Bang on a Can Marathon NYC Marathon 5/31 and 6/1
05/07/08
The annual New York City Bang on a Can Marathon will begin at 6 p.m. on May 31 at the World Financial Center Winter Garden in lower Manhattan.
The long list of works to be performed over the twelve-hour marathon will include pieces by John Luther Adams, The Beatles, Harrison Birtwistle, Caleb Burhans, Chaya Czernowin, Donnacha Dennehy, Arnold Dreyblatt, Sivan Cohen Elias, Brian Eno, Michael Gordon, Annie Gosfield, Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, Karsh Kale, David Lang, Lukas Ligeti, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Ruben Seroussi, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Julia Wolfe, Bora Yoon, Pamela Z, and Evan Ziporyn.
Featured performers will include such artists as Alarm Will Sound, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Caleb Burhans, Hartt Basses, Contact Contemporary Music, Crash Ensemble, Karsh Kale, Lisa Moore, Ensemble Nikel, Signal, So Percussion, Toby Twining Music, Bora Yoon, Young People's Chorus of NYC, and Pamela Z.
More information will be posted leading up to the festival in the upcoming month.
Arnold Dreyblatt to Release Resonant Relations
05/02/08
Composer Arnold Dreyblatt will release his new album Resonant Relations on Cantaloupe Records. A release date still has yet to be set, but the recording will be available before its commercial release at the New York City Bang on a Can Marathon on May 31st.
Tracklisting for Resonant Relations:
1. Resonant Relations
2. Twentyfive Chords in Twentyfive in Ninety Four Variations
In the meantime, you can watch the interview with Arnold as he explains his "excited strings bass" technique.
Bang on a Can All-Stars Play San Francisco, Make Splash on iTunes
02/11/08
It's been a busy 2008 for the Bang on a Can All-Stars. The exclusive pre-release of Brian Eno: Music for Airports (Live) on iTunes happened during the first week of January, and saw it featured on iTunes front page next to Bjork and LCD Soundsystem! As of February 5, this digital exclusive will begin to make its way to other sites like eMusic and the Bang on a Can online store.
The excitement continued as the All-Stars traveled to San Francisco for an Amoeba Music in-store performance on February 7 and a Bang on a Can Marathon Concert on February 9 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts featuring both Don Byron and Iva Bittova....click here to continue
So Percussion Reviewed in NY Times, Announce 2008 Shows
02/04/08
The New York Times published an article reviewing Cantaloupe artist So Percussion's recent performance of "An Idyll for the Misbegotten," "Unto the Hills," and "Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III)" at the Miller Theatre on February 1. The program, featuring the music of composer George Crumb, also featured an interview with the composer conducted by So Percussion's own Jason Treuting.
Amid the good press, So Percussion is also scheduled to play some concerts across the country throughout February and March (click here and scroll to the bottom to see the dates).
Lisa Moore Reviewed in NY Times, Will Curate Australian Festival
01/28/08
Cantaloupe recording artist Lisa Moore was recently given favorable press in a New York Times review of the Grand Piano Marathon at Merkin Concert Hall. Her performances of Rzewski's "Piano Piece No.4" and Bresnik's "Dream of the Lost Traveler" were described by critic Allan Kozinn as "an explosive, muscular performance." Sounds good to us, no...?
In other big news, Lisa will head to her native Australia on May 8 in order to curate Sounds Alive '08 (featuring fellow Cantaloupe artists So Percussion, Iva Bittova, and Don Byron) as part of the Canberra International Music Festival....click here to continue
Michael Gordon Premieres New Work in LA, Cantaloupe to Release Gordon’s Van Gogh as played by Alarm Will Sound
01/14/08
Both Mark Swed of The Los Angeles Times and Alan Rich of LA Weekly recently reviewed Bang on a Can co-founder Michael Gordon's new piece "Concrete Frequency III," which premiered January 12 as part of the LA Philharmonic's program "Concrete Frequency: The Urban Experience." Accompanying Bill Morrison's film "Dystopia," Gordon's composition was described by Swed as an "astonishing 30 minute orchestral blowout." Rich wrote that the piece "comes across as the finest musical recapturing of a trash truck in action that ever was. Ever." Facetious exaggerations aside, it's good stuff. Morrison and Gordon have previously put their talents to good use in 2002's Cantaloupe collaboration Decasia.
