Reich: Complete Quartets Played Live in New York
Special concert will offer premiere performance of WTC 9/11 by an all-live ensemble
This September, Steve Reich’s three iconic string quartets will be presented on stage in one concert. The American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) together with conductor Donato Cabrera, will present Different Trains, Triple Quartet, and the first performance of Reich’s moving and critically acclaimed piece WTC 9/11 by an all-live ensemble. The concert, which also marks the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, takes place at Le Poisson Rouge, in lower Manhattan, on September 11, 2012.
Of the three quartets, the most recent is WTC 9/11, a work premiered in 2011 and originally scored for string quartet with two pre-recorded quartets and voices. The work is a powerful memorial to the victims of the September 2001 attacks. Kronos Quartet, which commissioned all three works on this upcoming concert, premiered WTC 9/11 and performed it around the globe in 2011, including memorable performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall and London’s Barbican Centre. Following the London performance, The Guardian reacted to the work: “…a restrained, taut piece in three continuous movements, almost ritualised in its plainness, and tremendously powerful in effect.” ACME will perform the work with 12 musicians, each playing out the string parts, accompanied by the original recorded voices on tape. Similar to WTC 9/11, Triple Quartet will also be performed by a live ensemble of three string quartets, while Different Trains will be performed in its originally composed arrangement.
This concert will be available via a live audio and video webcast, courtesy of WQXR’s Q2 Music network and NPR Classical. For more information, click here.
This Fall, Reich’s music will be heard in South America, with a performance of Drumming at the famous Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina on October 7; as well as a special tribute concert featuring Proverb and Tehillim on November 6–7. Reich’s next new piece will be Radio Rewrite, commissioned by the London Sinfonietta and Alarm Will Sound. The first performances take place in March 2013.
> Further information about the concert: Le Poisson Rouge
> Further information on Work: WTC 9/11
Photo Credit: Jeffrey Herman
