Tours

So Percussion at the Howland Chamber Music Festival

Sunday, October 21, 2018 - 4:00pm

Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times describes Sō Percussion as “exceptionally inventive” and that they “have technique galore on traditional instruments”.  Sō's repertoire ranges from “classics” of the 20th century, by John Cage, Steve Reich, and Iannis Xenakis, to composing and performing their own works. They will appear in our series for the first time with a program they call “Living Room Music”.

 

Howland Cultural Center
Beacon, NY

Michael Gordon: '8' for Cello Octet Amsterdam (world premiere)//'House Music' for Ashley Bathgate (world premiere)

Saturday, October 20, 2018

For New York composer Michael Gordon, minimal music holds no secrets. Over the course of 30 years, he turned the minimal idiom completely inside out and found his own composing language. Gordon’s language could still be called ‘minimal music’ but sounds nothing like Reich, Glass, or Louis Andriessen, the foremost inspirer of the three Bang on a Can composers. The composer wants this new work – which lasts an hour – to be performed in an intimate setting ‘with the audience seated around it.’ The Muziekgebouw’s Grote Zaal will be specially adapted for this performance.

Cello Biennale Amsterdam Muziekgebouw
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Carducci Quartet plays Donnacha Dennehy's 'Pushpulling' and Philip Glass Quartet No. 3

Friday, October 19, 2018 - 8:00pm

An internationally renowned Anglo-Irish string quartet based in the UK, the versatile and award-winning Carducci String Quartet has performed everything from brand new quartets, classic works by Haydn, complete Shostakovich cycles, and even partnered with folk-rock icon Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. Founded in 1997 around the talents of Matthew Denton (violin), Michelle Fleming (violin), Eoin Schmidt-Martin (viola), and Emma Denton (cello), the quartet has won numerous international competitions, including Concert Artists Guild International Competition 2007 and First Prize at Finland’s Kuhmo International Chamber Music Competition 2004.  Their Naxos recordings of Philip Glass Quartets have had over six million plays on Spotify.

Tonight their programme includes Beethoven Quartet Op.18/4; Donnacha Dennehy 'Pushpulling'; Philip Glass Quartet No.3 and Mendelssohn’s Quartet Op. 80.

The Source Arts Centre
Thurles, Ireland

Bang on a Can All-Stars in Argentina

Friday, October 19, 2018 - 8:00pm

The collective of musicians and artists Bang on a Can, founded and directed by David Lang, Julia Wolfe and Michael Gordon, celebrates its 30th anniversary with a world tour in charge of its iconic All-Stars ensemble. Considered one of the coolest, most active and influential groups of the contemporary scene, the group has created an international community dedicated to innovative music, which continues to build an environment in which new and powerful musical ideas flow transcending genres and borders. In his presentation at the Teatro Colón they will perform works by David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, Ornette Coleman, Steve Martland and Philip Glass.

Teatro Colón
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Terry Riley & Gyan Riley

Wednesday, October 17, 2018 - 8:00pm

This larger-than-life character created, in the early 1960s, an unconventional minimalist musical style that inspired many: Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Brian Eno, John Cale and The Who's Pete Townshend. It is accompanied by Tracy Silverman and his son Gyan Riley that he comes to present us Terry Riley : Live at 85! This concert brings together all the complexity of his work, elements of minimalism, jazz, ragtime and Indian raga, whose combination defines Riley's diverse and prolific career. On the program, Tracy Silverman and his electric violin will offer excerpts from the album The Palmian Chord Ryddle . Terry Riley, accompanied by his son Gyan, will then present some key works from his repertoire, including Salome Dances for Peace and Emerald Runner. A dream project, enhanced by this unique complicity between father and son.

Palais Montcalm
Quebec City , Canada

Timber with choreography by Martin Lawrence, performed by the Richard Alston Dance Company

Tuesday, October 16, 2018 to Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Richard Alston has been making dance for 50 years. He will celebrate his half-century with a programme full of his trademark lyrical choreography performed by undoubtedly one of the world’s best dance ensembles.

