upcoming Bang on a Can, Signal & Steve Reich events - David Longstreth, Lee Ranaldo & Nobukazu Takemura included
by Andrew Frisicano
DOWNLOAD: Sonic Youth – The Eternal (montage) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: David Byrne & Dirty Projectors – Knotty Pine (MP3)
Dan Deacon fans @ the 2008 Bang on a Can Marathon (more by Leia Jospe)
On April 2nd, 2009, New York’s electric chamber ensemble Bang on a Can All-Stars return to New York’s Merkin Hall for their annual People’s Commissioning Fund Concert.
The All-Stars will perform three world premieres by international up-and-coming composers Kate Moore (Australia-Holland), Lok Yin Tang (Hong Kong), and New York’s David Longstreth, also known widely for his ground-breaking indie rock band Dirty Projectors. The second half of the concert is a terrific double-feature: a recently commissioned work by the legendary American composer Alvin Lucier, and the New York Premiere of a live collaboration composed for the group by Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, for which Ranaldo will join the All-Stars on stage. The concert is a special edition of WNYC’s New Sounds Live, hosted by John Schaefer.
Tickets are on sale.
David Longstreth has been keeping busy. He just premiered the Dirty Projectors’ new 6-person line-up in anticipation of new album Bitte Orca, out June 9th on Domino. The MP3 above is his band’s collaboration with David Byrne for the new Dark Was the Night charity album. On May 3rd they’ll be performing at Radio City Music Hall for the same cause.
Ranaldo is also playing with Sonic Youth April 16th-19th at BAM, at No Fun Fest on May 16th, and on the band’s 16th album, The Eternal, also out June 9th (on Matador).
Last year’s Bang on a Can Marathon, the all-night fest happening this year at World Financial Center on May 31st, included a 4am Dan Deacon set (pic above). The lineup last year also included Signal (a.k.a. large ensemble w/ So Percussion) performing Steve Reich’s Daniel Variations.
This Thursday (3/19), Reich will be speaking at Japan Society with Nobukazu Takemura and WNYC’s John Schaefer in the first New Yorker/Nihonjin: Contemporary Cross-cultural Dialogues Series to “discuss post-minimalism, emerging trends in contemporary classical music and their collaboration on Reich Remixed.” Tickets are available here. Reich Remixed (w/ tracks by DJ Spooky, Coldcut & more) is out now on Nonesuch (click for clips).
Signal (Brad Lubman, conductor) will be performing Michael Gordon’s “Trance” at Le Poisson Rouge on April 22nd. The show is co-presented by the Wordless Music Series and Bang on a Can. Tickets are on sale. Signal will perform Philip Glass‘ Symphony No. 3 and Suite from The Hours with pianist Michael Riesman at the same venue on May 17th. Tickets are also on sale.
The Bang on a Can All-Stars (line-up below) are also performing at this year’s Look & Listen Festival 2009 in New York (May 1-3) – which includes a So Percussion performance of John Cage’s Third Construction and Child of Tree, and a Todd Reynolds and So Percussion collaboration on Meredith Monk’s Gotham Lullaby (video below).
Full April 2nd Merkin Hall program and line-up below…
Meredith Monk – Gotham Lullaby
Bang on a Can All-Stars are:
# Robert Black – Bass
# David Cossin – Drums and Percussion
# Mark Stewart – Guitars
# Evan Ziporyn – Clarinets
The People’s Commissioning Fund Program – April 22 @ Merkin Hall:
Lok Yin Tang: Distorted Indulgence
Kate Moore: Ridgeway
David Longstreth: New Work
–intermission–
Alvin Lucier: Canon
Lee Ranaldo: How Deep are Rivers
