North Adams explodes with music as the fellows & faculty of the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival use every available space on the MASS MoCA campus & throughout the community to create and perform music. The festival features two recitals a day (Mon-Fri at 1:30pm and 4:30pm and Sat at 4:30pm), free with gallery admission. We are also celebrating George Crumb on a special weekend devoted to his combination of drama, darkness, & mysticism, and will throw our annual music bash, the Summer Marathon, a six-hour blow-out festival finale.
Buy a Festival pass for $60 which gets you into all concerts, recitals, & other events.
Wednesday July 14
4:30 Solo work and Be-In by Evan Ziporyn
Thursday July 15
4:30 Vicki Ray, piano. Music by Chinary Ung, Vicki Ray, Rand Steiger, David Rosenbloom
Friday July 16
4:30 Todd Reynolds: World premieres of music from his new CD featuring Bang on a Can faculty composers. Also a performance with the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots (LEMUR)
Saturday July 17
11:30am Family performance – “Kids Can Too”: Learn about and make music at this festive session with the faculty and fellows of Bang on a Can. Nose harps, kazoos, drinking straws and more have been used to fashion instruments in previous years. Sells out fast, reserve in advance.
4:30 Performances by Ashley Bathgate cello, and Vicky Chow, piano
Monday July 19
4:30 Nick Photinos, cello, with Todd Reynolds violin and Vicki Ray, piano. Music by George Crumb, Shaun Naidoo, Salvatore Sciarrino, Mischa Zupko
Tuesday July 20
4:30 Traditional music from Uzbekistan
Wednesday July 21
4:30 The Music of Martin Bresnick performed by festival ensembles
Thursday July 22
4:30 Music by Gregg August and Ken Thomson
Friday July 23
4:30 “Day of Viagara” A collaboration between Christine Southworth, Ken Thomson, and Evan Ziporyn. Music for Bagpipes, saxophones, and more
Saturday July 24 – International Crumb Day
3:00pm Closer to George Crumb: An informal, up close look at Crumb’s music-with film, projection, discussion, demonstration and performance, led by stage director and designer Jim Findlay and composer David Lang.
4:30pm Festival ensemble performs George Crumb: “Music for a Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III)”
8:00pm The Music of George Crumb: Enter the mystical world of Crumb’s music with staging by New York director Jim Findlay. Findlay uses lighting and video to seamlessly connect the stylized ritual theater of Vox Balaenae, the intense anti-war masterpiece Black Angels, the eerie lyricism of Madrigals and the mysterious and meditative Lux Aeterna for masked musicians. In the MASS MoCA Hunter Center. Tickets here
Monday July 26
4:30 World premieres of music written by the festival composers, performed by festival ensembles. Music by: Sophie Cash-Goldwasser, Jeremy Howard Beck, Amanda Feery, Maria Vladimirovna Grigoryeva, Adam Haws, Robert Honstein, Ravi Kittappa, Svetlana Maras.
Tuesday July 27
4:30 Music by Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe performed by festival ensembles
Wednesday July 28
4:30 New music for Balinese Gamelan, written by the festival composers
Thursday July 29
4:30 Music performed by festival ensembles including music by Kaija Saariaho, Tristan Perich and Kenny Savelson.
Friday July 30
4:30 “Typical Music” by Evan Ziporyn, for violin, cello, piano
Saturday July 31 – Bang on a Can Marathon
4:00 – 10:00 pm The ninth consecutive Summer Marathon showcases an eclectic super-mix of new and unusual music. Six non-stop hours feature explosive performances of just-written music alongside classic experimental masterpieces:
4:00pm:
Tan Dun, Snow in June
Chris Cerrone, Requiem for K.V.
Tom Johnson, Narayana’s Cows
Traditional music from Uzbekistan, TBA
Annie Gosfield, Flying Sparks and Heavy Machinery
6.00pm:
Arvo Pärt, Fratres I
Ted Hearne, Katrina Ballads (excerpts)
Oscar Bettison, Breaking and Entering
David Lang, Forced March
Christine Southworth, ZAP! (mvt 3 and 4)
Evan Ziporyn, Music from ShadowBang
8.00pm:
Julia Wolfe, Fuel (with film by Bill Morrison)
Nik Baersch, Moduls 32, 35, 33 (arr Evan Ziporyn)
Michael Gordon, Yo Shakespeare
Traditional music from Uzbekistan, TBA
Steve Reich, Double Sextet
In the MASS MoCA Hunter Center.