News

Bang on a Can will present an ALL LIVE online Bang on a Can Marathon on Sunday, August 16, 2020 from 3pm-9pm ET. The Marathon will be streamed at marathon2020.bangonacan.org, featuring 24 LIVE performances from musicians' homes in NYC and around the country. We kick off at 3pm with the singular and extraordinary Wu Man, one of the world’s foremost Pipa players and close off with György Ligeti’s diabolical etude ‘The Devil’s Staircase’, performed by piano superstar Jeremy Denk. Don’t miss a rare solo performance by jazz legend Oliver Lake, 11 world premieres commissioned especially for the day, as well as music and performances by Leyla McCalla, Kaki King, Annea Lockwood, Craig Taborn, Missy Mazzoli, Tyondai Braxton and many more greats.

Performance schedule (Set times are approximate) 

3:00
Wu Man
Nicole Mitchell New Work (world premiere) performed by Ken Thomson
Dobrinka Tabakova Simple Prayer for Complex Times (world premiere) performed by Vicky Chow
Tyondai Braxton

4:00
Missy Mazzoli Vespers for Violin (solo) performed by Olivia De Prato
Teddy Abrams New Work (world premiere) performed by himself
Fjóla Evans New Work (world premiere) performed by Kendall Williams
Jeffrey Brooks Santuario (world premiere) performed by Mark Stewart
Shara Nova New Work (world premiere) performed by herself

5:00
Brad Lubman New Work (world premiere) performed by Lauren Radnofsky
Leyla McCalla
Jacob Cooper Expiation (edit) performed by Jodie Landau
Kaki King
Scott Wollschleger Tiny Oblivion performed by Karl Larson

6:00
Rajna Swaminathan New Work (world premiere) performed by herself
Nick Dunston Fainting Is Down, Whooshing is Up (world premiere) performed by Robert Black
Phil Kline The Best Words performed by Theo Bleckmann with Dan Tepfer/Todd Reynolds
Marcos Balter ...and also a fountain performed by Rebekah Heller

7:00
Oliver Lake
Annea Lockwood RCSC performed by Sarah Cahill
Paola Prestini From the Bones to the Fossils performed by Jeffrey Zeigler
Craig Taborn

8:00
Annika Socolofsky Bolder (world premiere) performed by Arlen Hlusko
Samson Young Super Dark Energy (world premiere) performed by David Cossin
György Ligeti The Devil's Staircase performed by Jeremy Denk

Bang on a Can will present an ALL LIVE online Bang on a Can Marathon on Sunday, May 3, 2020 from 3pm-9pm ET. The Marathon will be streamed at marathon2020.bangonacan.org, featuring 26 LIVE performances from musicians' homes in NYC and around the country. The concert begins with a performance by Meredith Monk at 3pm and concludes with a performance by Bang on a Can All-Star pianist Vicky Chow playing John Adams’ China Gates. Additional highlights include Steve Reich’s Vermont Counterpoint performed by flutist Claire Chase, performances by Vijay Iyer, Maya Beiser, Shara Nova, Nathalie Joachim, and many more. The 6-hour live Marathon will be hosted by Bang on a Can Co-Founders andArtistic Directors Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe.

Set times are approximate

3:00
Meredith Monk
Cassie Wieland’s Heart performed by Adam Holmes
Robert Honstein’s Orison performed by Ashley Bathgate
Vijay Iyer

4:00
Anna Clyne’s Rapture performed by Eileen Mack
George Lewis’ Voyager
Shara Nova – New Work (world premiere)
Adam Cuthbért

5:00
Shelley Washington’s Black Mary performed by Ken Thomson
Martin Bresnick’s Ishi’s Song performed by Lisa Moore
Ken Thomson – New Work (world premiere) performed by Robert Black
Nathalie Joachim
David T. Little’s Hellhound performed by Maya Beiser

