Steve Reich

American composer · United States · On the map · Musicians · Born 1936 · age 90

Stephen Michael Reich is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons.

Steve Reich is read about 907 times a day, in 43 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 10 November 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 400 days, one point a day.

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A life in dates

2016Honorary Doctor of the Royal College of MusicAwardNemmers Prize in Music CompositionAward2013BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge AwardAward2009Pulitzer Prize for MusicAward2006Praemium ImperialeAward2002“I discovered that the most interesting music of all was made by simply lining the loops in unison, and letting them slowly shift out of phase with each other...”In their wordsIn: Steve Reich, ‎Paul Hillier (2002) Writings on Music, 1965-2000, p. 20Read the whole statement

“...in serial music, the series itself is seldom audible... What I'm interested in is a compositional process and a sounding music that are one in the same thing.”In their wordsIn: Steve Reich, ‎Paul Hillier (2002) Writings on Music, 1965-2000, p. 35Read the whole statement

“What I don't want to do is to go and buy a bunch of exotic-looking drums and set up an Afrikanische Musik in New York City.”In their wordsIn: Steve Reich, ‎Paul Hillier (2002) Writings on Music, 1965-2000, p. 55Read the whole statement

1936Born3 October 1936

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Media & music

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Awards

Nemmers Prize in Music Composition2016

Honorary Doctor of the Royal College of Music2016

BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award2013

Pulitzer Prize for Music2009

Praemium Imperiale2006

Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres

Guggenheim Fellowship

About this person

Reich describes this concept in his essay "Music as a Gradual Process" by stating, "I am interested in perceptible processes. I want to be able to hear the process happening throughout the sounding music." For example, his early works experiment with phase shifting, in which one or more repeated phrases plays slower or faster than the others, causing it to go "out of phase." This creates new musical patterns in a perceptible flow.

Country

United States