Steve Reich: Mallet Quartet at The Glasshouse | Preview
Steve Reich’s Mallet Quartet comes to The Glasshouse Gateshead on 3 October 2026 during the Steve Reich at 90 festival weekend.
Steve Reich’s Mallet Quartet comes to The Glasshouse in Gateshead on Saturday 3 October 2026 during the venue’s Steve Reich at 90 festival weekend. Written for two marimbas and two vibraphones, the piece places the focus on resonance, overlapping pulse and the different colours percussion can create without relying on a large ensemble.
The work balances a strong rhythmic framework with slower, more suspended passages, which gives the four instruments room to sound much larger than the lineup suggests. Those contrasts should work well in a close listening environment where the decay of each note matters as much as the attack.
Mallet Quartet at The Glasshouse
Across the wider weekend, Reich’s percussion writing appears in several different forms, and Mallet Quartet is one of the clearest examples of his later approach. It keeps the pulse-driven identity of his music while opening up more space between the instruments.
Event details
- Date: Saturday 3 October 2026
- Venue: The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, Gateshead
Current details are available through The Glasshouse’s official event page.
