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Pulitzer Prize-winning Anthracite Fields out today on Apple Music

Friday, September 18, 2015
Anthracite Fields

Julia Wolfe's Pulitzer Prize-winning Anthracite Fields: out today on Apple Music.

Julia Wolfe's Pulitzer Prize-winning oratorio for chorus and instruments, Anthracite Fields, is now streaming exclusively on Apple Music for one week. The pre-release album is also available exclusively on iTunes. Cantaloupe Music will release the CD package worldwide on September 25.

Wolfe wrote the piece after doing extensive research about the coal-mining industry in an area very near where she grew up in Pennsylvania. Her text draws on oral histories, interviews with miners and their families, speeches, geographic descriptions, children's rhymes and coal advertisements. The recording features the Bang on a Can All-Stars and The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, under the direction of Julian Wachner.

Hear Anthracite Fields on Apple Music and iTunes now.

Julia Wolfe: Anthracite Fields (Bang on a Can All-Stars & The Choir of Trinity Wall Street)

NYTimes looks ahead to Anthracite Fields [Fall Classical Listing]

Friday, September 11, 2015

Clockwise from top left: Yannick Nézet-Séguin leading the Philadelphia Orchestra; Will Liverman, Rachel Sterrenberg and Lawrence Brownlee in “Yardbird”; Eva-Maria Westbroek in “Francesca da Rimini”; and the Twelfth Night Festival at Trinity Church.CreditClockwise from top left: Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times ; Dominic M. Mercier; Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera; and Leah Reddy

New York Times' classical music critic Zachary Woolfe's listing for most anticipated recordings and performances includes Julia Wolfe's upcoming Anthracite Fields as one of the not-to-be-missed happenings in town. Read the listing below and check out the rest of the list, including a John Luther Adams program by JACK Quartet, Esa-Pekka Salonen's residency with the NY Philharmonic, and more:

‘ANTHRACITE FIELDS’ Julia Wolfe’s oratorio, an indictment of the exploitation of Pennsylvania coal miners, won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize and is now being released on record, featuring the Bang on a Can All-Stars and the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, conducted by Julian Wachner. Sept. 25. Cantaloupe Music.

full listing

Apple Ad Features Bang on a Can All-Stars

Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Bang on a Can All-Stars, shot on iPhone 6

This timelapse film of an avian formation by Herbet S. of Utrecht is backed by the cascading arpeggios of the Bang on a Can All-Stars

The Bang on a Can All-Stars can be heard soundtracking Apple's latest commercial for the "Shot on iPhone 6" campaign. Gene Takes a Drink, a composition of Michael Gordon's penning from their newest album Field Recordings, backs a short video by the semi-anonymous "Herbert S." depicting a timelapse of a chattering of starlings flying in abstract formation. The beautifully orchestrated cascading arpeggios were paired with the film to highlighting the latest iPhone's high-res  variable framrate video camera. We think the two were paired well! See for yourself. 

Shot on iPhone 6 by Herbert S.

[livestream] Bang on a Can All-Stars @ The Greene Space 5/13

Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Bang on a Can All-Stars, by Pett

Bang on a Can All-Stars

Tune in to WQXR to livestream the Field Recordings release concert

On WednesdayMay 13 at 7 pm, trailblazing new-music ensemble Bang on a Can All-Stars unveil their newest album, "Field Recordings." Be the first to hear the upcoming release with a live videocast and performance of the complete album from The Greene Space at WQXR.

Hear recent works by Steve Reich, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Anna Clyne, Todd Reynolds, Bang on a Can co-founders David Lang, Julia Wolfe and Michael Gordon, and genre-hopping provocateurs Tyondai Braxton (formerly of Battles), Nick Zammuto (The Books), Mira Calix and Bryce Dessner (The National). With Field Recordings, one hundred years of sound and imagery unfold to reveal a contemporary collective consciousness channeled through the virtuosity and force of the Bang on a Can All-Stars.

Field Recordings asks composers to go into the field of recorded sound itself – to find something old or record something new, and to respond with their own music, in dialogue with what they found. What they have created is a bridge through time, sensation, and sound – a thrilling ride from New York to Hollywood to Las Vegas, from John Cage to French Canadian folk singing, from beauty treatments to tape loops, vinyl records, and more. With Field Recordings, one hundred years of sound and imagery unfold to reveal a contemporary collective consciousness channeled through the virtuosity and force of the electric Bang on a Can All-Stars.

Hosted by Q2 Music's Helga Davis, the evening includes on-stage conversation with performers and composers, including David Lang, Anna Clyne, Florent Ghys, Michael Gordon, Todd Reynolds and 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Music winner Julia Wolfe.

