STEVE REICH

AT BERLIN ATONAL FESTIVAL

For its 2014 edition on August 20, Berlin Atonal Festival has invited some of the most outstanding artists of our time.

On the opening night, the man who has been called “America’s greatest living composer” and “the most original thinker” by the Village Voice and The New Yorker will perform at Kraftwerk Berlin on Köpnenicker Straße.

Indeed, none other than Steve Reich will please the audience with his centerpiece “Music for 18 Musicians”.  A melody known for being Reich’s high point of his tradition-altering experimentation with phasing, abstraction and looping; in short, a hallucinogenically hypnotic and labyrinthine express-journey to the heart of modern music. As a prelude to this singular performance of 10 Musicians, Ensemble Modern will also perform Reich’s Drumming Part One.  

Back in 1978, when Reich recorded Music for 18 Musicians, the impact on the new music scene was immediate and overwhelming. Anyone who believed in minimalism, anyone who would saw potential in it and had hoped for a major breakthrough piece found it here. Novelist Kim Echlin once said about this brilliant composition that “it lasts about an hour… and you feel surprised, as if suddenly waking from a brief dream, when it is over.”… Because that’s exactly what it is… It’s a journey into a surreal world. For those who know the piece very well, they tend to anticipate the “next” stage before it happens, which adds to the fun, and intensify this dreamy feeling.

Following this, Berlin Atonal has commissioned two others performances: Austrian media artist Konrad Becker, also known as Monoton and John Eliott with his critically acclaimed Imgaginary Softwoods projects in combination with Dutch visual artist Tarik Barri.

An event that is definitely not to be missed! 

Berlin Atonal will take place from August 20th to August 24th, 2014.
Buy tickets here!