News
Bang on a Can Benefit: May 28th, NYC
This year's Bang on a Can benefit, honoring Debra Simon and arts>World Financial Center, will be taking place at New York's World Financial Center Winter Garden on May 28th. Click here for more information and to donate!
David Lang Wins Pulitzer!
Composer David Lang has been awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his work The Little Match Girl Passion, based on the Hans Christian Andersen fable “The Little Match Girl” and commissioned by and premiered at Carnegie Hall in October 2007. Past winners of this prestigious award include Ornette Coleman, John Adams, Wynton Marsalis, Aaron Copland, Charles Ives and Gian Carlo Menotti.
Click here for an excellent NPR piece about Lang, including a clip from "The Little Match Girl Passion."
Bang on a Can NYC Marathon: May 31st-June 1st
This year's Bang on a Can Marathon (co-presented by the River to River Festival and arts>World Financial Center) will be taking place at the World Financial Center Winter Garden in New York City from 6pm on May 31st through 6am on June 1st. We are putting the finishing touches on this year's stellar line-up; some highlights include:
SIGNAL performing Steve Reich's Daniel Variations.
Crash premiering a new work by Arnold Dreyblatt (This piece will also be featured on Dreyblatt's forthcoming Cantaloupe Music release).
Alarm Will Sound performing the Beatles' Revolution #9.
Contact Contemporary Music performing Brian Eno's Discreet Music.
Owen Pallett of Final Fantasy performing a new piece with Bang on a Can All-Stars
And be sure not to miss a special sunrise performance of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Stimmung by Toby Twining Music.
This year's Marathon will feature music by John Adams, The Beatles, Harrison Birtwistle, Caleb Burhans, Chaya Czernowin, Dan Deacon, Donnacha Dennehy, Arnold Dreyblatt, Sivan Cohen Elias, Brian Eno, Michael Gordon, Annie Gosfield, Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, Karsh Kale, David Lang, Lukas Ligeti, Owen Pallett, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Ruben Seroussi, Marnie Stern, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Julia Wolfe, Bora Yoon, Pamela Z and Evan Ziporyn, and performances by Alarm Will Sound, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Caleb Burhans, Hartt Basses, Contact Contemporary Music, Crash Ensemble, Dan Deacon, Karsh Kale, Lisa Moore, Ensemble Nikel, Owen Pallett, Signal, So Percussion, Marnie Stern, Toby Twining Music, Bora Yoon, Young People's Chorus of NYC, Pamela Z, and more!
Keep an eye on our website, as we will be announcing the complete line-up in the coming month.
Music For Airports LIVE - New Digital Release
THIRTY YEARS AGO, Brian Eno put out Music for Airports, his first "ambient" album. It was a four-part piece, created in the studio using samples of synthesizer, voice, and pianos, devoid of all but the most basic aspects of song, challenging listeners to re-imagine what music might be.
TWENTY YEARS LATER, Bang on a Can All-Stars created their own version of the work with live musicians, all the while staying close to the source by sharing the project as it developed with Brian Eno. It was released on record in 1998 to wide acclaim.
TEN YEARS LATER, Cantaloupe Music releases a live version of Music for Airports as a digital-only release via the Bang on a Can Store, eMusic, iTunes, Amazon, and various other digital music vendors. (A limited edition CD will be available exclusively to Cantaloupe Club members.) To this day, the All-Stars frequently perform the classic work live, most recently, in the middle of the night at this past year's Bang on a Can Marathon in New York City.