Steve Reich’s music has a habit of getting under your skin. The pulses, repetitions and shifting patterns can sound hypnotic in a concert hall, but his influence has travelled far beyond it: into rock, electronic music and the dancefloor.

Now, as Reich turns 90, one of the musicians who knows his music better than most is bringing it to NewcastleGateshead. Edinburgh-born percussionist Colin Currie is curating Steve Reich At 90, a three-day festival weekend at The Glasshouse International Centre For Music from Friday 2 to Sunday 4 October.

For Currie, this is about much more than celebrating a birthday. Reich’s music has been part of his musical life since he first encountered Music For 18 Musicians as a young percussionist growing up in Scotland. He went on to form the Colin Currie Group, an ensemble dedicated to performing Reich’s music, and has become one of the composer’s closest musical collaborators.

The Colin Currie Group will be at the heart of the weekend, performing some of Reich’s biggest and most influential works. Across the festival, audiences can hear pieces including Music For 18 Musicians, Drumming Part 1, Electric Counterpoint, The Desert Music, Eight Lines, The Four Sections, Double Sextet, Runner and Music For Pieces Of Wood.

It’s a chance to hear music that can feel both incredibly precise and completely physical. Reich’s repeating patterns gradually shift and transform, creating something that’s less about following a tune and more about getting swept up in the rhythm. It’s part of the reason his music has found such a wide audience, influencing musicians far beyond contemporary classical music.

And Currie isn’t doing it alone.

The weekend brings together leading musical forces from Scotland and the North East, including the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Royal Northern Sinfonia, orchestra of The Glasshouse International Centre For Music. Bryce Dessner, guitarist with The National as well as a composer in his own right, will also perform, bringing another perspective to Reich’s huge musical influence.

BBC Radio 3 presenter and writer Tom Service will host the weekend, with free talks giving audiences the chance to hear directly from the performers and explore the ideas behind the music. There will also be free performances and pop-up activity across The Glasshouse, so there’s plenty to discover without needing a ticket for every event.

And then there’s the sound itself.

Alongside the live concerts, audiences can step inside Phase | Pattern | Pulse, a free immersive spatial-audio experience, hearing Reich’s music in a completely different way. The 360-degree installation gives listeners the chance to experience the music from within, surrounded by sound rather than simply sitting in front of it.

So while the headline concerts are a pretty good reason to make the trip, this is a weekend designed to be explored.

And for audiences in Scotland, NewcastleGateshead is an easy place to do just that. The Glasshouse sits on the bustling Quayside overlooking the River Tyne, right at the heart of one of the area’s most lively cultural spots. With straightforward train connections from Scotland, it’s entirely possible to come down for the weekend, catch a couple of concerts, hear a free talk, spend an hour inside the immersive installation and still have time to explore the city.

You don't even have to choose just one concert. The festival has a multiple-booking discount, making it easier to build your own Reich weekend around the performances you most want to hear.

Because that’s what makes Steve Reich At 90 different from a single birthday concert. It’s three days spent inside the music of a composer whose ideas have travelled far beyond the concert hall and into some of the wider musical culture we know today, curated by a Scottish musician who has spent much of his career bringing those ideas to life.

Reich is turning 90. NewcastleGateshead is throwing a party at The Glasshouse. And Colin Currie has put together the soundtrack.

Steve Reich At 90, The Glasshouse, Gateshead, Friday 2–Sunday 4 October; main picture: Jeffrey Herman.

Related articles

• Longlist announced for Scottish Album Of The Year Award 2026
• Music Venue Trust and Drowned In Sound unite for new publication
• The Fratellis to headline Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Night Afore party