Almeida Opera 2005 Systems in Time One and Two

Fri 8 Jul, 7.30pm

Sat 9 Jul, 7.30pm

Key work by the central protagonists of musical minimalism, classic downtown gallery programmes, curated by Richard Bernas and presented by Almeida Opera in conjunction with Tate Modern's exhibition, Open Systems: Rethinking Art c. 1970. 

The first programme spans Reich's early, politically engaged tape music and the pure minimalism of Pendulum Music, which tends towards an art installation, and Four Organs. The second features the UK premiere of Glass' large scale piece, Music with Changing Parts, one of his radical early works.

SYSTEMS IN TIME ONE:

Steve Reich

Fri 8 Jul, 7.30pm

Steve Reich:

Music as a gradual process

Come Out (1966)

Pendulum Music (1968)

Vermont Counterpoint (1982)

Four Organs (1970)

Nancy Ruffer flute

Members of Music Projects / London

  SYSTEMS IN TIME TWO:

Philip Glass

Sat 9 Jul, 7.30pm

Philip Glass:

Music with Changing Parts (1973)

First UK performance

"The music danced and pulsed with a special life, its motoric rhythms, burbling, highly amplified figurations and mournful sustained notes booming out through the huge black windows and filling up the bleak industrial neighbourhood. It was so loud that the dancers Douglas Dunn and Sara Rudner, who were strolling down Wooster Street, sat on a stoop and enjoyed the concert together from afar. A pack of teenagers kept up an ecstatic dance of their own...It was a good night to be in New York City."

John Rockwell, All American Music 

Icebreaker

James Poke director

The exhibition Open Systems: Rethinking Art c. 1970 runs at Tate Modern from 1 Jun to 18 Sep 2005