Steve Reich | RTE Living Music Festival

Steve Reich to visit Dublin for
RTÉ Living Music Festival
17–19 February 2006

RTÉ will host a major celebration of the work of Steve Reich, icon of American music and contemporary culture, in the 2006 RTÉ Living Music Festival sponsored by IMRO, the Irish Music Rights Organisation.

Under the artistic direction of composer Donnacha Dennehy, the 2006 festival will take place from Friday 17 to Sunday 19 February 2006 and will mark a move from the Helix to city centre venues the O&acuteReilly Theatre (Belvedere College, Great Denmark Street), National Concert Hall and Project Arts Centre.

Highlights of this celebration in Reich&acutes 70th birthday year will include a public interview and a composition seminar with this major figure in contemporary music on his first visit to Ireland, an 11-hour ‘marathon&acute, and a return visit to Dublin by Reich specialists Ensemble Modern following their acclaimed Irish début in the 2005 festival. Steve Reich participates in the festival with the support of the UCD Clinton Institute for American Studies. The RTÉ Living Music Festival is also supported by The Irish Times.

The 2006 festival will also feature the music of other leading composers of recent times, such as Louis Andriessen, Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt and John Adams. Marking the centenary year of Samuel Beckett, the festival will include Morton Feldman&acutes one-act opera Neither, a setting of a Beckett text.

Reich&acutes music has been influenced by everything from Bach, Stravinsky and Debussy to Balinese gamelan, African drumming and jazz, but it is also wholly American in character. Reich&acutes music is represented by works including You Are (Variations) and Music for 18 Musicians (Ensemble Modern, conductor Sian Edwards); City Life (Crash Ensemble); Three Movements (RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, conductor Stefan Asbury); Triple Quartet and Different Trains (RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet); Part 1 of Drumming, and Proverb (National Chamber Choir with Ensemble Modern, conductor Celso Antunes).
Other programme highlights include the world premières of three pieces commissioned for the festival by RTÉ from Kevin Volans, Jennifer Walshe and Simon O&acuteConnor.
Looking forward to the RTÉ Living Music Festival, artistic director Donnacha Dennehy said:

‘I remember vividly the day I first heard Steve Reich&acutes Music for 18 Musicians, and fell in love. This was not just a love for that piece, but a love for a whole new sound. It is particularly meaningful for me that this festival, forming the largest concentration on the work of Steve Reich that this country has ever experienced, will finish with that iconic work played by one of the world&acutes greatest groups, Ensemble Modern. Building up to that, and including an all-day marathon event on the Saturday, will be a riotous celebration of his work in the context of other major figures such as Morton Feldman, Arvo Pärt and many others.

‘Alex Ross, writing in the New Yorker magazine, recently declared Reich “the most original musical thinker of our time”. But this may conjure up an image of an obscure cult figure living in an attic. Far from it! Steve Reich is not just known to a small group of new music cognoscenti, or those interested in classical music. His reach spans all genres of music, from new classical to electronica (and many others in between). I can hardly think of another musician so influential outside his own area. I am delighted that Steve Reich will be attending in person to partake in the festival.&acute

RTÉ LIVING MUSIC FESTIVAL 2006 AT A GLANCE

FRIDAY 17 FEBRUARY
RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra National Concert Hall, 8pm

SATURDAY 18 FEBRUARY
‘Marathon&acute Concert Day O&acuteReilly Theatre, 1–11.30pm
Featuring public interview with Steve Reich and performances by the Crash Ensemble, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, and RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet with pianist Hugh Tinney

SUNDAY 19 FEBRUARY
Composition seminar with Steve Reich National Concert Hall, 11am*
*NB strictly limited number of tickets, available by application only – please see details below.

RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet (plus soundtrack) Project Arts Centre, 3pm

National Chamber Choir with Ensemble Modern National Concert Hall, 5pm

Ensemble Modern National Concert Hall, 8pm

Full programme below.

For further information please contact
Angela Rohan, Communications Executive, RTÉ Performing Groups
Tel: 01 208 3347
Mobile: 087 617 2531
Fax: 01 208 2511
Email: angela.rohan@nullrte.ie

RTÉ Living Music Festival 2006
17–19 February
O&acuteReilly Theatre, National Concert Hall & Project Arts Centre

Programme

Friday, 17 February

8pm National Concert Hall
RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra

Steve Reich Three Movements (1986)
Steve Reich Variations for Winds, Strings, and Keyboards (1979)
Morton Feldman Neither (1977)

Sylvia O&acuteBrien soprano
Stefan Asbury conductor

Tickets: €15 (conc. €12)
Booking: 01 417 0000 www.nch.ie

Saturday, 18 February

‘Marathon&acute Concert Day
1–11.30pm
O&acuteReilly Theatre

The ‘Marathon&acute Concert Day takes place in association with Crash Ensemble.