The evening centres around exciting World Premieres by Richard Alston and associate choreographer Martin Lawrance. Alston’s Brahms Hungarian is set to the hugely popular Brahms pieces, featuring live solo pianist Jason Ridgway, where the dancers are carried along by fast steps and an abandoned fervour.

Detour, Lawrance’s new work, set to Michael Gordon’s pulsing Timber, will be a companion piece to a celebratory revival of the beautiful Proverb, one of Alston’s most telling choreographies set to the vocals of Steve Reich. The programme also includes Mid Century Modern, a journey through each decade of Alston’s career, featuring sections from Nowhere Slowly (1970), Rainbow Bandit (1977) and the joyous Signal of a Shake (2000).

There is a free pre-show talk ahead of the performance on Tue 16 October at 6.30pm.

Royal Derngate
Northampton

Terry Riley & Gyan Riley

Sunday, October 14, 2018 - 8:00pm

It’s possibly hard to do justice in words to the influence of Terry Riley on so much adventurous music that has emerged over the past half century. Take his legendary In C, a simple piece of musical genius that still resonates as loudly in impact today and perhaps achieving more widespread influence than ever currently since its first recorded appearance in 1968. Add in his sublime minimalist keyboard recordings such as Shri Camel and A Rainbow In Curved Air, his early tape work, his collaborations with Pandit Pran Nath, John Cale, La Monte Young – a huge favourite on the TUSK team, a huge influence on our listening and so much of the music we love and bring to the festival.

So it is fitting, in the year that TUSK makes the move to expand its reach into Sage’s Hall One, that it is Terry Riley that takes us there. Terry will perform in a duo with his son Gyan, who has a growing discography of his own that includes releases on labels such as John Zorn’s Tzadik and has worked with Zakir Hussian, Dawn Upshaw and many others.

Tusk Festival
London, United Kingdom

Meredith Monk: Cellular Songs Concert at (le) poisson rouge

Sunday, October 14, 2018 - 7:00pm to Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - 7:00pm

Recognized as one of the most unique and influential artists of our time, composer/performer Meredith Monk presents a concert of music from her newest work, Cellular Songswith the women of her acclaimed Vocal Ensemble. A “deeply affecting meditation on the nature of the biological cell as a metaphor for human society” (Financial Times), Cellular Songs features some of Monk’s most adventurous and daring music for the voice to date, paired with violin, piano and keyboard. Over the course of the evening, shimmering, multi-dimensional musical forms evoke such biological processes as layering, replication, division, and mutation. Cellular Songs premiered to sold-out audiences at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in March 2018.

(le) poisson rouge
New York City, NY

Ten Thousand Birds

Friday, October 12, 2018 - 9:00pm

Presented as part of the 2018 College Music Society National Conference

Coordinator: Michael Harley (University of South Carolina)

Perhaps no other composer is so intimately associated with the Pacific Northwest as Pulitzer honoree John Luther Adams. Adams spent the bulk of his compositional career in Alaska and is best-known for music inspired by the natural beauty of the region. The themes, both explicit and implicit, of 10,000 Birds — our connection with the natural world, the relationship of music and nature, the current debate about global warming and our impact on the environment — are directly relevant to the times in which we live as well as city so intimately associated with the beauty of its many parks, waterfront, and the surrounding region.

JW Marriott Parq Vancouver
Vancouver, Canada

'the little match girl passion' performed by FolkOperan

Thursday, October 11, 2018 - 7:00pm

The girl with the sulfur sticks is Hans Christian Andersen's most tragic saga. It's the story of the girl who, on New Year's Eve, is getting barefoot in the snow, in vain to sell sulfur sticks nobody wants to buy. For fear, she dares not go home to her father without selling some. With frozen fingers she turns the sulfur sticks one by one. They turn on and off. Delivered to her destiny in a world of absent adults, the girl is found deadless, frozen to death, on New Year's Day.

