Next week’s essential New York concert arrives on Thursday, October 22: Steve Reich at 90, an 8:00 PM gathering at Carnegie Hall that treats a birthday occasion as an active musical meeting point. Bang on a Can All-Stars and Ensemble Signal share the bill with conductor Brad Lubman, guitarist Bryce Dessner, pianists Lisa Kaplan and Nico Muhly, and a program made wholly from Reich’s music. The calendar is crowded from October 22 through 25, yet this is the rare event whose scale comes from the relationships among its performers as much as from the room. It gathers musicians with long experience in Reich’s sound world for pieces drawn from different phases of his career, including new work entering the United States repertoire.[1][2][4]

A program built around Reich’s moving machinery

The evening’s shape is unusually generous. Dessner will play Electric Counterpoint, Reich’s guitar-centered study in layered lines and shifting alignment. Kaplan and Muhly take on Two Pianos in its US premiere, while Lubman leads the combined forces of Bang on a Can All-Stars and Ensemble Signal in Double Sextet, Jacob’s Ladder, and In All Your Ways. The latter is another US premiere and a Carnegie Hall co-commission. That sequence gives the night a useful internal arc: a soloist against recorded or ensemble texture, two keyboard players in close coordination, then a larger body of musicians handling Reich’s tightly interlocked architecture. The concert rewards attention to changes in color, density, and pulse, where small adjustments can alter the whole frame.[2][4]

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Why Bang on a Can belongs at the center

Bang on a Can All-Stars bring a particular kind of electricity to this material. The six-member amplified ensemble has spent decades moving across contemporary classical music, jazz, rock, experimental practice, and other overlapping scenes; its history includes close work with Reich alongside figures such as Meredith Monk, Terry Riley, Ornette Coleman, and Philip Glass. That background makes the All-Stars a meaningful anchor for a Reich celebration, especially beside Ensemble Signal, an ensemble led by Lubman whose presence expands the instrumentation and the program’s physical force. This is a concert built around precision, yet it also foregrounds the human labor behind repetition: players listening across a stage, matching attacks, and giving durable patterns fresh contour in real time.[2][3]

Thursday’s practical plan

Make this the fixed point of the October 22–25 weekend. Steve Reich at 90 begins Thursday at 8:00 PM at Carnegie Hall, with Bang on a Can All-Stars, Ensemble Signal, Brad Lubman, Lisa Kaplan, Nico Muhly, and Bryce Dessner. For listeners who know Reich through a single landmark recording, the appeal lies in hearing several eras and instrumental approaches placed into one continuous evening; for regular contemporary-music audiences, the draw is the concentration of collaborators on one stage. Arrive with enough time to settle in before the first attack, since this music often establishes its terms immediately. Recheck Carnegie Hall’s and Bang on a Can’s official event pages for ticket availability, entry guidance, running details, and any changeable information before heading out.[1][2][4]

These concerts happened on 22 October 2026

The next dates at these venues: Carnegie Hall

Sources

  1. Steve Reich at 90 — Carnegie Hall
  2. Steve Reich at 90 in New York — Bang on a Can
  3. Bang on a Can All-Stars — Bang on a Can
  4. Carnegie Hall 2026–27 Season to Include Caroline Shaw, Jeremy Denk, Gabriel Kahane, Kronos Quartet, Punch Brothers, Steve Reich, Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens — Nonesuch Records