A Supercharged Musical Ride through Right Now

50+ concerts throughout Brooklyn, New York

Festival Website

Celebrate Terry Riley’s 90th with a tribute featuring Pete Townshend, Bang on a Can All-Stars, and special guests.
–Pete Townshend performs the original ‘free fall solo version’ of his iconic Baba O’Riley.
–The Bang on a Can All-Stars present a stunning new arrangement of Riley’s  A Rainbow in Curved Air.
–Riley’s masterpiece In C, brought to life by an all-star cast of musicians.

Composer Michael Gordon has been a staple of New York City’s avant-garde music scene since the 1980s. For this Met commission, he presents a spatialized, site-specific work for 20 percussionists playing a wide array of instruments. Join us to see The Met Cloisters transformed like never before—both indoors and outdoors—with choreography and direction by Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar.

PLEASE NOTE: This performance will include both indoor and outdoor components. Seating may be limited, and appropriate footwear is recommended.

Ryuichi Sakamoto “was arguably the best-known and most successful Japanese musician in the world.” (Peter Tasker, Nikkei Asia)  Now Bang on a Can All-Stars offer their realization of the album 1996 (arranged by the All-Stars’ multi-talented clarinetist-composer Ken Thomson) — which includes an incredible selection of many of Sakamoto’s greatest hits.

Ryuichi Sakamoto “was arguably the best-known and most successful Japanese musician in the world.” (Peter Tasker, Nikkei Asia)  Now Bang on a Can All-Stars offer their realization of the album 1996 (arranged by the All-Stars’ multi-talented clarinetist-composer Ken Thomson) — which includes an incredible selection of many of Sakamoto’s greatest hits.

The Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA (the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) is a 3-week musical utopia/residency for innovative early-career composers and performers in the beautiful Berkshire mountains of western Massachusetts dedicated entirely to adventurous contemporary music.

In 1964, Terry Riley kicked off a revolution with his landmark piece, “In C,” inspiring such young composers as Philip Glass and Steve Reich. Now, Bang on a Can reinterprets this minimalist classic with an explosive combination of instruments from around the globe, propelling this transcendental ’60’s masterpiece into the future.

LOUD Weekend at MASS MoCA is a fully loaded, three-day, eclectic super-mix of creative, experimental and unusual music taking place throughout the museum’s vast galleries and its stunning collection of indoor and outdoor performing arts venues.

Tickets go on sale in March 2025.

Bang on a Can All-Stars perform a high octane set as part of the Helsinki Festival!

Program:
Angélica Negrón: Turistas with Kookik, a film by Keerati Jinakunwiphat 8′
Henry Threadgill: With or Without Card with Split Womb, a film by Rena Butler 6′
David Lang: interstate with film by Annie-B Parson 6′
Julia Wolfe, Believing 9’
-intermission-
Steve Reich, Electric Counterpoint 15′
Michael Gordon, I Buried Paul 10’
Philip Glass, Closing 6’
Steve Martland, Horses of Instruction 13’

David Lang’s newest work – before and after nature – is a monumental meditation on how people might imagine the world, both before and after human existence. Featuring the electric Bang on a Can All-Stars and the Helsinki Chamber Choir, and with stunning video/visual design by Tal Rosner, before and after nature explores how people interact with the natural world, concentrating particularly on the things we don’t really see or understand.

2 performances!  6pm and 8:30pm