Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music

Nikolai Kapustin

Toccatina op.40, no. 3 (1984)

Shan-shan Sun, piano                     ~  ~              check out our video archive                                                   post your comments at PytheasTalk

visit Nikolai Kapustin at Pytheas ...

NYOS Futures
National Youth Orchestras of Scotland

NYOS Futures is the contemporary chamber ensemble of NYOS. It is drawn from senior NYOS and Camerata Scotland musicians and aims to introduce young musicians and new audiences to the fascinating world of late 20th and early 21st century classical music. The interest in NYOS Futures from established music professionals has been encouraging and the ensemble is delighted to have worked with a variety of internationally renowned Conductors, Soloists and Orchestras. Through NYOS Futures, NYOS hopes to encourage an interest in the musicians and music of today, and develop and engage future audiences for contemporary classical music. Their concerts are usually informal performances followed by an exploration of the music by the conductor, who dissects and explains the piece, allowing audiences to fully access and appreciate new and challenging contemporary classics. Past perfomances have featured such works at Tanaka's Wave Mechanics, Xenakis' Phlegra, Lutoslawski's Chain 1 and Ligeti's Kammerkonzert and Mysteries of the Macabre . . .
Learn More

      Steve Reich

                Composers Portraits

"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," wrote The Guardian (London) recently. "Reich is among the great composers of the century," echoed The New York Times. Such adulation is a far cry from the initial reception Reich's piece Four Organs got at Carnegie Hall in 1973. "People were catcalling or holding their ears and shouting, 'Stop, stop! I'll confess!'" recalled conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, who recognized Reich's genius early and reassured him that his work was provocative and would eventually be heralded. He was right, of course. Reich's music is lauded for embracing the spoken voice and non-Western rhythms and virtually inventing "sampling" long before the computer or hip-hop. His compositions cross boundaries, attracting such admirers as minimalist composer Philip Glass, pop icon David Bowie, jazz guitarist Pat Metheny and remixing master DJ Spooky . . .
 Learn More

visit Steve Reich at Pytheas ...