Bang on a Can All-Stars download original

Peter Serling

The All-Stars perform CAN DANCE in California (1/29) and Oregon (2/1)

The Bang on a Can All-Stars bring CAN DANCE to California and Oregon!

January 29 – Rohnert Park, CA

February 1 – Portland, OR

Live music and dance on film! CAN DANCE is the Bang on a Can All-Stars’ newest show is a seamless integration of cutting-edge music, revolutionary dance, and film. Nine extraordinary choreographers have been commissioned to create dance/films to music written for and performed by the Bang on a Can All-Stars

Please support Bang on a Can with a year-end gift!

Inspiration is everywhere. Our job is to share it. Will you help us?

Maybe this will sound as crazy to you as it does to us. But in 2022, Bang on a Can produced more in-person concerts than any year since our beginning in 1987.  Incredible, right? It’s true — and we could only do this with your help and support!

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Bang on a Can and the Jewish Museum present Morton Feldman’s “For John Cage” – Dec 15

Bang on a Can and the Jewish Museum present:

Morton Feldman’s “For John Cage”

Thursday Dec 15, 2022 – 7:30p

Towards the end of his life, Feldman wrote several “tribute” pieces to people who had been important to him among them, For John Cage (1982), and it has become one of Feldman’s most well-known pieces. For John Cage will be performed by Karl Larson on piano and Erica Dicker, violin in conjunction with the exhibition New York: 1962-1964.

More info and tickets

Michael Gordon’s “Travel Guide to Nicaragua” – Nov 17

On November 17, at Zankel Hall, cutting-edge cellist Maya Beiser and “America’s most astonishing choir” (The New York Times), The Crossing will form a fearless partnership to present Travel Guide to Nicaragua, a New York premiere by Bang on a Can co-founder Michael Gordon. The evening-length work, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall, tells the story of Gordon’s family’s journey from Poland to Nicaragua, beginning with his grandfather and concluding with Gordon’s childhood in the jungle on the outskirts of Managua.

More info and tickets

Image by Laurie Olinder

Bang on a Can and The Jewish Museum present – Dec 8: Rajas – Dec 15: Morton Feldman’s “For John Cage”

This December, Bang on a Can and The Jewish Museum present TWO SHOWS!

Thursday, December 8,  7:30pm: RAJAS
Artist and composer Rajna Swaminathan presents RAJAS, an ensemble of improvisers from diverse musical approaches exploring expansive, boundary-breaking music. More Info and tickets

Thursday, December 15, 7:30pm: Morton Feldman’s For John Cage
Towards the end of his life, Feldman wrote several “tribute” pieces to people who had been important to him among them, For John Cage (1982), and it has become one of Feldman’s most well-known pieces. For John Cage will be performed by Karl Larson on piano and Erica Dicker, violin. More info and tickets.

Both performances are in conjunction with the art exhibition New York: 1962-1964.

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Bang on a Can at the Noguchi: Miriam Elhajli – Dec 4

On Dec 4 at 4pm, Bang on a Can and the Noguchi Museum present: Miriam Elhajli

Miriam Elhajli is an interdisciplinary improviser questioning along the fringes of song, folklore, and eco-poetics, living between Brooklyn and New Orleans. She works as an archivist at the Association for Cultural Equity founded by Alan Lomax & is currently producing various records to be released on her independent label Numina Records dedicated to documenting revolutionary women, song and poetics.

Free with admission; advance reservations recommended. Masks are required inside the Museum.

More info

Robert Black

Applications due Jan 10! Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA July 10-30, 2023

The Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA (the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) is a 3-week musical utopia for innovative composers and performers in the beautiful Berkshire mountains of western Massachusetts dedicated entirely to adventurous contemporary music. Composers will have their new works performed. Players will perform in ensembles alongside our faculty. The program includes daily performances in the museum galleries and concludes with a three-day blow-out festival performed by fellows, faculty, and special guests. The program also features African and Latin music workshops, electronics and music business seminars, free events in the community, and more. Our FACULTY members are some of the most innovative musicians of our time. These are musicians who have dedicated their lives to commissioning, rehearsing, recording and performing music beyond the cutting edge. The program culminates in a 3-day blow out festival called LOUD Weekend. 

