Brooklyn Peter Jay Sharp Building CommunicationsDepartment Academy 30 Lafayette Avenue Sandy Sawotka ... of Brooklyn NY 11217-1486 Fatima Kafele , Music Telephone: 718.636.4129 Lucy Walters Fax: 718 .857 .2021 Tamara McCaw Christina Norris [email protected] News Release BAM celebrates Steve Reich@70 with a dance program featuring Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker/Rosas; London Sinfonietta and Akram Khan Company in a U.S. premiere Unprecedented, month-long tribute features programs at BAM, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center 2006 Next Wave Festival is sponsored by Altria Group, Inc. Major support for Steve Reich@ 70 is provided by The Robert W. Wilson Foundation, Inc. Steve Reich @ 70 Fase,four movements to the music of Steve Reich Rosas Choreography by Ann:e Teresa De Keersmaeker Variations for Vibes, Pianos and Strings U.S. Premiere Composed by Steve Reich Choreography by Akram Khan Akram Khan Company London Sinfonietta Conducted by Alan Pierson An ECHO commission with funds provided by Culture 2000 BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (30 Lafayette Ave) Oct 3, 5-7 at 7:30pm Tickets: $20, 40, 55 Brooklyn, NY/August 10, 200&-Steve Reich@ 70 is an unprecedented celebration of the renowned American composer's work, hosted by three of his hometown's leading performing arts organizations: BAM, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center. In complementary programs, each institution will present a Reich premiere along with a wide variety of earlier pieces-including collaborations with creators in other mediums. BAM2006 Next Wave Festival OCT 3-DEC 16 Sponsored by Altria Group, Inc. .. BAM's programming for Steve Reich @ 70 (which opens the month-long celebration on Oct 3-Reich's 70th birthday) underscores Reich's status as one of the most-choreographed living composers . The program begins with an acclaimed 1982 work by Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker : Fase,four movements to the music of Steve Reich. The work, set to Reich's Violin Phase (1967), Piano Pha se (1967), Clapping Music (1972), and Come Out (1966), features a series of solos and duets- performed by De Keersmaeker and members of Rosas. The BAM Steve Reich @ 70 program continues with the U.S. premiere of Variations for Vibes, Pianos and Strings , an instrumental and dance work commissioned by the European Concert Hall Organization (ECHO) for the London Sinfonietta and the Akram Khan Company. Scored for four vibraphones, two pianos, and three string quartets , Variations will be performed by the intrepid music ensemble London Sinfonietta, a leading force in contemporary classical music since it was founded in 1968. The piece features choreograph y by Akram Khan- a renowned British dancer/choreographer acclaimed for his vital, cross-cultural expression-and will be performed by a trio of male dancers, including Khan and guest dancers Young Jin Kim (of South Korea) and Gregory Maqoma (of South Africa). On its recent U.K. premiere, The Times called Variations " ... one of [Reich's] most exuberant and beguiling works," and Khan 's choreography " ... a tantalizing visual metaphor for the irresistible pulse of Reich 's work." About the artists BAM has presented the music of longtime artistic colleague /composer /performer Steve Reich since 1971, when world premiere performances of Drumming took place at BAM , MoMA , and Town Hall. In 1982, Steve Reich and Musicians performed Vermont Counterpoint, Tehillim , and other works as part of the Next Wave Series (an early program that led to the development of the Next Wave Festival). Toe U.S. premiere of Reich 's The Desert Music-conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas leading the Brooklyn Philharmonic-took place during the 1984 Next Wave Festival. In 1993, Steve Reich and Beryl Korot's The Cave made its U.S. premiere at BAM 's Opera House; Music for 18 Music ians , a Gramm y Award-winning composition, and Hindenburg were performed by the Steve Reich Ensemble at the Next Wave Festival in 1998. In 2002, BAM presented the New York premiere of Reich/Korot' s Three Tales- a three-part digital documentary video opera--one part of which was the previously performed Hindenburg. For many years , Reich 's compositions have also been performed at BAM as part of diverse instrumental and dance programming - Reich collaborated with the Laura Dean Dance Company on a 1975 program, and that company , along with Reich, later performed the composer's Impact (later Sextet) at the 1985 Next Wave Festival; the Brooklyn Philharmonic performed "The Music of Steve Reich," conducted by Kent Nagano, at the 1987 Next Wave Festival; a 1999 Brooklyn Philharmonic program entitled "Music & Religion" featured the music of Reich, Stravinsky , and Bach; and the Kronos Quartet played selections from The Cave as part of a 1995 program. One of the most significant contemporary choreographers , Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker has had a special and longstanding connection to Steve Reich 's music. Born in Wemmel, Belgium and educated at Mudra, Maurice