Gerhard Richter © 2019 (0165)
Colin makes his conducting debut this week, conducting the Britten Sinfonia in the European premiere of Reich/Richter at the special request of Steve Reich. Colin conducts two sold out performances at the Barbican on Wednesday 23 October, before bringing the project to Saffron Hall the following day.
Reich/Richter is a collaborative cinematic exploration of Gerhard Richter’s intense, abstract painting 946-3, which will be stretched and manipulated on screen in the hall, to new music by Reich. “A stream of images, its rhythmic flow interpreted by music and, at the same time, a musical composition visualized by film images” is how Richter describes this collaboration.
Reich requested that Colin conduct the European premiere of the piece after seeing him conduct his music at a Colin Curie Group residency in Paris’ Fondation Louis Vuitton, which was recorded live and later released on Colin Currie Records. Fans will be able to get their CDs signed by both Colin and Reich after the first performance on 23 October on Level -1 at the Barbican.
Reich and Currie’s relationship stretches back to 2006, when Currie was asked to curate a BBC Prom of his music to celebrate Reich’s 70th birthday, which resulted in the formation of the Colin Currie Group, who for over a decade have exclusively performed the works of Reich.
Reich has written Quartet for the Colin Currie Group and looking ahead, will be writing a substantial new work for the group and Synergy Vocals. Next up, the Colin Currie Group give four sold out performances of Drumming at the Hayward Gallery on 6 and 7 December, where Drumming received it’s UK premiere nearly 50 years ago.
> Listen to Colin Currie & Steve Reich Live at Fondation Louis Vuitton on Spotify: