50th Anniversary of Reich’s “Music for 18 Musicians”
On the 50th anniversary of this seminal work, I was lucky enough to perform this twice in less than a week – first with new friends and then again reunited with old friends. It was great. The first performance was off-beats for about an hour with Bent Frequency and part of their Underscore call for scores series. I performed two of the three newly commissioned works by composers Ella Kale and João Pedro Oliveira. The second part of the concert was Music for 18 Musicians. I played the upbeat interlocking marimba pulses, which pretty much go through the entire piece (with the exception of a couple movements where you play a melody). I think most people wouldn’t want that part but I absolutely love it. I’m probably one of the few who enjoy playing offbeats for an hour, so I’m happy to take on that particular burden. It’s a certain kind of meditative focus that helps shed stress and allows the opportunity to really focus on small details during performance (like the weight of the mallets, the control of tension/release in your hands, the vibrations in the mallets from the marimba bars, etc).
This concert brought together many Atlanta-based contemporary music ensembles to perform this epic work. The ensembles included Atlanta Contemporary Music Collective, Chamber Cartel, ensemble vim, and smol ensemble. It was a great representation for Atlanta. Here is a nice review of our concert:
Photos by Ben Garden
Reunited with old friends in Arizona (Crossing 32nd Street ensemble)
A few days after the concert with Bent Frequency and friends, I flew to Phoenix, AZ to perform the Reich again. This time was on a different part: upbeats and buildups on xylophone. As you can see from the photo that we had a very nice venue for the concert. And it was great to hang with by good friend Doug Nottingham, eat some amazing tacos and visit my alma mater.
