The Glasshouse International Centre for Music celebrates Steve Reich’s 90 birthday with immersive festival weekend

Steve Reich, the pioneering New York composer, turns 90 on 3 October 2026. To celebrate, The Glasshouse will host Steve Reich at 90, a festival weekend bringing some of his most iconic and influential works to the North East. From Friday 2 to Sunday 4 October 2026, headline concerts, installations and talks offer people the chance to experience Reich’s music in bold and immersive ways.

The festival features performances by Colin Currie as conductor, the Colin Currie Group, the Colin Currie Quartet, Bryce Dessner, Royal Northern Sinfonia and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, with Radio 3 broadcaster Tom Service hosting. Alongside the performances, there’ll be free activities, including an immersive installation in Northern Rock Foundation Hall.

Steve Reich’s music has shaped the sound of modern classical and popular music, influencing everyone from David Bowie to Radiohead. This festival brings that legacy to life in a vibrant, immersive way. It will be a standout moment in the 2026 classical programme and a chance to hear works performed in the North East for the first time, including the epic Music for 18 Musicians. Colin Currie, widely regarded as one of the leading interpreters of Reich’s music, has curated the programme and will perform throughout the festival.

On Friday 2 October, Colin Currie will lead a powerful tribute in The Desert Music, where members of the Colin Currie Group and Royal Northern Sinfonia join forces. In a programme built on rhythm, pattern and pulse, it features four landmark works: Clapping Music, Runner, The Desert Music and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Double Sextet. Later that evening, the Colin Currie Quartet presents Drumming – an intimate masterclass in percussion. In Reich’s Drumming Part 1, sections melt into each other with subtle changes in sound and texture, while Julia Wolfe’s Dark Full Ride is a high-energy piece for four drum kits.

On Saturday 3 October, Royal Northern Sinfonia joins Colin Currie for an electrifying performance of Radio Rewrite, Reich’s response to Radiohead, using rock fragments to build minimalist patterns. The programme also includes Pulse and Eight Lines. That evening, in celebration of Steve’s Reich’s birthday, the Colin Currie Group presents the festival’s highlight – Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians alongside two further defining works: Music for Pieces of Wood and Quartet.

On Sunday 4 October in Sage Two, two trailblazers come together when Colin Currie and guitarist/composer Bryce Dessner – described by Reich as “a major force of his generation” – join forces with Royal Northern Sinfonia. At the heart of the programme is Reich’s Different Trains – a landmark work and his personal reflection on the Holocaust through voices, string quartet and pulsing rhythms. Alongside it, Dessner brings four of his own works to the stage: the driving Tromp Miniature, the intricate Garcia Counterpoint, the darkly playful Murder Ballades and Aheym, a surging, emotional journey inspired by his grandmother’s immigrant story.

Later that day, Colin Currie, Bryce Dessner and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra join forces for a concert featuring the iconic works Three Movements, Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards, Electric Counterpoint and The Four Sections. With Bryce Dessner at the heart of Electric Counterpoint and the full orchestra pulsing through The Four Sections, the concert will be a diverse glimpse into Reich’s sonic world.  Across the festival weekend, broadcaster Tom Service will host talks sharing stories and insights into how Reich transformed tape loops and street sounds into some of the most hypnotic works ever written, including a post-concert talk on Saturday 3 October.

Free events on the Concourse include the Colin Currie Quartet performing Reich’s Quartet and Aileen Sweeney’s Starburst on Saturday and the Colin Currie Group will perform Reich’s Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ on Sunday. Further free events will be announced closer to the festival.

The Northern Rock Foundation Hall becomes home to Phase | Pattern | Pulse – Inside the Music of Steve Reich, a free 360 immersive sound experience, created by Loss Gain with the Colin Currie Group and Sound Intermedia. Commissioned by The Glasshouse and Schwarzman Centre in Oxford, the installation reimagines three programmes of Reich’s masterworks: Drumming / Music for 18 Musicians / Six Marimbas; Sextet; Double Sextet – using spatial audio and lighting design to create a new and unique way to experience the deep richness, complexity and beauty of Steve Reich’s music.

Steve Reich said: “It is wonderful news that more than a dozen of my works are to be played on and around my 90th birthday at The Glasshouse in Gateshead. That the performers will be Royal Northern Sinfonia and the Colin Currie Group both led by Colin himself guarantees absolutely world-class performances. And having Bryce Dessner perform Electric Counterpoint adds to the excitement of the weekend. To have so much of my music performed in one festival, and for audiences in the North East to experience it, makes this a very special occasion and an exciting way to celebrate this milestone.”

Colin Currie added: “The Steve Reich festival at The Glasshouse promises to be the ultimate landmark in the portrayal of this composer’s music in the UK. Perfectly suited to a vibrant and immersive exploration of this music, The Glasshouse’s many venues and spaces reflect the lines and shapes of this repertoire with perfect symmetry. This rich presentation presents classic show-stoppers alongside lesser performed works by Reich, and we also refract his incalculable influence with music by Julia Wolfe, special guest Bryce Dessner and the young Scottish composer Aileen Sweeney. Any concert of Steve’s music has a celebratory aspect, so do join us for this superb series of concerts at the bold and brilliant Glasshouse – I could not be more excited to have this place as a home for this music.”

Bryce Dessner said: “Steve Reich has been a defining influence on me as a composer and guitarist and performing his music is always an inspiring experience. To perform Electric Counterpoint alongside my own works at The Glasshouse and to collaborate with Colin Currie and Royal Northern Sinfonia in celebrating his 90th birthday makes this festival especially meaningful.”

James Thomas, Executive Director, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Classical Music, commented: “Steve Reich is one of the most influential composers of our time and his 90th birthday is a moment to celebrate his legacy. At The Glasshouse, we’re committed to bringing world-class events to the North East – Steve Reich at 90 is exactly that: ambitious, immersive and unlike anything else in the UK.”

Building on the success of The Glasshouse’s Big Bruckner Weekend in 2024, Steve Reich at 90 will be a landmark celebration of one of the greatest living composers and a chance for audiences to experience his music in thrilling new ways. The Glasshouse continues to celebrate milestone composers with upcoming events, including the Berio 100 celebration on 11 October 2025 in Sage Two, where Dinis Sousa leads Berio Meets the Beatles to mark the centenary of Berio’s birth, and Kurtág 100 on 27 February 2026, when Dinis leads a celebration of the 100th birthday of György Kurtág.