Commission to Samir Amarouch

Commissioned by the Biarritz Piano Festival, Samir Amarouch’s new piece builds upon the legacy of Steve Reich while shifting the center of gravity toward melody. Rather than shaping form through the rigorous phasing of a motif, Amarouch constructs structure through the continuous enrichment of detail, writing ornate lines driven by micro-variations, subtle shifts, and gradual timbral transformations.

The new work is presented in dialogue with Steve Reich’s landmark 1970s piece Phase Patterns for four electric keyboards. As Amarouch notes:

“Steve Reich’s music occupies a fundamental place in my career, particularly through its relationship to time, repetition, and process. Phase Patterns bears witness to a pivotal moment when electric keyboards became a laboratory of form and perception. This emblematic piece is relatively rarely performed today, no doubt due to its demanding instrumentation and the collective precision it requires. I wanted to include it in the concert program as an echo of my own creation, as a gesture that is both historical and contemporary, recalling the radical power of these minimalist compositions when they first appeared.”

The commission to Samir Amarouch is supported by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

Further information:
biarritzpianofestival.com

Date

August 4, 2027
Biarritz Piano Festival