Bang On A Can Presents Steve Reich and Amy Sillman with Performances By Bang On A Can All-Stars

Bang on a Can, BOMB Magazine, and the Jewish Museum announce their latest online event: a live conversation featuring two of the most renowned American artists of their generation - composer Steve Reich and painter Amy Sillman - plus performances of two Reich classics: Piano/Video Phase and Electric Counterpoint by the Bang on a Can All-Stars' David Cossin (percussion) and Mark Stewart (electric guitar).

Among the most iconic and well known composers of his generation, Steve Reich's music has had a broad influence that continues to inspire music makers across genres, from techno and electronica to rock and roll. In the words of The Guardian, "There's just a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have altered the direction of musical history and Steve Reich in one of them."

Reich will be joined in conversation with Brooklyn-based painter Amy Sillman, who had two triumphal exhibitions in New York last year - a show of her own work at Barbara Gladstone Gallery and one she curated for the reopening of The Museum of Modern Art. Coincidentally, she is also Steve Reich's cousin.

For decades, members of the Bang on a Can All-Stars have been among the deftest interpreters of Reich's music. Guitarist Mark Stewart, a longstanding member of Reich's touring ensemble, will perform Electric Counterpoint, for solo electric guitar and 12 backing pre-recorded guitar tracks. Percussionist David Cossin, also a veteran of Reich's touring ensemble offers his unique treatment of Reich's Piano Phase (redubbed Piano Phase/Video Phase), in which Cossin performs the two piano parts with percussion midi-triggers. Equal parts concert piece and live video-installation, Piano Phase/Video Phase represents a wholly novel interpretation of Reich's work, allowing us to see the actual structure of the piece as it unfolds.

This event coincides with the 40th Anniversary of BOMB Magazine, which has published interviews with artists since 1981 including Steve Reich and Amy Sillman. Beginning in the month of May, BOMB will celebrate its anniversary by revisiting iconic interviews from the archive-including Steve Reich's, with a special playlist curated by Reich himself.

For more information visit www.bangonacan.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.