What a grand summer for NEXUS! After their sell-out appearance at the Minnesota Beethoven Festival at the beginning of July, they have followed it up with another sell-out in Woodstock, New York on July 31st.

Performing with the  brilliant New York City based So Percussion group, NEXUS and So Percussion brought the audience to a standing ovation with dazzling performances of masterworks composed by Steve Reich, who performed with them. This was the 19th annual WoodstockBeat concert, held at the unusual Maverick Hall.

Steve Reich has been called by the New York Times, “our greatest living composer.” The concert began with Reich’s “Music for Pieces of Wood” performed by NEXUS with Jason Treuting of So Percussion. Also on the program were “Nagoya Marimbas,” “Music for Mallets, Voices and Organ,” and “Clapping Music.” The program concluded with “Drumming” with the composer joining in the ensemble.  When Alan Rich of the So I’ve Heard website heard NEXUS and So Percussion perform Drumming with Steve Reich in California a couple years ago, he was moved to write: “I’ll donate 75 minutes of my lifetime to that piece anytime . . . furthermore, it got the all-star treatment: Nexus and So Percussion.”