Bang on a Can Marathon 2018 lineup (Stephin Merritt, Xenia Rubinos, more)

March 2, 2018

The annual Bang on a Can Marathon briefly moved to Brooklyn Museum after losing its longtime home at Manhattan’s Brookfield Place, but it’ll return to Manhattan for its 31st year, the NY Times reports. Its new home is the N.Y.U. Skirball Center on Washington Square Park, which is just a few blocks north of the marathon’s original home, the now-defunct gallery Exit Art. “We’re excited to come back to the roots,” co-founder Julia Wolfe told NYT in an interview, before adding, “The invitation to go back into a place where we can really have that sound separation — it seemed like a natural fit.”

This year’s marathon takes place on May 13 from noon – 10 PM at its new Manhattan location, and as always, it’s free. Performers include Stephin Merritt (Magnetic Fields) & Sam Davol, Terry Riley, Xenia Rubinos, Contemporaneous, David Friend, Ethel, Flux Quartet, Maya Beiser & Kate Valk, Mazz Swift & Therese Workman, Val Jeanty & Ravish Momin, Vicky Chow, and more. Here’s a more detailed description of the schedule:

* The electric Bang on a Can All-Stars and the legendary and inspirational composer Terry Riley performing Autodreamographical Tales, an intimate and whimsical set of “dream narratives” featuring settings of stories and dreams narrated by Riley and orchestrated specifically for the All-Stars, also featuring special guest guitarist Gyan Riley

* Soviet-era Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya’s Symphony No. 2 – a glacial and maniacal monument to her deep spiritual faith – performed by NYU Contemporary Ensemble, directed by Jonathan Haas with pianist David Friend and vocalist Robert Osborne

* Ever inventive songsmith Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields performing a set with longtime collaborator Sam Davol on cello

* The soulful and ecstatic Xenia Rubinos performing a rare duo set with Marco Buccelli

* The endlessly-creative New York native violinist Mazz Swift combining forces with Brooklyn-based song-maker Therese Workman (Oh My Goodness)

* Composer Michael Gordon’s impossible solo piano work Sonatra, performed by Bang on a Can All-Star pianist Vicky Chow

* The all new Turning Jewels Into Water, a duo featuring Haitian-born composer, percussionist and turntablist Val Jeanty with composer-drummer Ravish Momin

* New York’s pioneering string quartet ETHEL performing music of Julia Wolfe, Jessie Montgomery, and more

* Composer David Lang’s the day, an emotional chronicle of remembered moments performed by the breathtaking cellist Maya Beiser and actor Kate Valk, recently released on Cantaloupe Music

* A triple-threat New York premiere set of commissioned works by Minneapolis composer Jeffrey Brooks performed by Bang on a Can All-Stars and Contemporaneous

* Frederic Rzewski’s Coming Together, the explosive and still poignant setting of letters by Sam Melville, an Attica State prisoner during the time of the famous riots there, performed by Bang on a Can All-Stars and actor Eric Berryman

* Canadian composer and “musical scientist” Nicole Lizee’s unique musical blend tapping Hitchcock, Kubrick, 1960s psychedelia, and more
Composer Alex Weiser’s wonderfully imaginative musical settings of Yiddish poems

* Contemporaneous, directed by David Bloom performing a special excerpt of Act I of Dylan Mattingly’s visceral (6-hour) opera Stranger Love and Fjola Evans’ shimmering and ambient Eroding

* NYC veteran Flux Quartet in the New York premiere of Tom Chiu’s sonic perfect storm Retrocon

* Bang on a Can All-Stars in the New York premiere of composer Brendon Randall-Myers’ intricate Changes, Stops, and Swells and Gabriella Smith’s Brazilian-rainforest odyssey Panitao