6:00
Miya Masaoka’s music for ichi-ten-kin, or one string koto
Meara O’Reilly
Vinko Globokar’s Toucher performed by Steven Schick
Zoë Keating

7:00
Moor Mother
Philip Glass’ “Knee Play 2” from Einstein on the Beach performed by Tim Fain
Mark Stewart’s To Whom it May Concern: Thank You
Mary Halvorson

8:00
Molly Joyce – New Work (world premiere) performed by David Cossin
Ian Chang
Steve Reich’s Vermont Counterpoint performed by Claire Chase
Dai Wei’s Songs for Shades of Crimson (world premiere) performed by Todd Reynolds
John Adams’ China Gates performed by Vicky Chow

The Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee, has announced its expanded 2020 lineup, which will include a headlining set from punk godmother Patti Smith and her band, who will play and participate in the literary program.

The three-day fest (March 26-29) focused on the avant garde, the unexpected and the surprising will pay tribute to the 100th anniversary of the invention of the Theremin, with Rob Schwimmer, a master of the eerie instrument leading a trio featuring pianist Uri Caine and violinist Mark Feldman in a 20th anniversary celebration of their album Theremin Noir.

Meredith Monk will perform her evening-length song series MEMORY GAME with her Vocal Ensemble and the Bang on a Can All-Stars to close out the weekend. Stay tuned for more details!

Big Ears Festival 2020: Expanded Lineup

“This piece is all about space,” says composer John Luther Adams. “Space has become, perhaps, the fundamentally compositional element in my music — so much so that with Become Desert, I didn't begin sketching notes. I didn't think about harmonies, or tempos, or line, or anything specific until I had the floor plan. Until I knew, not only what are the instruments, but where are the instruments. In this case, we have five instrumental choirs, five distinctly separate ensembles. Become Ocean had three. That seemed to work pretty well, but I wanted to hear a fuller space, both [in] surround and vertically.”

Watch the exclusive interview here:

David Lang returns to LA Opera for the first time since his spellbinding anatomy theater, with baritone Rod Gilfry in a tour-de-force performance of a role he created at the work’s premiere at the pathbreaking BAM Next Wave Festival, produced by Bang on a Can.

"Boldly unconventional… engrossingly ambiguous. Mr. Lang captures the conflicted emotional currents of the story in his elusive, austere music." – The New York Times

Order your tickets now

Co-commissioned and performed by the Seattle Symphony, conducted by Pablo Rus Broseta and featuring piano soloist Tomoko Mukaiyama, The Unchanging Sea flows from Michael Gordon’s fascination with our connection to our watery source, in all its turbulence, majesty and mystery. While the title and visual material originate with a 1910 short film by silent era director D.W. Griffith, Bill Morrison’s film sources 17 obscure or lost titles dealing with sea travel, including footage shot in Seattle in 1897, when the S.S. Willamette sailed out of Puget Sound at the height of the gold rush.

The Unchanging Sea is a double-disc CD + DVD package that includes the companion piece Beijing Harmony, also performed by the Seattle Symphony. Inspired by a visit to the Echo Wall at Beijing’s Temple of Heaven, Gordon “imagined that the sound would bounce off the stone floors and buildings to create a fanfare of echoes — an acoustical rebounding and ringing that would slowly grow in zeal and fierceness.”

Get The Unchanging Sea here.

Over the course of a decade, Bang on a Can founding composer Michael Gordon has
collaborated with the world-renowned Kronos Quartet on a series of provocative works that
have sought to stretch, bend and otherwise reshape the boundaries of modern classical
music. Clouded Yellow assembles these works for the first time, perfectly encapsulating the
breadth and complexity of this long-standing creative partnership. On May 5, Kronos and
Gordon celebrate the album’s release with an intimate performance at Joe’s Pub.

Clouded Yellow will be available on CD and all digital services on May 4.

Advance tickets now on sale

Ticket Price: $40.00 - $70.00
Doors at 6PM & 9PM
Shows at 7PM & 9:30PM