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Reich + Bach Featuring ENSEMBLE SIGNAL  BRAD LUBMAN, Conductor and an Onstage Discussion with Legendary Composer STEVE REICH

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Reich + Bach Featuring ENSEMBLE SIGNAL  BRAD LUBMAN, Conductor and an Onstage Discussion with Legendary Composer STEVE REICH Aleba & Co. 134 Henry Street • New York, NY 10002 212 206 1450 • [email protected] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press Contacts: April 8, 2014 Aleba Gartner, 212/206-1450; [email protected] InFormation: 212/854-7799; millertheatre.com Charlotte Levitt, 212/854-2380; [email protected] “[With Tehillim] Mr. Reich’s music takes on a whole new dimension oF ravishing beauty, beauty that was in there all along.” – The New York Times Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts brings its 25th Anniversary Season to a triumphant close with Reich + Bach featuring ENSEMBLE SIGNAL BRAD LUBMAN, conductor and an onstage discussion with legendary composer STEVE REICH Thursday, May 15, 2014, 8:00 p.m. Miller Theatre (2960 Broadway at 116th Street) Tickets: $35-$45 • Students with valid ID: $21-$24 From Miller Theatre Executive Director Melissa Smey: “Steve Reich is one oF the most inspiring and signiFicant figures in 20th century American music, and it is an honor to have him join us as we close our 25th Anniversary Season. When we approached Steve about this project, he immediately said yes – on the condition that we do Tehillim. It’s a magniFicent piece, and one that’s heard too rarely.” BACH, REVISITED The Bach series has evolved over the years, encompassing both historically informed performances and modern interpretations, and offering listeners a wide variety of musical lenses through which to view Bach's masterful oeuvre. In its current incarnation, the Bach, Revisited series explores Bach’s legacy and continuing influence on modern works, pairing Bach’s work with that of contemporary composers. The 25th Anniversary Season lineup has a unique twist: three incredible living composers— Kaija Saariaho, Joan Tower, and Steve Reich—will curate programs pairing their own work with related, influential works of Bach. All three will also participate in onstage discussions about their selections. Page 1 of 4 Bach, Revisited Thursday, May 15, 2014, 8:00 p.m. Reich + Bach Miller Theatre (2960 Broadway at 116th Street) American icon Steve Reich curates a program pairing two powerhouse sacred works For voices and chamber ensemble. A setting oF Hebrew psalms, Tehillim, is Reich at his transcendent best, by turns meditative and ecstatic. Reich credits Bach’s cantata as an important inspiration, its third-movement duet a model For his own. The thread oF taking inspiration From the past extends to the Bach: his cantata was based on a Martin Luther hymn, which was itselF an adaptation oF a 12th-century Easter tune. Steve Reich will attend the perFormance and participate in an onstage discussion with Miller Theatre’s executive Director, Melissa Smey. Click here to view a video interview about the program with Steve Reich. PROGRAM: Bach: Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4 Reich: Tehillim (1981) PERFORMERS: ensemble Signal Brad Lubman, conductor with special guests Mellissa Hughes, soprano Caroline Shaw, soprano jamie jordan, soprano Kirsten Sollek, alto Eric Dudley, tenor Jonathan Woody, bass-baritone BIOS: Steve Reich has been called “America’s greatest living composer” (The Village Voice) and “...among the great composers oF the century” (The New York Times). His music has been inFluential to composers and mainstream musicians all over the world. He is a leading pioneer oF minimalism, having in his youth broken away From the “establishment” that was serialism. His music is known For steady pulse, repetition, and a Fascination with canons; it combines rigorous structures with propulsive rhythms and seductive instrumental color. It also embraces harmonies oF non-Western and American vernacular music (especially jazz). His studies have included the gamelan, African drumming (at the University oF Ghana), and traditional Forms oF chanting the Hebrew scriptures. Different Trains and Music for 18 Musicians have each earned him Grammy awards, and his “documentary video opera” works—The