On Manhattan’s West Side along the Hudson river, where the High Line
ends after coursing through Chelsea, a dynamic new building is taking
shape amid the Hudson Yards: The Shed, a nonprofit venue with the aim of
making art accessible to all, will feature commissions of new works of
art in music, theater, visual art and other disciplines.
Accordingly, the events with which the Shed opens its doors for the
first time in spring could hardly be more interdisciplinary. From 6
April to 2 June 2019, conductor Brad Lubman
and his Ensemble Signal will transform a part of this innovative
structure into a sound and art installation three to four times a day.
Major names in the music and art worlds unite in the Reich Richter Pärt
project: composer Steve Reich has created a new composition in
collaboration with Gerhard Richter, and filmmaker Corrina Belz
contributed a video piece that engages with the intricacies of Richter’s
Patterns series and the minimal musical forms of Steve Reich.
Together with the performers, the audience can move through the gallery
space, immersing themselves in the great painter’s work, the music, and
the architecture.
Numerous composers rely on Brad Lubman to premiere their works, but he
has a particularly long and trusting relationship with Steve Reich, who
has said that Lubman and Ensemble Signal “have given many of the best
performances of my music I have ever heard.” The two artists first met
in 1995; since then, Lubman has recorded Reich compositions for harmonia
mundi and Nonesuch, given the world premieres of Reich‘s Three Tales, Daniel Variations, Runner, Radio Rewrite, and Variations for Vibes, Pianos and Strings,
and conducted Reich‘s music on four continents. The music of the
composer holds a special meaning for Ensemble Signal, who explain that
“Steve is not only a composer whose music we love – he is also a mentor
and dearest of colleagues.” Ever since its founding in 2008, Signal have
established themselves as New York’s leading new music ensemble. They
seek to promote the artistic and performance practice that Steve Reich
himself has been developing since the 1970s, not least in part by
sharing it with new audiences worldwide. To do so, Ensemble Signal
engage in a variety of multimedia and technical prospects – including
playing, on occasion, inside a shed.
Kahtleen Heil, 2/2019
