Furtado, Rokia Traoré, and Joan Armatrading. Kronos’ music has also featured prominently in film (Requiem for a Dream, 21 Grams, Heat, True Stories) and dance, with such noted choreographers as Merce Cunningham, Twyla Tharp, and the duo Eiko & Koma setting pieces to Kronos’ music. The Quartet spends five months of each year on tour, appearing in concert halls, clubs, and festivals around the world, including BAM Next Wave Festival, Barbican in London, UCLA’s Royce Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and the Sydney Opera House.
The ensemble’s expansive discography on Nonesuch Records includes collections like Pieces of Africa (1992), a showcase of African-born composers that simultaneously topped Billboard’s Classical and World Music lists; 2000’s Kronos Caravan, whose musical “travels” span North and South America, Europe, and the Middle East; 1998’s ten-disc anthology, Kronos Quartet: 25 Years; Nuevo (2002), a Grammy- and Latin Grammy–nominated celebration of Mexican culture; and the 2003 Grammy-winner, Berg’s Lyric Suite. As a non-profit organization based in San Francisco, the Kronos Quartet / Kronos Performing Arts Association has commissioned more than 500 new works and arrangements. One of the Quartet’s most exciting initiatives is the Kronos: Under 30 Project, a unique commissioning and composer-in-residence program for composers under 30 years old, launched in conjunction with Kronos’ own 30th birthday in 2003. By cultivating creative relationships with such emerging talents and a wealth of other artists from around the world, Kronos reaps the benefit of 30 years’ wisdom while maintaining an approach to music making as fresh as the new century.
From his early taped speech pieces It’s Gonna Rain (1965) and Come Out (1966) to the digital video opera Three Tales (2002), Steve Reich’s path has embraced not only aspects of Western Classical music, but the structures, harmonies, and rhythms of non-Western and American vernacular music, particularly jazz.
Performing organizations around the world are marking Steve Reich’s 70th-birthday year, 2006, with festivals and special concerts. In the composer’s hometown of New York, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center have joined forces to present complementary programs of his music, and in London, the Barbican is mounting a major retrospective. Concerts are also being presented in Amsterdam, Athens, Brussels, Baden-Baden, Barcelona, Birmingham, Budapest, Chicago, Cologne, Copenhagen, Denver, Dublin, Freiburg, Graz, Helsinki, Los Angeles, Paris, Porto, Vancouver, Vienna, and Vilnius among others. In addition, Nonesuch Records released its second box set of Steve Reich’s works, Phases: A Nonesuch Retrospective, in September 2006. The five-CD collection comprises 14 of the composer’s best-known pieces, spanning the 20 years of his time on the label. In October 2006 in Tokyo, Mr. Reich will be awarded the Preamium Imperial award in Music. This important international award is in areas in the arts not covered by the Nobel Prize. Former winners of the prize in various fields include Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio, György Ligeti, Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Richard Serra, and Stephen Sondheim.
Reich’s 1988 piece, Different Trains, in which speech recordings generate the musical material for musical instruments, was hailed by the New York Times as “a work of such astonishing originality that breakthrough seems the only possible description.” In 1990, Reich received a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition for Different Trains as recorded by the Kronos Quartet on the Nonesuch label. He won a second Grammy Award in 1999 for his piece Music for 18 Musicians, also on the Nonesuch label. In 2000 Reich was awarded the Schuman Prize from Columbia University, the Montgomery Fellowship from Dartmouth College, the Regent’s Lectureship at the University of California at Berkeley, and an honorary doctorate from the California Institute of the Arts; he was also named Composer of the Year by Musical America magazine. Several noted choreographers—including Alvin Ailey, Eliot Feld, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Jerome Robbins for the New York City Ballet, and Doug Varone—have created dances to his music. Reich has collaborated with video artist Beryl Korot on two projects: The Cave and Three Tales.
In 1994 Steve Reich was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and, in 1995, to the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts; in 1999, he was awarded Commandeur de l’ordre des Arts et Lettres.
