Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Limited 22 September 2006 for immediate release Steve Reich Daniel Variations premiere and international tour Photo: © Wonge Bergmann Photo: © Wonge
Daniel Variations Steve Reich’s newest work, Daniel Variations, tours internationally (world premiere) over the coming months. The world premiere takes place on 8 October 2006, 8 pm 8 October as the culmination of two marathon days of the composer’s Barbican, London music at the Barbican in London, the closing event in a major 70th 22 October 2006 birthday retrospective entitled Phases – The Music of Steve Reich. Carnegie Hall, New York Performers in the premiere are Steve Reich & Musicians, Synergy Vocals and conductor Brad Lubman. 12 November 2006 Casa da Música, Porto Daniel Variations was commissioned by Barbican Centre, Carnegie 14 November 2006 Hall Corporation, Cité de la Musique, Casa da Música Porto in Cité de la Musique, Paris memory of Daniel Pearl by an Anonymous Donor in association with Meet The Composer and the Daniel Pearl Foundation. The London 15 November 2006 performance falls during the Foundation’s 5th Daniel Pearl World Chalons en Champagne Music Days (www.music-days.org) on 6-15 October. 16 November 2006 Théâtre de Caen Following the premiere the work crosses the Atlantic for New York’s celebration of Steve Reich’s 70th, where three leading promoters 17 November 2006 (BAM Next Wave Festival, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center) forge MC2, Grenoble a rare collaboration in honour of one of the city’s leading creative artists. The US premiere takes place at Carnegie Hall on 22 October, 28 January 2007 featuring the same performers as in London. In November Daniel Disney Hall, Los Angeles Variations tours to Portugal and France, and the West Coast premiere is at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles in January 2007.
Reich on Daniel Variations Reich writes of Daniel Variations: “The 30-minute piece is in four movements using texts from the Biblical book of Daniel for the first and third movements and from the words of Daniel Pearl, the American Jewish reporter, kidnapped and murdered by Islamist extremists in Pakistan in 2002, for the second and fourth movements… Since Daniel Pearl was not only a reporter, but also played the fiddle – particularly jazz and blue grass – the strings take the lead melodically in the second and fourth movements, sometimes doubled by the two clarinets.”
Reich wins Praemium Imperiale
Reich awarded Steve Reich has been awarded the prestigious 2006 Praemium Praemium Imperiale Imperiale for Music, worth 15 million yen (£69,000) in recognition of — the ‘Nobel’ for Music his contribution to the arts. The awards are given annually by the Japan Art Association in five fields not covered by the Nobel Prizes: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Music and Theatre/Film. Globally acknowledged as cross-cultural ambassadors, previous recipients of the Music award have included Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Oscar Peterson, Ravi Shankar and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Japan’s Prince Hitachi will award the gold medals on 18 October at a formal ceremony in Tokyo.
For further information on Steve Reich, including full details of 70th birthday events, visit www.reich70.com or contact: David Allenby (Head of Publicity and Marketing) on [email protected] or tel: +44 (0)20 7054 7253 Pippa Patterson (Publicity & Press Assistant) on [email protected] or tel: +44 (0)20 7054 7254