Bang on a Can All-Stars: Gene Takes A Drink (Michael Gordon)

Bang on a Can All-Stars: meeting you seemed easy (Mira Calix)

Video: Monica Germino performs 'Industry'

Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Monica Germino performs Michael Gordon's Industry

Monica Germino performs Michael Gordon's Industry

In her fiery performance of composer Michael Gordon's "tour-de-force of slowly rising intensity" [The Daily Telegraph], violinist Monica Germino revels in pushing the signal-processed limits of her instrument in collaboration with sound designer Frank van der Weij. Filmed and edited by video artist Marcel Wierckx, Industry captures a bold, futuristic and ultimately high-voltage vision of one of the most compelling works in new classical music. At the composer’s request, Germino and van der Weij sought to create the definitive violin version of Gordon's work — a challenge that ultimately resulted in adapting the instrument solely for this piece of music. Germino performs on a modified, amplified, extreme scordatura acoustic violin, together with a battery of effects.

See the Video

The Bang on a Can All-Stars perform live on May 13.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Field Recordings will be available everywhere on May 12. Preorder your copy now!

On May 13, the trailblazing Bang on a Can All-Stars celebrate the world premiere release of their latest album, a 12-track CD and DVD package of Field Recordings, with a live performance of the complete program at The Greene Space at WQXR in downtown NYC. The concert begins at 7pm and will stream live via Q2 Music online. The Greene Space is an intimate concert venue, so tickets ($20) are limited.

Field Recordings features commissioned works by Tyondai Braxton, Mira Calix, Anna Clyne, Bryce Dessner, Florent Ghys, Michael Gordon, Jóhann Jóhannsson, David Lang, Christian Marclay, Steve Reich, Todd Reynolds, Julia Wolfe and Nick Zammuto. The bonus DVD features five collage-style, archival and “found footage” videos that have accompanied recent live performances by the All-Stars.

Hosted by Q2 Music's Helga Davis, the evening includes on-stage conversations with the performers and composers.

Julia Wolfe Wins 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Music

Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Julia Wolfe, by Peter Serling

Julia Wolfe is the 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner for music.

Bang on a Can co-founder and co-artistic director Julia Wolfe's Anthracite Fields, an oratorio for chorus and instruments, has been awarded the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Music! Wolfe drew on oral histories, interviews, speeches, geographic descriptions, children’s rhymes, and coal advertisements to create a work that gives an intimate look at a particular slice of American life.

"[Anthracite Fields] captures not only the sadness of hard lives lost…but also of the sweetness and passion of a way of daily life now also lost. The music compels without overstatement. This is a major, profound work.."
— Mark Swed, LA Times

Read NPR interview with Wolfe

Read NY Times article about her award

Cited by the Pulitzer committee as "a powerful oratorio for chorus and sextet evoking Pennsylvania coal-mining life around the turn of the 20th Century," the work premiered at the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia last April followed by a performance at the NY PHIL BIENNIAL in May. It was met with rave reviews. The New York Times wrote, “In Ms. Wolfe’s polished and stylistically assured cantata, the overall coherence of the musical material helped her expressions of outrage to burn cleanly and brightly.” The Philadelphia Inquirer praised the piece for creating “an alternate universe.”

Anthracite Fields will be released on Cantaloupe Music this September, in a recording that features the Bang on a Can All-Stars and The Choir of Trinity Wall Street with Julian Wachner conducting.

Click here to contribute to the making of this album!

"My aim with Anthracite Fields is to honor the people who persevered and endured in the Pennsylvania Anthracite coal region during a time when the industry fueled the nation, and to reveal a bit about who we are as American workers." – Julia Wolfe

Named after the technical term for the purest form of coal, anthracite, Anthracite Fields was written after Wolfe did extensive research about the coal mining industry in an area very near where she grew up in Pennsylvania. She writes, "In some ways the piece is a return to my small town Pennsylvania roots. In looking north – the left turn onto route 309, the road-rarely-taken – I delved into a local history.”


 

Anthracite Fields was commissioned through Meet the Composer’s Commissioning Music/USA program, which is made possible by generous support from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Helen F. Whitaker Fund. Additional support was made possible through the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia Alan Harler New Ventures Fund; The Presser Foundation; The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage; the National Endowment for the Arts; The Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music.

The Creator's Project premieres Christian Marclay's 'Fade to Slide' off Field Recordings

Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Christian Marclay's Fade to Slide

Vice's The Creator's Project premiered Fade to Slide, a film by visual artist Christian Marclay

Vice's The Creator's Project premiered Fade to Slide on Tuesday, a film by visual artist Christian Marclay, and the first of five films to be shared off the Bang on a Can All-Stars' forthcoming CD/DVD album FIELD RECORDINGS, which drops everywhere on May 12th. 

Preorder Field Recordings on iTunes and the Bang on a Can Store now!