Bob Becker’s performing experience spans nearly all of the musical disciplines where percussion is found: from playing timpani under Pablo Casals and percussion under Pierre Boulez to performing with drummers such as Steve Gadd, Peter Erskine, and Ed Thigpen. As a member of the percussion group NEXUS, he has appeared as soloist with the world’s major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and The Cleveland Orchestra. Considered one of the world’s premier virtuoso performers on the xylophone and marimba, Becker also appears regularly as an independent soloist and clinician. His compositions and arrangements are performed by percussion ensembles worldwide. Phillip Bush made his New York recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum in 1984, and since then he has appeared as recitalist throughout North America, as well as in Europe and Asia. In 2001 he made his Carnegie Hall concerto debut with the London Sinfonietta to critical acclaim in concertos by Stravinsky and Alexander Goehr. He has also appeared as soloist with the Osaka Century Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Houston Symphony. Mr. Bush has performed and recorded with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and has performed with the Kronos Quartet and the Miami String Quartet. Since 1995 he has been an artist-member of the Milwaukee-based new music group, Present Music.
Russell Hartenberger has been a member of Steve Reich and Musicians since 1971. He is a member of Nexus and is Professor and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. He has degrees from Curtis Institute, Catholic University, and Wesleyan University, where he studied the music of South India, North India, West Africa, and Indonesia. He has been a member of the Oklahoma City Symphony, United States Air Force Band, Marlboro Festival Orchestra, New Haven Symphony, Paul Winter Consort, and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, and he performs frequently with the Toronto Symphony. He has made over 75 recordings and has performed in the Grammy Award–winning Reich CD, Music for 18 Musicians.
Al Hunt, studied at West Virginia University, where he received both BA and MM degrees. After graduating, he performed with the Norfolk Symphony Orchestra (now the Virginia Symphony) in Norfolk, Virginia. Since moving to New York in 1975, he has been a freelance musician, working in the concert, recording, and commercial fields. Al has worked with Steve Reich and Musicians since 1988.
Garry Kvistad has been performing and recording with Steve Reich and Musicians since 1980. In 2002 Garry joined NEXUS, the internationally renowned, Canadian-based chamber music ensemble. Garry has studied at the Interlochen Arts Academy, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and Northern Illinois University. While serving on the faculties of Northern Illinois University and the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, he co-founded the Blackearth Percussion Group. The Balinese Gong Kebyar Gamelan ensemble Giri Mekar, which he formed, is currently in residence at Bard College. Garry is the founder and CEO of Woodstock Percussion, Inc., makers and distributors of Woodstock Chimes and musical instruments for children.
Elizabeth Lim-Dutton began studying at the age if three and performed her first recital at the age of five. She has performed extensively in the United States, Europe, the Far East and Australia, appearing as soloist with L’Orchestre de Bayonne-Cote Basque and the L’Orchestre de Bordeaux (recorded by Radio France), and many other orchestras and chamber ensembles. A member of Steve Reich and Musicians and the Steve Reich Ensemble since 1992, Ms. Lim-Dutton has performed in such diverse and distinguished venues as the Musikverein in Vienna, Zankel Hall, and the Sydney Opera House. At the Symphony Space in New York City, Ms. Lim-Dutton performed Mr. Reich’s solo Violin Phase with the choreographer Doug Varone.
Lisa Moore was born in the leafy capital of Australia. She has performed with the New York City Ballet, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Steve Reich Ensemble, American Composers Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Paul Dresher Ensemble, BargeMusic, Da Capo Chamber Players, Manhattan Brass, Mabou Mines, John Jasperse Dance, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. She is the founding pianist for the Bang on a Can All-Stars and has premiered hundreds of newly commissioned works for piano solo and ensemble. She has performed in festivals throughout the world, including Paris d’Automne, BAM’s Next Wave, Tanglewood, and Mostly Mozart. Lisa Moore will be artistic director of the Canberra International Music Festival in 2008.
Eugene Moye is a premier cellist on the New York classical music freelance scene. Principal cellist of American Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Opera Orchestra of New York, and Westchester Philharmonic, he is also sought after to play numerous chamber music concerts. He has premiered cello concertos with New York Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, and American Symphony Orchestra. In addition, Mr. Moye has recorded with or backed up numerous popular music stars, including Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Ricky Martin, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Kiss, and countless others.
Edmund Niemann joined Steve Reich and Musicians in 1978. With Nurit Tilles, he formed Double Edge, which made its Town Hall debut in 1987. Mr. Niemann was also a founding member of the contemporary ensemble Parnassus and has appeared with Speculum Musicae, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Da Capo Players, the New Music Consort, Group for Contemporary Music, and the Mother Mallard Band. He has also worked with choreographers Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Laura Dean, and Annabelle Gamson. He has appeared with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, American Symphony, and Rob Kapilow’s Family Musik at Lincoln Center. Throughout the 1990s, Mr. Niemann teaches at Princeton University and the Hoff-Barthelson School in Scarsdale, New York.