Those who had been able to give the girl food and shelter, bought her sulfur sticks and maybe saved her life, now singing with sadness and sadness, her painful story on the stage of Folkoperan. The work is performed in a processed version of David Lang's passion story  The Little Match Girl Passion . The performance is influenced by improvised elements, audience interaction, music by Latvian composer Uģis Prauliņš and choreographed movements, signed by internationally-performing choreographer Örjan Andersson.  

In collaboration with Ersta Sköndal Bräcke College, Martin Åsander, composer and vocalist in VoNo, writes new compositional music about children's rights and vulnerability based on seven professors' reflections and scientific texts on the history of HC Andersen.

Vokalensemblen VoNo (formerly Voces Nordicae) was formed in 1999 and consists of twelve singers and the artistic director and conductor Lone Larsen. With Stockholm as a base, they have been touring around the country and internationally, and received great attention for their innovative performances. By constantly challenging traditional driving standards, VoNo creates a unique stage platform where classical a cappella, folk music, improvisation and poetry are united in musical euphoria.

FolkOperan
Stockholm, Sweden

MUTED: Monica Germino, Violin, & Voice

Monday, October 8, 2018 to Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Dubbed “the quietest violin piece ever written,” MUTEDwas composed by Louis Andriessen, Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe for Monica Germino after she was diagnosed with high sensitivity to sound. Experience this work for violin, “whisperviolin,” voice, and light design as it was meant to be heard — by small groups of listeners in an intimate space. Limited availability. 

Co-presented with the New York Philharmonic

Part of the New York Philharmonic’s The Art of Andriessen, a series celebrating Louis Andriessen’s rich musical contributions, and explores a multitude of his works and influences.

Photo credit: Anne Reinke

National Sawdust
Brooklyn, NY

Ken Thomson NYC Album Release

Sunday, October 7, 2018 - 8:00pm

Roulette welcomes Brooklyn-based clarinetist, saxophonist, and composer Ken Thomson for an evening of music featuring the New York premieres of “Ripple” and “Pall”, followed by a performance by Thomson’s ensemble project, Sextet, as they celebrate their latest album, out now on New Focus Recordings.

Roulette Intermedium
Brooklyn, NY

'the little match girl passion' for chorus performed by Emanuel Music with choreography by Boston Dance Theater

Sunday, October 7, 2018 - 7:00pm

after eight sold-out events last season, aeronaut brewery, in partnership with boston public broadcaster wgbh, is thrilled to invite you to opening night of the second season of the pindrop sessions. please join us in our taproom for this one-night-only theatrical event:

david lang's pulitzer prize-winning
the little match girl passion
co-presented by emmanuel music and boston dance theater

Aeronaut Brewery
Somerville, MA

'the little match girl passion' for chorus performed by The Singers-MCA

Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 8:00pm to Sunday, October 7, 2018 - 8:00pm

The Singers begin the season with two striking works – David Lang’s little match girl passion, winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Music. This stark setting of Hans Christian Andersen’s lonely tale combines with texts from Picander’s libretto for Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion to highlight the suffering and lonliness of the young child. Morten Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna, performed with chamber orchestra, is a soaring reflection on the light in times of darkness.

TBD
Minneapolis, MN

So Percussion at the New College of Florida

Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 8:00pm

This quartet of master percussionists will challenge expectations. Their performance will include Bryce Dessner's Music for Wood and Strings and Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw's Taxidermy, both Sō Percussion commissions. These four performers are ground-breaking musicians who challenge themselves and their commissioned composers to reach new heights of inventiveness.

Artist Conversation: Thursday, October 4, 5:00 p.m., Club Sudakoff (free)

Club Sudakoff
Sarasota, FL

'true pearl' and 'the little match girl passion' performed by Roomful of Teeth with the Callithumpian Consort

Thursday, October 4, 2018 - 7:00pm

Performed by Roomful of Teeth and the Callithumpian Consort, Stephen Drury, conductor.

true pearl is an opera made specifically to be seen and heard in the Tapestry Room of the Gardner Museum. The opera comprises five scenes—one for each tapestry in the Gardner's spectacular 16th century Flemish series based on the life of King Cyrus of Persia—and each tapestry serves as set and scenery for the opera. Lang and Kempson's true pearl is not meant to be performed live, but is recorded on special headsets, so patrons of the Museum can listen individually, as they move from tapestry to tapestry, from scene to scene.

