Steve Reich is the featured composer for Tokyo Opera City's Composium 2008, part of the Contemporary Music Festival beginning today and running through Sunday. Ensemble Modern and Synergy Vocals perform in two sold-out, all-Reich concerts at the Opera's Concert Hall, with Brad Lubman conducting, including the Japanese premiere of Daniel Variations as well as a performance of the seminal work Music for 18 Musicians featuring the composer as guest performer. The event also includes a discussion with the composer and the selection of the 2008 Toru Takemitsu Composition Award.

Steve Reich's latest album, Daniel Variations, comprises both the title piece, written in 2006 in memory of slain reporter Daniel Pearl, and Variations for Vibes, Pianos, and Strings. The New York Times says the title piece "avoids both sentimentality and vituperation," despite its subject matter. It is, instead "a work of contemplative commemoration, which merits and rewards repeated explorations."

Steve Reich spoke with BBC Radio 4's Today show, the network's flagship daily news and current affairs program, this morning about his latest Nonesuch release Daniel Variations and the composition of its title track, inspired by slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. T Bone Burnett is scheduled to appear on the show tomorrow morning to preview his forthcoming Nonesuch release, Tooth of Crime.

Steve Reich and Glenn Kotche will be among the artists celebrating the unveiling of the re-imagined Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York during the two-week Opening Nights Festival, February 22 through March 8, 2009. On March 3, each will take part in New York, New Music, New Hall, a marathon event of new and seminal works. Kotche will join Bang on a Can All-Stars for the NY premiere of one of his compositions, and Steve Reich & Musicians and Synergy Vocals come together for the composer's groundbreaking 1976 work Music for 18 Musicians. Also on the bill is Alarm Will Sound.

Steve Reich stopped by the WNYC studios yesterday to discuss his new album, Daniel Variations, and the creation of its title piece, on The Leonard Lopate Show. You can download an MP3 of the segment at wnyc.org or listen to it in its entirety here.

Steve Reich will be the featured guest today on The Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC, 93.9 FM. The composer will discuss his new album, Daniel Variations, and its title piece, written in memory of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. The show also includes an interview with filmmaker Errol Morris about the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

On Saturday night, a performance of Steve Reich's Drumming marked the culmination of percussionist Colin Currie's residency at the Horsecross Concert Hall in Perth, Scotland, and rated five stars in the Herald (Scotland). The paper's music critic Michael Tumelty says that the "mind-bogglingly virtuosic" musicians Currie gathered to perform the 1970-71 piece with him offered a "staggering musical experience" and "a stunning, dramatic version of Drumming." The event, concludes Tumelty, "was a tour de force for Currie, as organiser and player."

Steve Reich's Double Sextet was given its New York premiere last Thursday at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall by eighth blackbird. The New York Times says that the "vigorous" new piece "begins with Mr. Reich's signature chugging rhythms but quickly moves a fair distance, as intricate rhythmic counterpoint and thickening harmonies displace the repetitive opening figure." Following its West Coast premiere last Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times said it creates "the kind of explosion of fractured rhythms that never ceases to amaze the ear."

Steve Reich's Daniel Variations was the featured album on last night's episode of WNYC's New Sounds. The title piece "justifiably has drawn a fair amount of attention and acclaim," says the show's host, John Schaefer. Daniel Variations, which the Sydney Morning Herald calls "a powerful composition," will receive its Australian premiere this Friday at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Steve Reich's latest album, Daniel Variations, receives four stars from The Guardian, whose Andrew Clements writes of the title piece: "From the very first uneasy chord it is very obviously a searching, serious piece and, I think, one of Reich's major statements." The album is now available in the Nonesuch Store with the exclusive bonus download, Dance Patterns.

Bang on a Can has announced the schedule for this year's Bang on a Can Marathon. A performance of Steve Reich's Daniel Variations, by Signal ensemble, will be a highlight of the 12-hour event, to be held at New York's World Financial Center Winter Garden on June 1. Also slated are works by John Adams, Terry Riley, Brian Eno, and many others, including Alarm Will Sound's take on the Beatles' Revolution No. 9.