News

A Supercharged Musical Ride through Right Now 
3 Days | 50+ concerts throughout Brooklyn

“Long Play…is already the most important classical music festival in New York City.”
—The New York Times

Bang on a Can announces the 4th year of Long Play, a three-day destination music festival, presented from Friday, May 2 through Sunday, May 4, 2025. Featuring 50+ concerts (a current list of artists is here, + more to come soon!), Long Play also showcases a dense network of inventive music venues in Brooklyn – with performances at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), Roulette, Pioneer Works, Public Records, BRIC, The Space at Irondale, the Church of St Luke and St Matthew, ISSUE Project Room, Fort Greene Park, and more brought to you by Bang on a Can!

More info, artists, tickets

On May 15 at the Barbican Center in London, we are celebrating Terry Riley‘s 90th birthday with a mesmerising tribute featuring  Bang on a Can All-Stars, and special guests.

Terry Riley is a trailblazer of Minimalism, influencing generations of composers and musicians. A Rainbow in Curved Air and In C have defined the genre, captivating audiences since their inception.

Marking his 90th birthday,  the Bang on a Can All-Stars will present a stunning new arrangement of A Rainbow in Curved Air, arranged by Gyan Riley, blending the essence of Terry Riley’s visionary sound with fresh interpretations. The evening culminates in a powerful performance of Riley’s masterpiece In C, brought to life by an all-star cast of musicians, promising an evening of mesmerizing rhythms and timeless melodies.

More info

Julia Wolfe’s Her Story will be performed by Lorelei Ensemble and the National Symphony, conducted by Marion Alsop, from Feb 27 and March 1, in Washington DC!

Stage direction by Anne Kauffman, scenic design by Jeff Sugg, and production by Bang on a Can.

[Her Story] has a ferocity that is literally written into the score, but also an absence of resolution as it looks back to suffrage with one wary eye toward the future steps this country still needs to take for something resembling true equality.
— The New York Times, September 2022

More info and tickets

This summer marks our fifth annual workshop for music critics and journalists! Bang on a Can, our special guest faculty, John Schaefer and Terrance McKnight, and 6 writers in the early stages of their careers will gather at MASS MoCA (the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA) to explore the role of criticism and journalism in today’s dynamic contemporary music scene. Our aim is to help writers generate a vocabulary, syntax, and context that is most useful for readers/ listeners and to make modern music and criticism more accessible, welcoming, and exciting to all audiences.

More info and online applications

Julia Wolfe’s Steel Hammer will performed by the Bang on a Can All-Stars and Trio Mediaeval in the Netherlands and Germany this month!

Feb 14 – Tivoli Vredenberg, Utrecht, Netherlands

Feb 15 – Amare, Den Haag, Netherlands

Feb 17 – Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Germany

See our EVENTS page for all the details!

David Lang’s “before and after nature” receives its world premiere on Sat, Feb 1 at Stanford Live, performed by the Bang on a Can All-Stars and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

Image from the video art for this piece by Tal Rosner.

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The All-Stars are going on a tour!

First, they head to Nashville to perform Julia Wolfe’s Flower Power for the All-Stars and Nashville Symphony on January 24-26.

Then they head to Stanford for the world premiere of David Lang’s before and after nature with visuals by Tal Rosner, and performed with the LA Master Chorale. Feb 1 at Bing Concert Hall.

See our schedule page for more info!

Applications for the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival are online now!

More info and applications

LIVE AT NATIONAL SAWDUST // DOORS AT 6:30PM // SHOW AT 7:30PM December 12, 2024 7:30 pm

Program – music by Julia Wolfe

Lick (10′)

Big Beautiful Dark and Scary (9′)

Reeling (6′)

Flower Power (preview) (30′)

The electric Bang on a Can All-Stars play an intimate concert of music by Bang on a Can co-founder Julia Wolfe – a set of new, recent, and ‘classic’ works featuring Wolfe’s signature combination of driving rock energy and minimalist serenity. Join Bang on a Can and National Sawdust for this end-of-year holiday hang as the All-Stars offer a sneak-preview of Wolfe’s Flower Power and more. Limited seating!

Get tickets here

Thursday, December 5, 2024
7:30 – 9 pm EST
Scheuer Auditorium

The William Petschek Family Music Program

How can the idea of a ‘cartoon’ translate into musical form? A sketch, an outline, a simplification that gives that sense that not all the details are filled in–these are all formal ideas that suggest how music might model cartoon-nature. Two composers who experimented their entire lives with leaving out important details are Julius Eastman (1940–1990) and Morton Feldman (1926–1987). Their works, Gay Guerilla by Eastman and Piece for Four Pianos by Feldman, both leave important details to the players to decide, and in this evening of world premiere arrangements, the players deciding are Brooklyn-based guitar ensemble Dither Quartet.

This concert, co-presented with Bang on a Can is held in conjunction with the exhibition Draw Them In, Paint Them Out: Trenton Doyle Hancock Confronts Philip Guston (November 8, 2024 – March 30, 2025).

Tickets: $22 General; $15 Students and Seniors; $12 Jewish Museum members

Doors open at 7 pm; Includes Museum Admission

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