Part 1: 1–2.30pm O&acuteReilly Theatre
Crash Ensemble

Steve Reich It&acutes Gonna Rain (1965)
Jennifer Walshe The Procedure for Smoothing Air (world première – RTÉ lyric fm commission)
Philip Glass Two Pages for Steve Reich (1968)
Steve Reich Pendulum Music (1968)
Steve Reich Four Organs (1970)

Alan Pierson conductor
Tickets: €10 (conc. €8)
Booking: 01 448 7777 www.centralticketbureau.com

Part 2: 3–5pm O&acuteReilly Theatre
Crash Ensemble

Louis Andriessen Workers Union (1975)
James Tenney Having Never Written a Note for Percussion (1971)
Simon O&acuteConnor New work (world première – RTÉ lyric fm commission)
Steve Reich Vermont Counterpoint (1982)
Steve Reich Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ (1973)

Alan Pierson conductor
Tickets: €15 (conc. €10)
Booking: 01 448 7777 www.centralticketbureau.com

5–6pm Supper break

Part 3: 6–7pm O&acuteReilly Theatre
RTÉ Concert Orchestra

Steve Reich Duet (1993)
Arvo Pärt Fratres for String Orchestra and Percussion (1977 / 1991)
Morton Feldman The Turfan Fragments (1980)
John Adams Common Tones in Simple Time (1979)

Christopher Austin conductor
Tickets: €10 (conc. €8)
Booking: 01 448 7777 www.centralticketbureau.com

Part 4: 7.30–8.30pm O&acuteReilly Theatre
Public Interview – Steve Reich in conversation with John Kelly
Steve Reich participates in the festival with the support of the UCD Clinton Institute for American Studies.

Tickets: €15 (conc. €12)
Booking: 01 448 7777 www.centralticketbureau.com

Part 5: 8.45–10.25pm Chapel, O&acuteReilly Theatre
RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet with Hugh Tinney piano

Kevin Volans String Quartet No. 10 (world première – RTÉ Performing Groups commission)
Morton Feldman Piano and String Quartet (1985)

Tickets: €10 (conc. €8)
Booking: 01 448 7777 www.centralticketbureau.com

Part 6: 11pm–12 midnight O&acuteReilly Theatre
Crash Ensemble

Steve Reich Clapping Music (1972)
Steve Reich Cello Counterpoint (2003)
Steve Reich City Life (1995)
Alan Pierson conductor
Tickets: €10 (conc. €8)
Booking: 01 448 7777 www.centralticketbureau.com

DAY TICKET (All Events): €50 (conc. €40)
Booking: 01 448 7777 www.centralticketbureau.com

Sunday, 19 February

11am Carolan Room, National Concert Hall
Steve Reich Composition Seminar

Limited number of free tickets available by application only. Contact RTÉ Performing Groups, tel. 01 208 2617 or email music@nullrte.ie

3pm Project Arts Centre
RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet (plus soundtrack)

Ingram Marshall Fog Tropes II (1993)
Steve Reich Triple Quartet (1999)
Steve Reich Different Trains (1989)

Tickets: €10 (conc. €8)
Booking: 01 881 9613/01 881 9614

5pm National Concert Hall
National Chamber Choir with Ensemble Modern

Steve Reich Know What Is Above You (1999)
Pérotin Viderunt omnes (12th century)
Arvo Pärt Summa for mixed choir or soloists (SATB) a cappella (1977)
Guillaume de Machaut Kyrie and Gloria from Messe de Notre Dame
Steve Reich Part 1 of Drumming (1970–71)
Steve Reich Proverb (1995)

Celso Antunes conductor

Tickets: €15 (conc. €12)
Booking: 01 417 0000 www.nch.ie

8pm National Concert Hall
Ensemble Modern with Synergy Vocals

Steve Reich You Are (Variations) (2004)
Steve Reich Music for 18 Musicians (1974–76)

Sian Edwards conductor

Tickets: €15 (conc. €12)
Booking: 01 417 0000 www.nch.ie