Bang on a Can

aleba gartner associates
648 broadway * suite 607 * new york, ny 10012
tel: 212/206-1450 * fax: 646/536-2730 * e-mail: aleba@aol.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press Contact: Aleba, 212/206-1450

Central Asia Exchange Program!

Bang on a Can & CEC ArtsLink announce a unique new arts partnership with Central Asia

July 12-31, 2005, the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA welcomes for the first time gifted students from Uzbekistan

Then...

October 2005, the Bang on a Can All-Stars travel to Bishkek, Kyrgystan and Almaty, Kazakhstan for a residency of workshops & performances

The tireless innovators at Bang on a Can continue to stretch the boundaries of contemporary music with an unprecedented ARTS PARTNERSHIP WITH CENTRAL ASIA that will launch at their 2005 Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA, July 12-31, 2005, in North Adams, MA.

This exciting new exchange program pairs Bang on a Can and CEC ArtsLink, an international arts service organization. CEC ArtsLink's programs support the exchange of artists and cultural managers between the United States and Central Europe, Russia, and Eurasia, opening an arts dialogue - often for the first time ever - between the U.S. and formerly isolated cultures.

Through a vigorous CEC ArtsLink promotion campaign, young performers and composers from Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan with an interest in contemporary music were encouraged to apply to attend the 2005 Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival. In January 2005, Bang on a Can received 25 applications. Three artists were accepted to this year's program, and the result is that 10% of this year's fellows are now from a region where Bang on a Can has formerly had very little contact.

The Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival welcomes this rare opportunity to work with performers of traditional Uzbeki instruments. Young Western composers will learn to write for these instruments, and they will improvise and play in ensembles with their Central Asian musical colleagues.

In exchange, members of the Bang on a Can All-Stars will travel to Central Asia in October 2005 for an eagerly anticipated residency of workshops and performances in Bishkek, Kyrgystan and Almaty, Kazakhstan.

For bios of the Central Asian participants at the 2005 Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival, see next page.

**CEC ArtsLink Central Asia Program Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA**

Profiles of Selected Participants:

Sharofiddin Ahrorov, a 29-year-old percussionist, plays both European and traditional Central Asian instruments. Originally from the ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Sharofiddin has incorporated the Uzbek drum doyra into both folk music and jazz ensembles. He looks forward to his residency at Bang on a Can's Summer Institute, which is his first venture abroad, as an opportunity to expand his creative vision and to establish contacts for possible future international collaboration.

Shavkat Matyakubov specializes in playing the Uzbek flutes surnay and kornay and the stringed instruments dutar and tanbur. Growing up in a musical family, Shavkat developed an early love for music. Recently he has begun studying Uzbek regional variations of the maqam, the modal system used in classical music across the Middle East and Central Asia. Shavkat, 27, has already performed in India, Italy, Russia, Taiwan, and most recently the US.

Jakhongir Shukurov is a composer born in the historic Muslim cultural center of Bukhara. At only 24 years of age, he has had his compositions performed in Austria, Italy, and Britain and participated in international masterclasses for composers in Germany. Jakhongir teaches at the Khamza Music College and conducts the Omnibus Ensemble, which performs under the auspices of Tashkent's Ilkhom Theater. He is eager to share his experiences at the Summer Institute with his colleagues in the Omnibus Ensemble, the Uzbekistan State Conservatory, and Tashkent's concert-going public.

For further information and to arrange interviews, please contact Aleba Gartner Associates at 212/206-1450 or visit www.bangonacan.org