Steve Reich will work with filmmaker and artist Bill Morrison to create a film accompaniment to the composer's 1988 piece Different Trains, for the first time in the work's history. The new commission, presented by Metal, will feature archival film stock of train travel during WWII gathered from archives in continental Europe and the US. Reich, Sound Intermedia, and the London Contemporary Orchestra (LCO) will collaborate to perform this site-specific presentation in an open-air concert at Edge Hill Station in Liverpool on September 29, 2016, during the Liverpool Biennial. Edge Hill Station, one of the oldest active passenger railway stations in the world, was the departure point for the first-ever intercity passenger train travel in September 1830, taking passengers from Liverpool to Manchester. You can watch a preview of the concert event below.

As on the 1989 Grammy Award–winning Nonesuch recording of Different Trains, which was performed by Kronos Quartet, the piece will be paired in the live program with a performance of Reich's Electric Counterpoint. The latter piece, performed by Pat Metheny on the album, will be performed by Mats Bergström in Liverpool.

The performance on the September 29 will take place just days before Steve Reich's 80th birthday, and will take place in the presence of the composer. Different Trains, for string quartet and tape, evokes the composer's American childhood during World War II while also addressing the Holocaust. The New York Times declared it "a work of such originality that 'breakthrough' seems the only possible description." To pick up a copy of the Nonesuch recording, head to iTunes or the Nonesuch Store now.

This project will be presented in partnership with Southbank Centre, Culture Liverpool, and Liverpool Biennial. The performance will be livestreamed worldwide by Boiler Room.

"I am thrilled to bring a film element to Steve Reich's landmark composition Different Trains for the first time since its release in 1988," says Morrison. "The challenge for me was to use both the imagery and materiality of film to respond to the delicate choreography Steve has set up between music and spoken word."

For additional information and ticket details, visit metalculture.com/different-trains.

Morrison's film will also be shown for free as a continuous installation at Edge Hill Station from September 15, the anniversary of the first ever passenger railway journey, to October 16. To support the project, visit kickstarter.com.