Bejart's school in Brussels , De Keersmaeker created her first dance piece, Asch (1980), at the age of 20. From 1980-81, she studied at New York University 's Tisch School of the Arts, where she worked with members of Steve Reich 's ensemble and began to choreograph the landmark F ase to Reich's music. In 1983, she founded her company Rosas in Brussels. In 1992, De Keersmaeker and Rosas were invited to be the resident choreographer and dance company of Brussels' Theatre de la Monnaie , the city in which De Keersmaeker also founded (in 1995) the international contemporary dance school P.A.R .T.S. (Performing Arts Research & Training Studios), which she still directs. Drumming , set to Reich's well-known composition (and performed by her dance company , Rosas, with the music ensemble Ictus) made its New York premiere at the 2001 Next Wave Festival. De Keersmaeker's Rain made its 2003 U.S . premiere at BAM , set to Reich 's Music for 18 Musicians (performed by Ictus, with vocalists Synergy) . De Keersmae ker has received numerous awards, including a 1987 Bessie for Rosas danst Rosas (which was performed at BAM in 1986); a 1989 Japanese Dance Award for Best Foreign Production (for Mikrokosmos ); a 1994 Lyon Dance Screen Award (for her film Achter/and) ; a Golden Laurel Wreath for best choreography (Sarajevo) for Drumming in 1998; a 1999 Bessie Award for Fase and for Sustained Achievement ; and the French Republic's Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres title in 2000 . In 2002 De Keersmaeker received the annual award of the Gabriella Moortgat Stichting and the Vermeil Medal from the City of Paris, and a medal ("Erepenning ") from the Belgian Flemish government. Unashamedly willing to take risks, the London Sinfonietta has pioneered cutting-edge music since its formation in 1968. Associate Artists of the South Bank Centre in London, the ensemble also tours regularly throughout the U .K. and abroad , with recent projects including performances in the Hayward Gallery, Tate Modem , and Southwark Underground Station, and residencies at New York 's Carnegie Hall and the Concertgebouw Bruges. The ensemble has been responsible for major events in the concert hall focusing on the music of Gyorgy Kurtag , Elliott Carter , Harrison Birtwistle, Pierre Boulez, Magnus Lindberg , Steve Reich, Peter Eotvos , Toru Takemitsu , George Benjamin , and its Conductor Laureate , Oliver Knussen. Its collaborations with electronica artists on the Warp Records label have resulted in sold-out tours reaching new, young audiences across Europe . The ensemble also boasts an extraordinary tally of over 250 premieres-not to mention 125 commissions from emerging and established composers alike. Variations for Vibes, Pianos and Strings-which toured seven packed concert halls around Europe-was such a commission . In 1983 the London Sinfonietta became the first UK orchestra to set up an education program , leading over 200 education projects in the last ten years alone, and creating four highly successful interactive websites as an aid for teachers and students . The ensemble has released its own CDs on the London Sinfonietta Label, including Snapshots , featuring tributes to Conductor Laureate Oliver Knussen on his 50th birthday ; and two releases of works by young British composer s. In November they will release a recording of the music of American composer Charles Wuorinen . Visit www.londonsinfonietta.org.uk to find out more. Akram Khan is the most acclaimed choreographer of his generation working in Britain today . Born in London into a family of Bangladeshi origin in 1974, he began dancing at age seven . He studied with the great Kathak dancer/teacher Sri Pratap Pawar , later becoming his disciple . Khan made his stage debut-and his BAM debut-at the age of fourteen in Peter Brook 's Mahabharata , which toured the world from 1987-89 . Following later studies in contemporary dance and a period working with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker 's Brussels-based X-Group project, Khan began presenting solo performances of his work in the 1990s, maintaining his commitment to the classical Kathak repertoire as well as to modem work. Among his best-known solo pieces are Polaroid Feet (2001) , Ronin (2003) , and Third Catalogue (2005). In August 2000, Khan launched his own company , which has provided him with a platform for innovation and for an increasingly diverse range of work that has evolved in collaboration with artists from other disciplines-ranging across theater , film, visual arts, music, and literature. Among his most notable Company works are Kaash (2002), a collaboration with artist Anish Kapoor and composer Nitin Sawhney; ma (2004), accompanied by a text by writer Hanif Kureishi, for which he received a South Bank Show Award in 2005 ; and zero degrees (2005) , a collaboration with dancer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui , sculptor Antony Gormley , and composer Nitin Sawhney. Khan was choreographer-in-residence and also Associate Artist at the South Bank Centre (the first non-musician to be afforded this status).