Clarinetist Anthony McGill Presents “Counterpoint: Reich”

The free outdoor concert featuring Steve Reich’s counterpoint works will be held on September 18, 2023, at the Barclays Center plaza in Brooklyn

Presented with the Clara Wu Tsai and the Social Justice Fund, “Counterpoint: Reich,” will bring clarinet, cello, and electric guitar performances to the Ticketmaster Plaza at Barclays Center on September 18, 2023, at 7:30 PM.

The free concert will feature composer and multi-instrumentalist Lester St. Louis and new music guitar ensemble Dither alongside Anthony McGill, the principal clarinetist for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

The concert program will include Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steve Reich’s New York Counterpoint (1985), performed on 11 clarinets, directed by McGill; Cello Counterpoint (2003) performed on eight cellos, directed by St. Louis; and Electric Counterpoint (1987) performed on 13 electric guitars, directed by Dither.

Other performers for New York Counterpoint will include members of the New York Philharmonic, MET Orchestra, and the Juilliard Orchestra — including Alec Manasse, Adrian Sandi, Alexander Fiterstein, Anton Rist, Carol McGonnell, JuHyun Lee, Kristina Teuschler, Mebrakh Haughton-Johnson, and more.

Additional artists featured in Cello Counterpoint will include Clérida Eltimé, Dara Blumenthal Bloom, Dara Hankins, Mariel Roberts, and Melody Giron.

Reich, 86, is renowned for his incorporation and manipulation of taped sound recordings in his pieces. In this concert, each of his works will involve a single live musician playing against layers of tapes of the same instrument. 

Inspired by the sounds and harmonies of New York City, the trio of works represent a separate wing of the city’s contemporary classical and avant-garde music scene.

“Counterpoint: Reich,” is the pilot performance of a new free outdoor arts series at the Ticketmaster Plaza at Barclays Center, presented by Wu Tsai and the Social Justice Fund. 

Aimed at bringing world-class art and performance to Brooklyn, building on the area’s cultural history, and reaching new audiences, the series also partners with community organizations to spotlight the work of local artists.

The recipient of the 2020 Avery Fisher Prize, McGill’s projects have also included partnering with Bryan Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative to examine how America’s history of racial inequality has impacted the arts. He was the first African-American principal player in the NY Philharmonic's history. 

A Queens-born cellist, composer, and curator, St. Louis is a former artist-in-residence at Roulette Intermedium and Pioneer Works and the recipient of the Jerome Fund for New Music award. 

Comprising Taylor Levine, Joshua Lopes, James Moore, and Brendon Randall-Myers, the New York-based electric guitar quartet Dither formed in 2007. They have performed Reich’s Electric Counterpoint at the Lincoln Center and at London’s Barbican Centre.