Steve Reich at 90!

Schedule

Mon Oct 26 2026 at 06:00 pm to 09:00 pm

UTC-04:00
Location

Roulette Intermedium | Brooklyn, NY

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A Birthday Gala Celebration in Support of the John Cage Trust
About this Event

The John Cage Trust is celebrating iconic American composer Steve Reich as he turns 90!

Join us for this not-to-be missed evening—sure to sell out—with Steve Reich himself in attendance, and featuring some of his very favorite musicians and works.

The evening begins with a lavish vegetarian birthday gala dinner with Steve, followed by a very special concert, all at Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn.

Here's the amazing lineup so far:

  • pianist Stephen Drury performing John Cage's "In a Landscape"
  • vocalists Meredith Monk with Katie Geissinger and Allison Sniffin performing Monk's "Memory Song"
  • percussionists Garry Kvistad and Russell Hartenberger (of the original Steve Reich Ensemble) performing Reich's "Clapping Music"
  • electric guitarist Mark Stewart performing Reich's "Electric Counterpoint"
  • plus special suprise guest performers and more!

By attending this historic night, you also raise necessary support for the John Cage Trust, a nonprofit organization that not only preserves and promotes the work of Cage (1912–1992), but fosters the ongoing legacy of his generative influence and spirit thorugh a variety of programs, and by maintaining the Cage Trust archives. Located on the campus of Bard College, we welcome visitors—musicians, scholars, educators, artists, and all interested—throughout the year to programs and tours, as well as collaborate with partners worldwide on exhibitions and performances. At the John Cage Trust, we're interested not so much in what John Cage has done, but in what his legacy is still doing today. Your support helps make this possible!

Please make a donation in support of the John Cage Trust if you are unable to attend.


Event Photos

Grand Sponsor and Honorary Gala Committee Chair

Anthony B. Creamer III


Gala Committee

David Bither . Brian Brandt . Frank Corliss . Tan Dun . Melissa Harris . Ray Kass . Baryl Korot . Laura Kuhn . Garry Kvistad . Larry Larson . Tricia Reed [list in formation]

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Steve Reich (b. 1936) has been called “the most original musical thinker of our time” (The New Yorker) and “among the great composers of the century” (The New York Times). Starting in the 1960s, his pieces It’s Gonna Rain, Drumming, Music for 18 Musicians, Tehillim, Different Trains, and many others helped shift the aesthetic center of musical composition worldwide away from extreme complexity and towards rethinking pulsation and tonal attraction in new ways. He continues to influence younger generations of composers and mainstream musicians and artists all over the world.

Double Sextet won the Pulitzer Prize in 2009 and Different Trains, Music for 18 Musicians, and an album of his percussion works have all earned GRAMMY Awards. He received the Praemium Imperiale in Tokyo, the Polar Music Prize in Stockholm, the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale, the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge award in Madrid, the Debs Composer’s Chair at Carnegie Hall, and the Gold Medal in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has been named Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France, and awarded honorary doctorates by the Royal College of Music in London, the Juilliard School in New York, and the Liszt Academy in Budapest, among others.

One of the most frequently choreographed composers, several noted choreographers have created dances to his music, including Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Jirí Kylián, Jerome Robbins, Justin Peck, Wayne McGregor, Benjamin Millepied, and Christopher Wheeldon.

Reich’s documentary video opera works—The Cave and Three Tales, done in collaboration with video artist Beryl Korot—opened new directions for music theater and have been performed on four continents. His work Quartet, for percussionist Colin Currie, sold out two consecutive concerts at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London shortly after tens of thousands at the Glastonbury Festival heard Jonny Greenwood (of Radiohead) perform Electric Counterpoint, followed by the London Sinfonietta performing his Music for 18 Musicians. “There’s just a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have altered the direction of musical history and Steve Reich is one of them,” The Guardian.

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The John Cage Trust furthers the legacy of late American composer John Cage by gathering together, organizing, preserving, and disseminating his work. The John Cage Trust ensures that Cage’s voice remains vibrant, and toward that provides access to our archives, gives information about his life, guides how his works might best be performed or exhibited, and presents, organizes, and collaborates on programs, performances, exhibitions, and scholarship.

We are guided not so much by what Cage has done but, rather, by what Cage’s legacy is doing now.

John Cage (1912–1992) is routinely hailed as one of the most influential and generative artists of the 20th century, a creator of groundbreaking music compositions, artworks, and works of literature. We believe that Cage’s life and work continue to expand how we might experience and think about music, art, poetry, performance, philosophy, and the ways we live our lives. The John Cage Trust, located at Bard College, preserves his legacy as a living archive.

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Where is it happening?

Roulette Intermedium, 509 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, United States

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

Tickets

USD 0.00 to USD 8004.89

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