Steve Reich's Drumming at Esplanade Recital Studio

In the summer of 1970, Steve Reich went to Ghana to study drumming under master drummer Gideon Alorworye, the realisation of a passion he had carried with him ever since he was a teenager. This trip would however last only five weeks, as he was forced to return to the United States after contracting malaria.

In the year that followed, he would spend his time almost exclusively on the composition of one work. The result was Drumming, a piece in four continuous parts for percussionists, flautist and singers, described as the minimalist movement’s first masterpiece.
First performed in New York in 1971, this evening’s performance by some of the top percussionists of this island marks the Singapore premiere of this seminal work. Flautist Roberto Álvarez and singers Thomas Manhart and Lim Yan Ting complete the ensemble who will perform this work for the first time here in its entirety.