This concert will be the first (and only) live performance of the complete score in Calderwood Hall. Hereafter, true pearl will be available to visitors as an "in-ear" opera in the Tapestry Room from Thursday, October 4, 2018 to Sunday, January 13, 2019.

Rounding out the program will be Lang's moving 2008 work, the little match girl passion, a dramatic retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's haunting story, fashioned in the manner of a Bach passion. Lang made this special version of the work in 2018 especially for Roomful of Teeth.

Calderwood Hall
Boston, MA

Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble: Cellular Songs

Thursday, October 4, 2018 to Saturday, October 6, 2018

“As [Meredith Monk] sang, there was a palpable sense of love and joy between her and the audience that spoke volumes. An antidote to the troubled times we live in.” —Financial Times

When Meredith Monk sings, her voice transports listeners out of time and into a dimension where sound is the currency of communication. In this elaborate music-theater piece, the legendary interdisciplinary artist and the women of her Vocal Ensemble weave some of Monk’s most adventurous vocal music to date with movement, light, instrumental music, and film to evoke a world where cellular activity can serve as a template for human behavior. Playful and humanistic, Cellular Songs is an exploration of the interconnected relationship between people and the natural world, between the basic unit of life and the universe.

Presented in association with Minnesota Opera.

McGuire Theatre, Walker Art Center
Minneapolis, MN

'the mile long opera' performed at The High Line (world premiere)

Wednesday, October 3, 2018 - 7:00pm to Sunday, October 7, 2018 - 7:00pm

For five consecutive nights, October 3-7, 2018, 1,000 singers from across New York will come together on the High Line for the first-ever performances of The Mile-Long Opera: a biography of 7 o’clock – an ambitious, collective, free choral work that shares personal stories from hundreds of New Yorkers about life in our rapidly changing city. 

The stories sung in the The Mile-Long Opera have been gathered through first-hand interviews with residents throughout the city, asking what 7:00 pm means to them. They reveal a vast spectrum of feelings and perspectives—and, by extension, represent the diverse character of the city’s inhabitants and their individual experiences. 
Set in one of the most dynamic public spaces for observing New York City and its multitude of intersecting lives, The Mile-Long Opera invites audiences to move in and out of groups of singers as they walk along the High Line. 

At the heart of the work is an extensive community engagement initiative that activates non-profit cultural organizations across all five boroughs. Six Anchor Partners serve as a hub for engaging local audiences—from recruiting singers, to holding and welcoming the public for open rehearsals and workshops, to hosting social and cultural events in the lead-up to the October performances.

 

The High Line
New York , NY

'evening morning day', 'where you go', 'solitary', 'again (after ecclesiastes)' performed by Cappella Amsterdam

Sunday, September 30, 2018 - 3:30pm

"Again and again", that is the name of this program, an ode to the life and the people of then and now. People come, people go and the world always exists. Josquin des Prez and David Lang and others sing the cycle of life then and now, from beginning to end, of sorrow and punishment for love, reconciliation and resignation. A program full of reflection, in a sober mise-en-espace.

With a wealth of voice colors, Chamber Choir Cappella Amsterdam reaches its specific homogeneous sound, which makes them one of the top choirs in the Netherlands, but also far beyond. Since 1990 the choir has been under the artistic direction of chief conductor Daniel Reuss.

St. Jacob's Church
Vlissingen, Netherlands

'evening morning day', 'where you go', 'solitary', 'again (after ecclesiastes)' performed by Cappella Amsterdam

Friday, September 28, 2018 - 8:15pm

An a cappella program full of reflection 

People come, people go and the world always exists. That is the theme of Again and again , in which the old master Josquin des Prez (c.1450 / 55-1521) and the contemporary American composer David Lang (and others) sing the cycle of life then and now: from beginning to end from grief and punishment to love, reconciliation and resignation. An a cappella program full of reflection.

