Good morning, Vietnam

Today on Soundcheck, two very distinctive composers whose music grew partly out of the 1960s counterculture: minimalist icon Steve Reich and concert and film composer Paul Chihara. Reich, who remains a pivotal figure in the minimalist movement that emerged during the '60s, will be featured this weekend at the Roxy nightclub, when the new-music ensemble Alarm Will Sound performs some of his most enduring and popular works. Chihara, an Asian-American who teaches composition at UCLA, has written a new work for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra that explores themes relating to the Vietnam War. Not coincidentally, in 1998, Orpheus became the first American orchestra to play in Vietnam since the end of the war -- in spite of its history as a child of the sixties.
Additional Resources:
» Steve Reich's Web site
» Paul Chihara biography