Steve Reich

Steve Reich was born in New York on October 3, 1936, studied philosophy at Cornell University and composition at the Julliard School of Music in New York and at Mills College in California, with Luciano Berio and Darius Milhaud.

He remained in San Francisco for some time, where he devoted himself entirely to composition until 1966, when, living in New York, he set up his own ensemble, Steve Reich and Musicians.
The growth of this ensemble from three to more than twenty musicians runs parallel to the gradual development of Reich's compositional output.

The influence of ethnic music on his compositions is strong. In 1970 he studied drumming techniques with a master drummer of the Ewe tribe in Ghana, and in 1973-74 he took part in a seminar on Balinese gamelan at the University of California, Berkeley.

In 1972-73 Reich collaborated with the dancer and choreographer Laura Dean, with whom he gave joint performances in Europe and America.
He was invited to Berlin to be a guest artist as part of the DAAD scheme, and in 1974 he published his Writings about Music.

Over the years, Reich has received many commissions, including those from: the San Francisco Symphony; flutist Ransom Wilson; the Brooklyn Academy of Music for guitarist Pat Matheny; the West German Radio, Cologne; the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra; Betty Freeman for the Kronos Quartet; the Festival d'Automne, Paris for the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution; and Ensemble Intercontemporaine.

www.stevereich.com