Of course there are huge differences between the music of Josquin des Prez and David Lang, but there is also an important similarity, which effortlessly bridges five centuries of history. Time, or rather the elimination of time, plays a crucial role in the works of both composers. The idea of ​​being a whirling leaf in eternity blows through the works of both composers.
 

Muziekgebouw Grote Zaal
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Ken Thomson Sextet Tour

Friday, September 28, 2018 to Friday, October 5, 2018

Brooklyn-based clarinetist, saxophonist, and composer, Ken Thomson has put together a new band for his latest project, Sextet, out on New Focus Recordings’ Panoramic imprint on September 7. Thomson is a staple within NYC’s contemporary music and jazz communities, known for his playing with the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and composing and playing with the bands Slow/Fast and Gutbucket. He has written music for the JACK Quartet, Ashley Bathgate, American Composers Orchestra, and others.

For Sextet, The Bang on a Can All-Star reedist expands his ensemble to include alto and tenor saxophones (Thomson and Anna Webber), trumpet (Russ Johnson) and trombone (Alan Ferber), and dropped the chordal instrument, leaving bass (Adam Armstrong) and drums (Daniel Dor). With four horns, the palette is bigger, broader, and more dynamic.

 

TOUR DATES:

September 28 @ 12:00 pm: UW Parkside, Kenosha, WI
more info

September 28 @ 9:30 pm: Constellation, Chicago, IL
more info

September 29: Jazz Estate, Milwaukee, IL
more info

September 30: UW Whitewater, Whitewater, WI
more info

October 1: Icehouse, Minneapolis, MN
more info

October 2: Lawrence University, Appleton, WI
more info

October 3: Bop Stop, Cleveland, OH
more info

October 4: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
more info

October 5 @ 8:00 pm: Bop Shop, Rochester, NY
more info

'manifesto' performed by Opera National du Rhin

Thursday, September 27, 2018 - 8:00pm

Philippe Arlaud invites you to join forces with conductor Claire Levacher at the head of the Linea ensemble at an unexpected event with unexpected surprises and unusual complicities. In a setting where lights and video will have the share and will transform the Opera House, events will not fail with the world premiere of Francesco Alvarado (1984), the French creations of Singing Garden by Toshio Hosokawa (1955 °) and Rhondda Rips It Up!(excerpts) by Elena Langer (1974) and the performance by a men's choir of a work by David Lang (1957). In the second part of this show with which Musica and L'Ososphère are associated, dancers of the Ballet of the Opéra national du Rhin directed by young choreographers and accompanied by DJs will invest a surprise and convince you that the title of this evening is not usurped ...

Opera House
Strasbourg, France

'wed' arranged for piano trio performed by Fidelio Trio

Thursday, September 27, 2018 - 8:00pm

Glass recently invited Fidelio Trio to New York to record two works for release on his Orange Mountain Label. Pendulum, with its classic undulating Glass-isms is the result of one of these recordings, and here receives its European Premiere.

Kevin Volans composed his plaintive and evocative Third Piano Trio Le Tombeau des Regrets for Fidelio Trio in 2017 and this marks its London premiere. Bang on a Can founder David Lang has made a new version of his 1995 still song wed for piano trio. And lastly, three new trios by cult esoteric musical figure John Zorn receive their UK premieres.

King's Place Hall One
London, United Kingdom

'manifesto' performed by Opera National du Rhin

Tuesday, September 25, 2018 - 8:00pm

Philippe Arlaud invites you to join forces with conductor Claire Levacher at the head of the Linea ensemble at an unexpected event with unexpected surprises and unusual complicities. In a setting where lights and video will have the share and will transform the Opera House, events will not fail with the world premiere of Francesco Alvarado (1984), the French creations of Singing Garden by Toshio Hosokawa (1955 °) and Rhondda Rips It Up!(excerpts) by Elena Langer (1974) and the performance by a men's choir of a work by David Lang (1957). In the second part of this show with which Musica and L'Ososphère are associated, dancers of the Ballet of the Opéra national du Rhin directed by young choreographers and accompanied by DJs will invest a surprise and convince you that the title of this evening is not usurped ...

