Nederlands Kamerkoor - The Desert Music by Reich

The Desert Music is Steve Reich's major choral and orchestral work, written for voices and orchestra. Reich drew the text from The Desert Music and Other Poems by American poet William Carlos Williams - a selection that allows multiple interpretations. The desert in the title can be a concrete place, an inner landscape, or an image of an uncertain future.

Reich composed the work during a time when the threat of nuclear weapons was deeply felt. The selected poems date from the period after Hiroshima and Nagasaki and pose questions that remain relevant today: how do hope, fear, responsibility, and human ambition relate to each other? With his characteristic rhythmic style, Reich weaves choir and orchestra together into constantly shifting timbres and patterns.

On the occasion of Reich's 90th birthday, the Nederlands Kamerkoor, Klang, HIIIT, New European Ensemble, Het Muziek, and the Koninklijk Conservatorium join forces for this performance. The concert has no intermission.