Marclay, a master seamster with the fabric that is "found" footage, honed his craft cutting together records to create sonic collages. Today, The Creators Project exclusively premieres a new piece from Marclay that combines his montage techniques with his control over music as its own manner of speaking. "Fade to Slide" is an audiovisual artwork that Marclay was commissioned to create for pioneering music ensemble Bang on a Can All-Stars' forthcoming double-disc multimedia project, Field Recordings (out May 12, 2015 on Cantaloupe Music). 

"Field Recordings is a kind of ghost story," explains Bang on a Can Co-Founder David Lang. "We asked composers from different parts of the music world to find a recording of something that already exists—a voice, a sound, a faded scrap of melody—and then write a new piece around it. And so they did." In Marclay's case, the result was "Fade to Slide." 

Trailer: Sorrentino's 'YOUTH', scored by David Lang

Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Paolo Sorrentino's Youth

Paolo Sorrentino’s new film YOUTH is scored entirely by David Lang.

Last year, Italian director Paolo Sorrentino took home the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film with The Great Beauty, which featured several tracks by David Lang, including the iconic opening scene backed with Lang's i lie. The duo realized their artistic synergy and collaborated again in the forthcoming YOUTH, and this time, Sorrentino used Lang's work just (after song of songs) as well as several new tracks composed for the film.

 YOUTH premieres in Italy this May - check back here for updates on screenings elsewhere in the world. 

The track in the trailer is the just-released just (after the song of songs), sung by Trio Mediaeval. Hear the full 12-minute piece here:

Become Ocean wins a Grammy

Tuesday, February 10, 2015
John luther Adams wins Grammy for Become Ocean

Photo: Mark Abramson for the Wall Street Journal

Amidst all the hubbub during Sunday night's Grammy broadcast, we were thrilled to learn that John Luther Adams got the nod for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for his Pulitzer-winning Become Ocean. Congratulations to JLA, and to all the Grammy winners!

Become Ocean has been one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life,” Adams wrote after hearing the news. “Yet it doesn’t feel as though it belongs to me. The music essentially composed itself, over the course of just a few months. Now it has a life of its own, independent of the composer. This never would’ve happened without the combined efforts of so many other people. And ultimately, of course, it wouldn't have happened without the Pacific Ocean, and this beautiful, beleaguered planet that is our one and only home.”

It's been a long road paved with accolades since we released the Seattle Symphonys recording of Become Ocean (in stereo and 5.1 surround) last September; and now that we can all take a breath, we'd like to thank you for helping to make it happen by offering the two-disc package on sale, direct from Cantaloupe, at 20 percent off for this week only! Just input the promotional code GRAMMY15 at checkout to claim your discount.

Meanwhile, we're looking ahead to all-new releases this year from Michael GordonDavid LangJulia Wolfe and the Bang on a Can All-Stars, as well as new work from Kate MooreAlarm Will SoundGlenn Kotche and DJ Spooky. We'll also have more news very soon from John Luther Adams about his next large ensemble recording, which promises to be yet another grand undertaking of epic proportions.

Stay tuned, and thanks for listening!

An Index of Cantaloupe Artist Streams

Friday, February 6, 2015
Follow Cantaloupe

Connect with Cantaloupe Music's entire arist roster on Spotify. 

It's no longer news that streaming services like Spotify are on the rise as a new paradigm of music acquisition. While the new sets of challenges this presents to artists is bound to be discussed and debated for a while, the reality is that it's hard to argue with the convenience of it all.  Since we want you to hear what our artists are up to – because our artists are making awesome music – a moral stance against streaming something we're not really interested in taking.

To our fans who subscribe or go for CDs, vinyl, or downloads: you're near and dear to us!  And in today's recorded music climate, your purchases are actually an act of going the extra mile. We'll certainly never stop providing music in the formats you desire. 

All of this said, we want it to be super easy to stay in touch with all the latest and greatest sounds Cantaloupe artists have to offer - even the stuff on other labels. And as thrilled as we would be if you bought every single album in the catalog, streaming platforms offer a much simpler method of discovering over 14 years of fresh Cantaloupe sound.

Have yourself a clickfest. 

Announcing: Stories for Ocean Shells

Friday, January 16, 2015
Ashley Bathgate & Kate Moore: Stories for Ocean Shells

Cantaloupe presents Stories for Ocean Shells, the culmination of a years-long project between Ashley Bathgate and Kate Moore.