Opera House
Strasbourg, France

Lang works featured in Huang Yi's "Under the Horizon" with Nederlands Kamerkoor

Wednesday, September 19, 2018 - 8:15pm to Saturday, October 6, 2018 - 8:15pm

What do you do when encounters become possible on the border of life and death? Follow the dancers of Huang Yi Studio + (Taiwan) and audiovisual artist Ryoichi Kurokawa (Japan) on a journey to the hereafter. Step into a shady area where the dearest memories come to life. A bittersweet performance with beautiful vocal music by David Lang, Veljo Tormis and Arvo Pärt, among others. For anyone with experiences of love, loss or desire.

Under the Horizon is the breathtaking result of a three-year collaboration between choreographer Huang Yi, who astonished the world by dancing with a robot; the audiovisual genius Ryoichi Kurokawa; and the sixteen singers of the Nederlands Kamerkoor, who completely integrate the purity of the human voice into the performance. 

September 19, 2018: The Flint - Amersfoort
https://bit.ly/2NLEQnf

September 21, 2018: Stadsschouwburg - Utrecht
https://bit.ly/2uchhvV

September 23, 2018: Theaters Tilburg - Tilburg
https://bit.ly/2NcnQWv

September 26, 2018: Theater Kerkrade - Kerkrade
https://bit.ly/2N9QKq4

September 28, 2018: Music Building Eindhoven - Eindhoven
https://bit.ly/2JmcBbo

September 30, 2018: Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ - Amsterdam
https://bit.ly/2NJXCLX

October 3, 2018: Zuiderstrandtheater - The Hague
https://bit.ly/2JhXAaA

October 6, 2018: Stadsschouwburg De Harmonie - Leeuwarden
tickets available soon

'depart' performed by The Crossing at the Park Avenue Armory

Wednesday, September 19, 2018 - 7:30pm to Thursday, September 20, 2018 - 7:30pm

*NYC Premiere

Having “made a name for itself in recent years as a champion of new music” (The New York Times), The Crossing comes to the Armory to perform an ambulatory concert that utilizes the corridors and historic rooms to create a unique kind of seamless music with fluidity of movement from room to room. The program includes world and New York premieres by David Lang, Louis Andriessen, and a new work by Ted Hearne, co-commissioned by the Armory. The new music champions are dedicated to expanding the contemporary choral music experience through commissions, collaborations, community, and performances that are characterized by a distinctive unity of sound and spirit.

Park Avenue Armory
New York City, NY

So Percussion at Princeton

Friday, September 14, 2018 - 7:30pm

Sō Percussion, Princeton University’s Edward T. Cone Artists-in-Residence, perform a FREE concert that explores the incredible range of percussion instruments.

Richardson Auditorium
Princeton, NJ

Bang on a Can All-Stars and KC Chorale

Thursday, September 13, 2018 - 7:30pm

Thirty years ago, New York composers Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe launched Bang on a Can as a way to bring musicians and audiences together from across genres and create a vibrant international community to support innovation through music. Bang on a Can have since performed in concert halls and museums all over the world, and for their Kansas City debut and in collaboration with the Kansas City Chorale, the sextet will perform Wolfe’s powerful Anthracite Fields, which won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Music, along with two shorter works by Gordon and Christian Marclay.

 

Kansas City, MO

Bard Conservatory Celebrates Joan Tower’s 80th Birthday

Sunday, September 9, 2018 - 4:00pm

In celebration of Joan Tower's 80th birthday, Bard Conservatory faculty members perform works by the composer.
Performers include:
Laurie Smukler, violin
Raman Ramakrishnan, cello 
Blair McMillen, piano
Anthony McGill, clarinet
So Percussion
Dawn Upshaw, soprano 
Kayo Iwama, piano
Da Capo Chamber Players
Benjamin Hochman, piano

Dimmena Center for Classical Music
New York City, NY

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