In addition to his premiere, Cantaloupe will release on February 12 a recording of Gordon's piece Van Gogh....click here to continue
Michael Harrison’s Revelation (Repeatedly) Named One of 2007’s Best Releases
01/07/08
As you Cantaloupe-philes already know, the New York Times has given press attention to Revelation, naming it one of 2007's best classical releases. But more good press continues to flood in! The list of publications that has named Revelation among the year's best now includes:
- The New York Times
- The Boston Globe
- The Washington Post
- Time Out New York
- WNYC New Sounds Listener Poll (No. 3 Best Recording of 2007)
In addition to topping annual best-of lists, Mr. Harrison is also featured in this video on YouTube that showcases his talents on the piano up close.
And to complete the Michael Harrison multimedia experience, he serves as the subject of a chapter in author Perri Knize's book Grand Obsession: A Piano Odyssey, which has now closed in on selling out its first edition....click here to continueMore about Michael Harrison
Ziporyn Named United States Artists Fellow, Frog's Eye Named One of 2007's Best
01/02/08
In accordance with their mission "to nurture, support, and strengthen the work of America’s finest living artists," the organization United States Artists (USA) recently named Cantaloupe and Bang on a Can's very own Evan Ziporyn as their 2007 USA Walker Fellow.
But the honors don't stop there for Mr. Ziporyn. The Chicago Tribune named Ziporyn's Frog's Eye one of 2007's Best Classical Recordings. Described as having "glowing instrumental color and pulsing rhythmic vitality," the album makes "an ideal introduction" into Ziporyn's "engaging and accessible music." Sounds good to us!
In addition, Cantaloupe artist and frequent Bang on a Can collaborator Don Byron was honored with USA's Prudential Fellowship....click here to continue
Gutbucket Tour, Score Films, Debuts at Carnegie Hall
09/07/07
NYC's instrumental-rock-jazz-thing Gutbucket is touring again in support of its 2006 Cantaloupe release Sludge Test, as well as debuting new compositions by the group and founding sax player Ken Thomson.
These autumn dates which will take them from coast-to-coast, and include a number of very special gigs and a few “firsts” for the group.” i.e.
* A world premiere of their live music & film project “Johnny the Giant Killer”
* Performances to “Night Mail,” a film made by the British post office to celebrate their 1936 technological wonder, the night mail train.
* A workshop at Cal Arts in Los Angeles
* Appearance at esteemed festivals and venues such as Santa Fe’s Center for Contemporary Arts, UC Boulder’s International Film Series, and Michigan’s EdgeFest.
* Their Carnegie Hall debut @ Zankel Hall for the debut of “Wait Your Turn,” Thomson’s new commission by the American Composer’s Orchestra
We’re all especially excited for the latter show as it will find Gutbucket “battling” the Orchestra live on stage....click here to continue
Cantaloupe Music To Release Michael Harrison
08/09/07
“Revelation is a…marathon for solo piano employing an otherworldly vocabulary of sounds and effects.” –The New York Times
“[Revelation is] an indisputable landmark in Western tuning’s circuitous history.”
—Kyle Gann, The Village Voice
“An American maverick.” —Philip Glass
On October 9, 2007, Cantaloupe Music will release New York composer/pianist Michael Harrison’s new recording: REVELATION: Music In Pure Intonation.
REVELATION: Music In Pure Intonation utilizes innovative tuning relationships to further develop Just Intonation—an ancient tuning system where the distances between notes are based upon whole number ratios. The result is a 75-minute work where groups of notes played together rapidly with both hands form “…pulsating, shimmering walls of sound in which all kinds of ghost-like sound effects and structures appear” (The Wire)....click here to continue