More info and online applications

OneBeat X, celebrating 10 years – Oct 17-Nov 5

OneBeat, the global music diplomacy initiative created to transcend musical and geographic barriers, advocate for democratic values and embrace diversity–marks its 10-year anniversary of programs.

OneBeat X, from Oct 17- Nov 5, brings together musicians spanning the past decade of the program for the first time in New Mexico. Drawn from an alumni community of more than 400 incredible artists, 25 musical tastemakers will connect with 10 community organizations and schools to create musical collaborations exploring our relationship to history and the natural environment.

Together, they will share stories of land, water and ecological justice inspired by the communities and environments of northern New Mexico, and build original works from these conversations, culminating in a series of public events, discussions, and performances in and around Taos.

Traveling next to Albuquerque, OneBeat X artists prepare for the program’s triumphant return to the beautiful Albuquerque Railyards presented in partnership with 516 Arts and the City of Albuquerque. The half-day festival featuring installations by local artists, interactive music-making, and a special lineup of live performances by OneBeat artists, including special guest artists culminates the special three-week intensive residency.

The past decade has seen OneBeat grow from one annual U.S.-based musical diplomacy program to a suite of year-round programming, including initiatives in countries around the world, a virtual residency, a podcast, an artist-industry incubation program, a development and training institute, and a schools curriculum.

Since 2012, OneBeat has catalyzed personal transformations and revealed universal experiences.

OneBeat has redefined music diplomacy and brought creative collaboration into civic discourse.

More info

The All-Stars with Sasha Waltz & Guests perform Terry Riley’s “IN C” – Oct 27-29

From October 27th to 29th, the magnificent RDM Submarine Wharf in Rotterdam, Netherlands will be the backdrop for a spectacular performance fusing music and contemporary dance.

The BIG IDEA Foundation has invited Sasha Waltz & Guests, the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and a large company of emerging Rotterdam artists including members of the De Doelen Ensemble and Codearts Conservatory to perform a gigantic version of Terry Riley’s “IN C.”

More info and tickets

Joe Hisaishi’s Music Future Vol. 9, with Bang on a Can, Nico Muhly and Nadia Sirota – Nov 5

Bang on a Can and Joe Hisaishi Company co-present:

Music Future Vol. 9

Saturday Nov. 5 at 7:30pm at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall

The concert features U.S. premieres of music by Joe Hisaishi and NYC composer Nico Muhly, performed by dynamic violist Nadia Sirota and the Bang on a Can Festival Ensemble, comprised of an extraordinary lineup of performers from the New York contemporary music scene, members of the Bang on a Can All-Stars and alumni of the illustrious Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival. The concert comes on the heels of a world premieres exclusive performance in Tokyo.

If you are familiar with the fantastical films of Hayao Miyazaki, then you know the music of Joe Hisaishi. His scores help elevate Miyazaki’s vision to the realm of the sublime in classics like Totoro and Spirited Away. A prolific composer of music outside his venerated film scores, Hisaishi also champions music by contemporary composers through his Music Future series, now in its 9th iteration.

Bang on a Can’s special discount code for half price tickets is: MFD39879

PROGRAM:

Joe Hisaishi 2 Dances for Large Ensemble – performed by the Bang on a Can Festival Ensemble

Nico Muhly Selections from Drones & Viola and Drones & Piano –   performed by Nadia Sirota, viola, and Nico Muhly, piano/drones

Nico Muhly Roots, Pulses  –  performed by the Bang on a Can Festival Ensemble

Joe Hisaishi  Viola Saga  –  performed by Nadia Sirota, viola, and the Bang on a Can Festival Ensemble

More info and tickets

photo of Joe Hisaishi by Omar Cruz
photo of Nico Muhly by Heidi Solander
photo of Nadia Sirota by Zoe Prinds