Bang on a Can All-Stars

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Formed in 1992, the Bang on a Can All-Stars are recognized worldwide for their ultra-dynamic live performances and recordings of today’s most innovative music. Freely crossing the boundaries between classical, jazz, rock, world and experimental music, this six-member amplified ensemble has consistently forged a distinct category-defying identity, taking music into uncharted territories. Performing each year throughout the U.S. and internationally, the All-Stars have shattered the definition of what concert music is today.

Together, the All-Stars have worked in unprecedented close collaboration with some of the most important and inspiring musicians of our time, including Steve Reich, Ornette Coleman, Burmese circle drum master Kyaw Kyaw Naing, Tan Dun, DJ Spooky, and many more. The group’s celebrated projects include their landmark recordings of Brian Eno’s ambient classic Music for Airports and Terry Riley’s In C, as well as live performances with Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Don Byron, Iva Bittova, Thurston Moore, Owen Pallett and others. The All-Stars were awarded Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year and have been heralded as “the country’s most important vehicle for contemporary music” by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Current and recent project highlights include “In C”, a new dance collaboration with Sasha Waltz & Guests based on Terry Riley’s minimalist classic; Can Dance, a brand new multi-media concert pairing composers and choreographers; a new recording of legendary composer/performer Meredith Monk’s MEMORY GAME; Julia Wolfe’s Flower Power for Bang on a Can All-Stars and orchestra, a multi media concert exploring the sonic landscape of the late 1960s; Road Trip, an immersive and visually stunning concert collaboratively-composed by Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe to commemorate the 30+ year journey of Bang on a Can; the touring performances and recording of Julia Wolfe’s Pulitzer Prize winning Anthracite Fields for the All-Stars and guest choir; Julia Wolfe’s acclaimed Steel Hammer,  plus a moving theatrically staged collaboration with SITI Company and director Anne Bogart; Field Recordings, a major multi-media project and CD/DVD now featuring 30 commissioned works by Tyondai Braxton, Mira Calix, Anna Clyne, Bryce Dessner, Florent Ghys, Michael Gordon, Jóhann Jóhannsson, David Lang, Christian Marclay, Steve Reich, Todd Reynolds, Julia Wolfe, and more; the Lincoln Center Festival 2017 world premiere of Cloud River Mountain, a collaboration featuring Chinese superstar singer Gong Linna; the world premiere performance and recording of Steve Reich’s 2×5 including a sold-out performance at Carnegie Hall, and much more. With a massive repertoire of works written specifically for the group’s distinctive instrumentation and style of performance, the All-Stars have become a genre in their own right. The All-Stars record on Cantaloupe Music and have released past recordings on Sony, Universal and Nonesuch.

Repertory

2023/2024 SEASON

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Can Dance

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 live by the Bang on a Can All-Stars.

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Anthracite Fields

Winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize, Julia Wolfe’s Anthracite Fields is a poignant oratorio commemorating the Pennsylvania coal miners whose work fueled the nation. Featuring Bang on a Can All-Stars, local choir, and striking scenography, Wolfe’s acclaimed tribute draws from oral histories, interviews, speeches, local rhymes, and provides an intimate look at a particular moment in the history of industrialization.

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Memory Game w/ Meredith Monk

A celebration of the decades long relationship of this iconic singer with the Bang on a Can All-Stars. Memory Game is a collection of songs performed over the 30 year collaboration between these two musical pioneers.

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Big Space

Michael Gordon, has created an immersive sonic experience that allows for local musicians to perform with Bang on a Can All-Stars in a “surround sound” live performance that is the finale of an All Stars repertory concert/residency. The 6 members of Bang on a Can, with 24 local players, incorporate mentoring/rehearsal periods into a brief residency that culminates with the 30-piece orchestra performing together in a unique staging for the concert audience.

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Flower Power

Julia Wolfe’s, Flower Power, brings the Bang on a Can All-Stars to the symphony stage. Performed with orchestra, it is inspired by a radical revolutionary moment – the late 1960’s – a time when experimental ideas and questions permeated throughout the political, social, and artistic landscape.

Residency Programs

For over 30 years, Bang on a Can has been breaking down the traditional barriers that exist in concert repertoire between composers, performers and concert-goers. Our innovative and aggressive approach to programming and presentation has created a large and vibrant international audience made up of people of all ages who are rediscovering the value of contemporary music.

GALLERY

LISTEN

Memory Game

Anthracite Fields

“A fiercely aggressive group, combining the power and punch of a rock band with the precision and clarity of a chamber ensemble.” – The New York Times

Current and recent project highlights include “In C”, a new dance collaboration with Sasha Waltz & Guests based on Terry Riley’s minimalist classic; Can Dance, a brand new multi-media concert pairing composers and choreographers; a new recording of legendary composer/performer Meredith Monk’s MEMORY GAME; Julia Wolfe’s Flower Power for Bang on a Can All-Stars and orchestra, a multi media concert exploring the sonic landscape of the late 1960s and more…

PRESS

Anthracite Fields

“[Anthracite Fields] captures not only the sadness of hard lives lost…but also of the sweetness and passion of a way of daily life now also lost. The music compels without overstatement. This is a major, profound work..”

- Los Angeles Times

In C

“Sasha Waltz's "In C" Marries Choreography and Improvisation ”

-The New York Times

LOUD Music Festival

“As Bang on a Can Returns, a New Generation Rises"

- New York Times

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