This summer, Cantaloupe presents Stories for Ocean Shells, the culmination of a years-long recording project between by composer Kate Moore and cellist Ashley Bathgate. Join the Indiegogo campaign now!

ashley bathgate

Stories for Ocean Shells is a picture-music book telling tales of travel, love, sadness and beauty - that one great story - the one known as life. A highly personal communication between two artists, one a composer from Australia who landed in The Netherlands, the other a cellist from the states who travels the world on tour. Their lives collide, intersect and intertwine in strange and unexpected ways. This album is their story told from afar like letters of memories, experiences, thoughts and yearning - seeking true honesty and through observation, a quest to see the world through vivid eyes.

kate moore scores

This is ongoing recording project by Moore and Bathgate, who have been working together since 2009, is an epic body of work for the cello in all its glory. Both come from a background playing the major cello repertoire: Elgar, Dvořák, Fauré, Bach, Beethoven. Over a number of years they have worked hard to develop and sculpt their own original language and voice spoken through this instrument; Ashley, through the subtlety and colour of her playing, Kate through composition using the idiomatic and dynamic vocabulary of the cello. The body of compositions and the way in which they are performed by Ashley dive head-on into a powerfully charged physical and metaphysical experience.

Join the Indiegogo campaign now!

Velvet - by Kate Moore

Become Ocean nominated for 3 Grammy Awards

Thursday, January 8, 2015
John Luther Adams' Become Ocean is nominated for 3 Grammy Awards

John Luther Adams' Become Ocean is nominated for 3 Grammy Awards in

John Luther Adams' Become Ocean is nominated for Grammy Awards in 3 categories, including Best Engineered Album, Classical, Best Contemporary Classical Composition, and as well as a nom for Ocean collaborator Dmitriy Lipay in the Producer of the Year, Classical category. and with the voting deadline still a week out, we would love your support in spreading the word.

With ballots closing on January 16th, there's still time to help us get the word out. We want to make sure that all voters in the Recording Academy know how deserving this gorgeous piece is for some Grammy gold! If you loved Become Ocean and wish to help Cantaloupe bring home our first ever Grammy Award, join us on the networks with the #GRAMMYs hashtag to help us rally the vote!

Triple Release Day: Ghys, Previte/Sō, Asphalt

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

It's a rarity for us to drop more than one album on a particular release date. But this month, we channeled some unexpected and serendipitous forces, tightened our bootstraps and went through several pots of piping hot coffee to bring you not just one, not even two, but THREE (3) brand new records for you to experience. Get a taste of them all right here!



Asphalt Orchestra Plays Pixies: Surfer Rosa

Asphalt Orchestra

Asphalt Orchestra Plays Pixies: Surfer Rosa

When it comes to seminal albums in alternative rock, Pixies’ 1988 debut Surfer Rosa qualifies as a true game-changer. With strong production and even stronger songs, the album tore a rift in the rock ‘n roll continuum, influencing everyone from Kurt Cobain to Radiohead. That influence remains as steadfast as ever among the feverish minds behind Asphalt Orchestra, the 12-piece New York-based marching band with an eclectic ear for new music and boundary-blurring arrangements. The band’s unpredictable repertoire includes the music of Goran Bregovich, David Byrne, Frank Zappa, Charles Mingus, Tatsuya Yoshida, Meshuggah, Yoko Ono and more, so it’s only fitting they should choose to tackle a boisterous, at times even downright ornery noise-rock classic, right? 

Intrepid, energetic and unconventional, AOPP touches a nerve that connects rock and new music — a daring brew.


 

Télévision

Florent Ghys

Florent Ghys - Télévision

Florent Ghys presents an epic foray into classical forms, musique concrète, samples and sci-fi that warps the very edges of contemporary music. As Ghys himself describes it, “Télévision is about weather reports, digital music, plastic beauty, synesthesia and dance.” All 13 pieces were composed, played, recorded, filmed and mixed by Ghys.

Catch the record release party on November 30 at Joe's Pub, NYC, wsg Foci + Loci and James Moore + Andie Springer!


 

TERMINALS

Bobby Previte ft. Sō Percussion

The four horsemen of Sō Percussion go toe-to-toe with some of the heavyweights of improvised music in Bobby Previte’s luminous masterpiece TERMINALSFeatured soloists John MedeskiNels ClineZeena Parkins and Greg Osby take turns in the forefront to deliver an electrifying part-composed, part-improvised workout spanning two vinyl pieces. 

 

"Best Pixies Cover Album Ever" airs 10.21 on New Sounds, pre-order discount this week

Monday, October 20, 2014
Asphalt Orchestra by Stephanie Berger

Asphalt Orchestra by Stephanie Berger

Out November 18, New Sounds' review URL declares it the "best PIXIES cover album ever". Tune in tomorrow, October 21, to New Sounds' usual 11pm time slot to hear three premiere tracks from Asphalt Orchestra's new PIXIES' Surfer Rosa project, and judge for yourself. “Bone Machine,” “Where Is My Mind?” and “Gigantic” are among the freshly arranged rock classics, each arranged by a different member of the band. 

If you love what you hear, get $5 off your preorder of Surfer Rosa this week when you use the code NewSoundsAOPP at the Bang on a Can Store

Asphalt Orchestra performing Tony's Theme

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