Photo by Wojciech Wandzel

(PHILADELPHIA, PA) -- Penn Live Arts (PLA) – the leading presenter of innovative and transformative performing arts experiences in Philadelphia – presents Alarm Will Sound on Sunday, April 14, 2024 at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Described as being  "as close to being a rock band as a chamber orchestra can be," by The New York Times, Alarm Will Sound performs music by Steve Reich in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Music for 18 Musicians. The program also includes Clapping Music, which uses hands as the sole instrument, Vermont Counterpoint, and Radio Rewrite, inspired by the music of Radiohead and given its premiere recording by Alarm Will Sound in 2016. Showtime is 7:00pm.

Considered by many to be one of the most influential minimalist works of all time, Music for 18 Musicians is composed for violin, cello, two clarinets doubling bass clarinet, four women’s voices, four pianos, three marimbas, two xylophones and metallophone (vibraphone with no motor). Harmonic movement plays a more important role in this piece than in any other Steve Reich had written up to that point, and the composer describes the relationship between sections of the 55-minute piece as “best understood in terms of resemblances between members of a family. Certain characteristics will be shared, but others will be unique.”

Tickets are available for purchase online. The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is located at 3680 Walnut Street in Philadelphia, PA.

Alarm Will Sound is a 20-member band committed to innovative performances and recordings of today’s music. They have established a reputation for performing demanding music with energetic skill. Their performances have been described as “equal parts exuberance, nonchalance, and virtuosity” by the Financial Times of London and as “a triumph of ensemble playing” by the San Francisco Chronicle. The New York Times says that Alarm Will Sound is “one of the most vital and original ensembles on the American music scene.”

With classical skill and unlimited curiosity, Alarm Will Sound takes on music from a wide variety of styles. Its repertoire ranges from European to American works, from the arch-modernist to the pop-influenced. Alarm Will Sound has been associated since its inception with composers at the forefront of contemporary music, premiering pieces by John Adams, Steve Reich, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Aaron Jay Kernis, Augusta Read Thomas, Derek Bermel, Benedict Mason, and Wolfgang Rihm, among others. The group itself includes many composer-performers, which allows for an unusual degree of insight into the creation and performance of new work.

Alarm Will Sound is the resident ensemble at the Mizzou International Composers Festival. Held each July at the University of Missouri in Columbia, the festival features eight world premieres by early-career composers. During the weeklong festival, these composers work closely with Alarm Will Sound and two established guest composers to perform and record their new work.

Alarm Will Sound may be heard on fifteen recordings, including For George Lewis | Autoshchediasms, their most recent release featuring music of Tyshawn Sorey; Omnisphere, with jazz trio Medeski Martin & Wood; a collaboration with Peabody Award-winning podcast Meet the Composer titled Splitting Adams; and the premiere recording of Steve Reich’s Radio Rewrite. Their genre-bending, critically acclaimed Acoustica features live-performance arrangements of music by electronica guru Aphex Twin. This unique project taps the diverse talents within the group, from the many composers who made arrangements of the original tracks, to the experimental approaches developed by the performers.

Penn Live Arts (PLA), headquartered at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, is the leading presenter of innovative and transformative performing arts experiences in Philadelphia. A vital resource for the performing arts at the University of Pennsylvania, PLA is an artistic crossroads joining Penn and the greater Philadelphia region through world-class music, dance, theatre, and film on campus and at venues throughout the city, serving an annual audience of over 80,000. Penn Live Arts emphasizes artistic and intellectual excellence and diversity in its offerings; prioritizes broad inclusiveness in the artists, audiences, and groups it serves; and expands arts access by actively engaging a wide range of audiences and inclusive communities from campus, the West Philadelphia neighborhood, and the surrounding region.