DITHER, a New York based electric guitar quartet, is dedicated to an eclectic mix of experimental repertoire which spans composed music, improvisation, and electronic manipulation. Formed in 2007, the quartet has performed across the United States and abroad presenting new commissions, original compositions, multimedia works, and large guitar ensemble pieces. The quartet’s members are Taylor Levine, Joshua Lopes, James Moore and Gyan Riley.
Dither has worked with a wide range of artists, including Eve Beglarian, Fred Frith, David Lang, Phill Niblock, Larry Polansky, Lee Ranaldo, Elliott Sharp, Lois V. Vierk, and John Zorn. Past performances include the Performa Biennial, The MATA Festival, the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Amsterdam Electric Guitar Heaven Festival, Hong Kong’s Fringe Theater, and the Bang on a Can Marathon. Dither produces their annual Extravaganza, a raucous festival of creative music and art, which has been called an “official concert on the edge” by the New Yorker. Their critically acclaimed debut album was released on Henceforth Records, and Dither plays Zorn, an album of the composer’s early improvisational game pieces, came out on Tzadik in January 2015.
Steve Reich was recently called “our greatest living composer” (The New York Times), “America’s greatest living composer.” (The Village VOICE), “…the most original musical thinker of our time” (The New
Yorker) and “…among the great composers of the century” (The New York Times).. From his early taped speech pieces It’s Gonna Rain (1965) and Come Out (1966) to his and video artist Beryl Korot’s digital video opera Three Tales (2002), Mr. Reich’s path has embraced not only aspects of Western Classical music, but the structures, harmonies, and rhythms of non-Western and American vernacular music, particularly jazz. “There’s just a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have altered the direction of musical history and Steve Reich is one of them,” states The Guardian (London).
In April 2009 Steve Reich was awarded the Pulitzer prize in Music for his composition ‘Double Sextet’.