Carnegie Hall Commissions - About the Composer: Steve Reich

Steve Reich was recently called “our greatest living composer” (New York Times), and “the most original musical thinker of our time” (New Yorker). From his early taped speech pieces, It’s Gonna Rain (1965) and Come Out (1966), to his and video artist Beryl Korot’s digital video opera, Three Tales (2002), Mr. Reich’s path has embraced not only aspects of Western classical music, but the structures, harmonies, and rhythms of non-Western and American vernacular music, particularly jazz. He has won numerous honors, including several Grammy awards, and his music has been commissioned, performed, and recorded by numerous orchestras and ensembles around the world. For his 70th-birthday year (2006), concerts were presented throughout Europe, North America, and Asia, and Nonesuch Records released its second box set of Steve Reich’s works, Phases: A Nonesuch Retrospective, a five-CD collection spanning the 20 years of his time on the label.