STEVE REICH "Composer Portrait" closes Miller's '00-01 season 5/24

[Seth Rogovoy <rogovoy...>]

[I thought I'd pass this press release along to the list... --sr]

MILLER THEATRE
of  C O L U M B I A  U N I V E R S I T Y
Season Finale
5/24/01
STEVE REICH
Ossia drops the curtains on Miller?s 2000-01 season with the music of Steve
Reich
Tehillim  ?  The Desert Music (in a new version)

Thursday, May 24, 8:00 pm
Reich Redux
Tehillim ? The Desert Music
Tickets: $17

For the grand finale to its unparalleled schedule of contemporary classical
music, Miller Theatre turns to the man that kicked the season off: modern
music icon Steve Reich.  Reich returns to Miller to hear Tehillim, his
masterpiece based on Hebrew cantillation, together with the premiere of a
new
version of The Desert Music.  The newest kids on the new music block, Ossia
(Eastman School of Music?s own ?alternative? new music group), led by
conductor Alan Pierson, show up straight from Eastman for the performance,
which closes the curtain on Miller?s wildly successful 2000-01 season.
Miller sends its audience into the off-season accompanied by the music of a
true 20th-century legend.


Steve Reich (b. 1935), an early pioneer in tape music and American
minimalism, has established himself as one of the foremost composers of our
time.  Following studies in philosophy at Cornell University (1953-7), Reich
turned to composition, first with Persichetti at Julliard (1958-61), then
with Luciano Berio and Darius Milhaud at Mills College (1962-3).  His music
is characterized by a strong, steady pulse and strictly diatonic and tonal
harmonies.  He is typically grouped together with other "first generation"
minimalist composers such as Phillip Glass and La Monte Young, and more
recently with younger composers such as John Adams.  The music is deeply
"American" in its roots, with an unrelenting pulse and short, repeating
melodic figures often compared to rock-and-roll and be-bop.  However, like
other minimalist composers, Reich?s music is also largely influenced by
extra-European forms and techniques, generally viewed as a response to the
largely academic, elitist climate of new music in the 1950's and 60's.

Ossia provides alternatives for the performance of new music and for the
education of musicians.  Founded in 1997, the organization of
student-musicians and young professionals draws its members from the student
body of the Eastman School of Music.  Their highlights include residencies
by
Stephen Scott and Steve Reich, and concerts featuring Karlheinz Stockhausen?
s
Stimmung and a fully staged production of John Cage?s Song Books.  Ossia?s
performance of Reich?s Music for a Large Ensemble is scheduled for release
on
Nonesuch.

Tickets are $17.  Discounts are available for students and seniors.  Tickets
are available from the Miller Theatre box office at 212-854-7799 or in
person
at Miller Theatre (116th Street and Broadway).  Box office hours are noon to
six, Monday through Friday.

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