NYOS Futures - Eight Lines

closing date: 25/10/2010

NYOS contemporary chamber ensemble NYOS Futures performs Steve Reich's minimalist masterpiece Eight Lines.

It has been said of American composer Steve Reich who pioneered the style of minimalist music that he is one of "a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have altered the direction of musical history". NYOS Futures will be examining this claim through performance-analysis-performance of his Eight Lines written in 1979.

Through subtle shifts in pulse, pattern and voicing, minimalist music typically subjects an unchallenging consonant harmony in a steady pulse to gradual transformation. This creates a mesmeric and satisfying unfolding journey in sound and emotion.

This is a strong piece which reflects Reich's interest at the time in Biblical chanting and whets the appetite for works such as his later, Grammy Award-winning and evocative Different Trains.

Steve Reich’s innovative use of audible processes to explore musical concepts has significantly influenced the development of contemporary music. His compositions have been a source of inspiration to many modern electronic musicians including Brian Eno and British ambient techno act The Orb, who sampled one of his tracks on its 1990 production Little Fluffy Clouds.

Directed by William Conway
24 October, Johnston Hall, Aberdeen University (as part of Sound Festival), 7pm
Tickets FREE, Can be reserved from 01224 641122 or at www.boxofficeaberdeen.com