Cave and Three Tales, done in collaboration with video artist Beryl Korot—have pushed the boundaries oF the operatic medium. Over the years his music has signiFicantly grown both in expanded harmonies and instrumentation, resulting in a Pulitzer Prize For his 2007 composition, Double Sextet. Reich’s music has been perFormed by major orchestras and ensembles around the world, Page 2 of 4 including the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics; London, San Francisco, Boston, and BBC symphony orchestras; London SinFonietta; kronos Quartet; ensemble Modern; ensemble Intercontemporain; Bang on a Can All-Stars; and eighth blackbird. Several noted choreographers have created dances to his music, such as Anne Teresa de keersmaeker, jirí kylían, jerome Robbins, Wayne McGregor, and Christopher Wheeldon. Ensemble Signal, described by The New York Times as “one oF the most vital groups oF its kind”, is a NY-based ensemble oFFering the broadest possible audience access to a diverse range oF contemporary works through perFormance, commissioning, recording, and education. Since its debut in 2008, the ensemble has perFormed over 90 concerts, has given the NY, world, or US premieres oF over 20 works, and co-produced five recordings. Signal was founded by Co-Artistic/executive Director Lauren RadnoFsky and Co-Artistic Director/Conductor Brad Lubman. A “new music dream team,” (TimeOutNY), Signal is flexible in size and instrumentation - everything From solo to large contemporary ensemble in any possible combination - enabling it to meet the ever-changing demands on the 21st century perForming ensemble. Signal’s Fearless programming ranges From minimalism or pop-influenced to the iconoclastic European avant-garde. Signal has worked with artists and composers including Steve Reich, Helmut Lachenmann, Irvine Arditti, Michael Gordon, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Oliver knussen, Hilda Paredes, and Charles Wuorinen. Their educational activities have included workshops with emerging composers at the june in BuFFalo Festival, where they are a resident ensemble. Signal's recording are available on Philip Glass's Orange Mountain, New Amsterdam Records, Mode, and Cantaloupe. Recent highlights include perForming in the 2013 Lincoln Center Festival’s production oF Monkey: Journey to The West. Upcoming highlights include the co-commission oF a new work For large ensemble by Steve Reich. Brad Lubman, conductor/composer, is Founding co-Artistic Director and Music Director oF ensemble Signal, hailed by The New York Times as “one oF the most vital groups oF its kind.” Since his conducting debut in 1984, he has gained widespread recognition for his versatility, commanding technique, and insightFul interpretations. His guest conducting engagements include major orchestras such as the DSO Berlin, Netherlands Radio kamer Filharmonie, Residentie Orchestra Den Haag, WDR Symphony Cologne, NDR Symphony Hamburg, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Stuttgart Radio Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, Deutschland Radio Philharmonie, American Composers Orchestra, and the St Paul Chamber Orchestra, perForming repertoire ranging From classical to contemporary orchestral works. He has worked with some oF the most important ensembles For contemporary music, including London SinFonietta, ensemble Modern, klangForum Wien, musikFabrik, Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, and Steve Reich and Musicians. He has recorded For AEON, Albany, BMG/RCA, Bridge, Cantaloupe, CRI, Kairos, Koch, Mode, New World, NeOS, Nonesuch, Orange Mountain, and Tzadik. Lubman’s own compositions have been perFormed in the USA and europe and can be heard on his CD, insomniac, on Tzadik. Page 3 of 4 Columbia University’s Miller Theatre is located north of the Main Campus Gate at 116th St. & Broadway on the ground floor of Dodge Hall. Directions and inFormation are available online at www.millertheatre.com or via the Miller Theatre Box OfFice, at 212/854.7799. For Further inFormation, press tickets, and to arrange interviews, please contact Aleba & Co. at 212/206-1450 or [email protected]. For photos, please contact Charlotte Levitt at 212/854-2380 or [email protected]. # # # Page 4 of 4 .
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