Reich/Reverberations

Drumming (Complete)

July 16

Alice Tully Hall

1941 Broadway

“The most original musical thinker of our time.”

—New Yorker on Steve Reich

“Startling technique and almost inhuman precision.”

—Pitchfork on Sō Percussion’s recording of Drumming

Sō Percussion Eric Cha-Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting

With Yumi Tamashiro, David Degge, Evan Chapman, Victor Caccesse, Jude Traxler

Singers Beth Meyers and Daisy Press

Piccolo Jessica Schmitz

  • Steve Reich : Drumming (Complete)

The acclaimed quartet Sō Percussion brings their “impressive vitality” (Washington Post) to Reich’s 1971 breakthrough work, Drumming. Considered one of the first minimalist masterpieces, Drumming marks a major shift in Reich’s early work, when he applied processes he’d been developing with looped tapes to live performance. With kaleidoscopic textures that bloom from a single repeated rhythm, this major, four-part percussion work continues to intrigue and impress audiences 45 years after its premiere.

Performed on bongos, marimbas, glockenspiels, a piccolo, and with female voices, Drumming’s crisscrossing patterns induce gradual shifts in timbre, mood, and spatial perception. The result is a work that, like many of Reich’s later pieces—including the iconic Music for 18 Musicians—is at once meticulous in its parts and wholly immersive. Sō Percussion, who released a critically acclaimed recording of Drumming in 2004, is a thrilling champion of Reich’s works and an expert guide to this essential musical experience.


Featured Article: Reich/Reverberations Playlist

The Lincoln Center Festival 2016 presentation of Reich/Reverberations is made possible in part by generous support from The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

Attend a Performance

View Packages
Add to Calendar 16-07-2016 08:00:00 pm 16-07-2016 10:00:00 pm 15 Drumming (Complete) at Lincoln Center Festival The acclaimed quartet Sō Percussion brings their “impressive vitality” (Washington Post) to Reich’s 1971 breakthrough work, Drumming. Considered one of the first minimalist masterpieces, Drumming marks a major shift in Reich’s early work, when he applied processes he’d been developing with looped tapes to live performance. With kaleidoscopic textures that bloom from a single repeated rhythm, this major, four-part percussion work continues to intrigue and impress audiences 45 years after its premiere. Performed on bongos, marimbas, glockenspiels, a piccolo, and with female voices, Drumming’s crisscrossing patterns induce gradual shifts in timbre, mood, and spatial perception. The result is a work that, like many of Reich’s later pieces—including the iconic Music for 18 Musicians—is at once meticulous in its parts and wholly immersive. Sō Percussion, who released a critically acclaimed recording of Drumming in 2004, is a thrilling champion of Reich’s works and an expert guide to this essential musical experience. Featured Article: Reich/Reverberations Playlist Alice Tully Hall, 1941 Broadway Lincoln Center Presents Lincoln Center Festival

Also in This Series

Triple Quartet, WTC 9/11, Different Trains

Double Sextet and Music for 18 Musicians

View Packages
Add to Calendar 21-07-2016 08:00:00 pm 21-07-2016 10:00:00 pm 15 Double Sextet and Music for 18 Musicians at Lincoln Center Festival Lincoln Center Festival’s Steve Reich series culminates in two dazzling works at the pinnacle of the composer’s oeuvre. Conductor Brad Lubman leads Ensemble Signal, “one of the most vital groups of its kind” (New York Times), in the Pulitzer Prize–winning Double Sextet. Here two identical ensembles comprising flute, clarinet, violin, cello, vibraphone, and piano engage in a vibrant interplay that brings together four decades of Reich’s endlessly inventive work with interlocking patterns, timbre, and musical color. The celebration concludes with Music for 18 Musicians, “Steve Reich’s 1976 masterpiece, one of the landmarks of 20th-century music” (Guardian, U.K.), on the 40th anniversary of its premiere. Composed between 1974 and 1976, Music for 18 Musicians is a shining example of Reich’s fully realized style of minimalism, a culmination of the polyrhythmic, phase-shifting work he began years earlier and an opening into the increasingly complex works that have continued to evolve over the past four decades. Experience this tour de force of colors, sounds, rhythms, and propulsion as performed by Ensemble Signal. BBC Music Magazine praised the group’s 2015 recording of the work as a “fast, sharply focused achievement that flies past barely touching the ground” adding that “one cannot help but be staggered by the skill of musicians … This is Reich for the 21st century.” This concert will be streamed live. Cameras will be present. Watch the concert. Featured Article: Reich/Reverberations Playlist The Appel Room, Broadway at 60th Street, 5th floor Lincoln Center Presents Lincoln Center Festival
Add to Calendar 19-07-2016 08:00:00 pm 19-07-2016 10:00:00 pm 15 Triple Quartet, WTC 9/11, Different Trains at Lincoln Center Festival The “intense and audacious” JACK Quartet (Financial Times) and “new-music dream team” Ensemble Signal (Time Out New York) conducted by Brad Lubman come together for this singular evening of music. Composed over thirty years, these three works offer an intriguing snapshot of different phases in Reich’s career. The beautiful and chilling Different Trains, was premiered by Kronos Quartet in 1988. Written for string quartet and taped recordings of speech and sound, it juxtaposes the story of the composer as a child in the 1930s crossing the U.S. by train with the contemporaneous story of European Jews being transported by train during the Holocaust. In 1998’s Triple Quartet, Reich continued to develop the textural possibilities of combining live performance and taped recordings. Then, as its title suggests, WTC 9/11deals with the devastation experienced by many New Yorkers—including Reich himself—after the collapse of the World Trade Center in 2001. Pre-recorded sound, voices, and live musical lines are layered once again to haunting effect. Featured Article: Reich/Reverberations Playlist The Appel Room, Broadway at 60th Street, 5th floor Lincoln Center Presents Lincoln Center Festival

Venue Accessibility

  • Large-print programs
  • Braille programs
  • Wheelchair-accessible seating
  • Assistive listening devices

For questions about accessibility or to request an accommodation, please contact access@lincolncenter.org or 212.875.5375.
For ticketing information and general questions, please call 212.721.6500.