James Preiss has been a member of Steve Reich’s ensemble since 1971 and has performed in the first performances and recordings of many of his works, including Drumming; Music for 18 Musicians; Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices, and Organ; Six Pianos; Desert Music; Six Marimbas; Music for Pieces of Wood; Nagoya Marimbas; and many others. He is on the percussion faculty of the Manhattan School of Music and the Mannes College of Music. Preiss is principal percussion of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, Westchester Philharmonic, and Riverside Symphony, and recently was soloist with the Brooklyn Philharmonic in performances of Yarregeh—Nocturne For Solo Percussion and Orchestra, by Australian composer Ross Edwards.
Gary Schall first performed with Steve Reich and Musicians in 1973. He has toured the United States and Japan with tap dancer Anita Feldman and is currently the Director of Music for the Lawrence Public Schools.
Les Scott, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, is a graduate of The Juilliard School of Music and Washington University. Mr. Scott has pursued a remarkably varied career as a multi-instrumentalist and conductor. He has played with groups as disparate as the New York Philharmonic and the New York Pops, the Charles Mingus Band, and The Renaissance Band, and on recordings for soloists ranging from Judy Collins and Richie Havens to Dawn Upshaw, Plácido Domingo, and Itzhak Perlman. He has been touring the world with Steve Reich and Musicians since the 1970s.
Nurit Tilles has has been a member of Steve Reich and Musicians since 1975, and founded the duo-piano team Double Edge with Edmund Niemann in 1978. The duo has premiered works by John Cage, David Borden, “Blue” Gene Tyranny, Kevin Volans, and David Lang, among others. Tilles has also worked with many other distinguished composers, including Eve Beglarian, Gerald Busby, Fred Hersch, Meredith Monk, Kirk Nurock, Paul Paccione, and the late Donald Ashwander. She has performed in such venues as the Lincoln Center Institute, Knitting Factory, Cooper Union, the MATA Festival, and Kalvos and Damian’s Festival of New Music.
Thad Wheeler is director of The Wheeler Project, which he formed in 1992. Thad has been recording and touring internationally with Steve Reich since 1989. The recording of his composition The Dancing Bird: A Suite in Six Movements was produced by Novalight Arts for Albany Records in 1994. Thad also collaborates with his wife, Francesca Vanasco, on producing and writing for theater. Their work Butterfly Dreams was premiered in the spring of 2004, and their rock theater piece, Justine’s Red, A tale of pain and redemption, was premiered in New York City in November 2004.
Synergy Vocals is a unique pool of voices covering a broad spectrum of musical genres and working primarily on microphone. Highly respected for its seamless vocal blend, rhythmic precision and dynamic performances, the team collaborates regularly with Ensemble Modern, Steve Reich and Musicians, and Ictus. Heard in tonight’s concert are the performers Amy Haworth, soprano; Amanda Morrison, soprano and piano; Micaela Haslam, soprano; and Heather Cairncross, alto.
Synergy has performed live with many outstanding orchestras and ensembles, including BBC Symphony, Boston Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Ensemble Bash, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Kroumata, London Sinfonietta, London Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Netherlands Radio Symphony, New World Symphony, Nexus, Remix, Sinfonia 21, and the Smith Quartet. The ensemble has also performed in collaboration with the Royal Ballet (UK), Mark Baldwin (UK), and Rosas (Belgium) dance companies.
Closely associated with several leading contemporary composers, including Steve Reich, Steve Mackey, Louis Andriessen, John Adams, and the late Luciano Berio, Synergy has performed in prestigious venues and festivals all over the world—in the UK, US, Australia, the Far East, and Europe.
In addition to live concerts and recordings, the group has undertaken several educational and outreach projects (for The Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, Princeton University, Eastman College, Oberlin College, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra), both coaching vocalists and working with composers in the creation of new works involving singers.
The group’s recordings include Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians with Ensemble Modern (BMG/RCA), Drumming with Ictus (Cyprès), Three Tales (Nonesuch DVD) with Steve Reich and Musicians, and Karl Jenkins’s Imagined Oceans (Sony Classical). The group is also featured on several film soundtracks, including Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Nanny McPhee, and Brothers Grimm.
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