BANG ON A CAN PEOPLE’S COMMISSIONING FUND CONCERT
The Bang on a Can All-Stars perform 3 world premieres *commissioned by the people*, with special guest Philip Glass.
CARLA KIHLSTEDT | CYNTHIA HOPKINS | J.G. THIRLWELL | DAN PLONSEY | PHILIP GLASS
Kihlstedt: The Long and Short of It; A Brief History of Chatter*
Hopkins: Song Before Love Songs*
Thirlwell: Anabiosis*
Plonsey: The Plonsey Episodes
Glass: Music in Similar Motion [with Philip Glass, keyboard] (1969)
*World Premieres
Merkin Hall
at Kaufman Center, 129 W. 67th Street
(between Broadway and Amsterdam)
» Tickets
» New Sounds Live 2004-2005 Concert Season New York’s electric chamber ensemble Bang on a Can All-Stars takes on new works commissioned by the People, for the People, in this sixth annual People’s Commissioning Fund Concert. Hear stunning new works by Carla Kihlstedt, Cynthia Hopkins and JG (Jim) Thirlwell, along with a piece by Dan Plonsey from one of the very first PCF concerts. Plus, special guest Philip Glass joins the All-Stars onstage for a rare performance of his seminal early work Music in Similar Motion. Bonus live introductions and interviews with host John Schaefer, will be taped from the stage for later broadcast on New Sounds.
Carla Kihlstedt
is a founding member of accordion-violin-guitar group Tin hat Trio. She is a violinist and singer-songwriter whose music is unexpected, challenging, and tuneful. Kihlstedt has contributed to recordings of artists ranging from Tom Waits to Grassy Knoll and is a founding member of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, and has another small ensemble, Two Foot Yard.
Cynthia Hopkins
is a downtown singer-songwriter, known for her refreshingly original solo theatrical compositions and for riveting performance work with her band Gloria Deluxe. Her acclaimed show “Accidental Nostalgia” has just finished its run at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, and she is a collaborator with the Big Dance Theater as well.
JG (Jim) Thirlwell
blends rock, big band swing, minimalism and psychedelia into unique, haunting, cinematic soundscapes. Internationally recognized as the mastermind of the apocalyptic sonic rock band Foetus, Thirlwell was one of the early artists to pioneer sampled instruments and technology. His other side projects include: Wiseblood, Steroid Maximus, Garage Monsters, and as Clint Ruin with Lydia Lunch and he has collaborated with artists such as Nurse With Wound, Coil, Marc Almond, The The, Voi-vod, Pig, and many others.
Dan Plonsey
is a SF Bay Area composer, sax-player and producer on the improvisation and creative music scene [he is curator of the wildly successful Beanbender's series]. Plonsey is the resident composer and frequent librettist for El Cerrito's Disaster Opera Theatre Company (13 one-hour operas since 1994), the co-founder of two composers' collectives (New Haven's Sheep's Clothing and the SF Bay Area's Composer's Cafeteria), the journal Freeway (and co-editor). He has written over 150 works for large and small ensembles, including this commission by the people for the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and is currently working on a commissioned puppet-opera for the Enormous Ensemble, among other things.
Philip Glass
is one of the most influential American composers of our era, who has collaborated with a variety of artists in a range of projects and expanded his repertoire to include music for opera, dance, theater, chamber ensemble, orchestra, and film. In 1976 Glass reached an apogee in his collaboration with Robert Wilson, creating the opera Einstein on the Beach, a five-hour epic that is now seen as a landmark in 20th century music-theater. Glass then decided to make Einstein part of a trilogy that resulted in the creating of the operas Satyagraha and Akhanten.
Glass film scores include Godfrey Reggio's trilogy Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi; Errol Morris' The Thin Blue Line, A Brief History of Time and The Fog of War; Paul Shrader's Mishima; Bernard Rose's Candyman and Bill Condon's Candyman II; and an original score for the re-release of Dracula with Bela Lugosi. Critically acclaimed film scores include Martin Scorcese's Kundun, Peter Weir's The Truman Show, and Stephen Daldry's The Hours, for which he received an Academy Award nomination, along with winning the Anthony Asquith Award for Achievement in Film Music from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Bang on a Can All-Stars
Named Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year for 2005, the Bang on a Can All-Stars have gained an international reputation for extreme virtuosity and an utterly unique sound, powered by their unusual combination of clarinets, electric guitar, cello, bass, keyboards, and percussion. Each year fans and critics across the globe anticipate the All-Stars’ ultra-dynamic live performances, not to mention their recordings of the latest, most innovative music. Freely crossing the boundaries between classical, jazz, rock, world, and experimental music, the six-member ensemble plays music from uncharted territories, shattering the definition of what concert music is today.
The All-Stars' flexibility reflects the vision of the three Bang on a Can artistic directors (Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe), who believe in the communicative power of a wide range of music from a new generation of composers and performers.
Recent and upcoming BoaC All-Stars projects include their landmark recording of Brian Eno’s ambient classic Music for Airports, live performances with Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Meredith Monk, Don Byron, and much more. With occasional homages to living masters, the heart of their repertoire remains the sound of a new generation.
The BoaC All-Stars appear annually in New York at venues including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Miller Theatre, and Merkin Hall. Other recent appearances include BBC Proms, Sydney Olympics Festival, Venice Biennale, Holland Festival, Davies Symphony Hall in SF, Hancher Auditorium, Iowa, and UCLA Live. The All-Stars now record on Cantaloupe Music and have released past recordings on Sony, Universal and Nonesuch.
Additional Resources:
» Bang on a Can's website
» Tin Hat Trio (Carla Kihlstedt)
» Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (Carla Kihlstedt)
» Two Foot Yard (Carla Kihlstedt)
» Gloria Deluxe (Cynthia Hopkins)
» Big Dance Theater (Cynthia Hopkins)
» Foetus (J.G. Thirlwell)
» An interview with J.G. Thirlwell
» Dan Plonsey's Website
» Philip Glass's Website
» More about the Bang of a Can People's Commissioning Fund
» New Sounds Live 2004-2005 Concert Season
» Merkin Hall
The Bang on a Can All-Stars perform 3 world premieres *commissioned by the people*, with special guest Philip Glass.
CARLA KIHLSTEDT | CYNTHIA HOPKINS | J.G. THIRLWELL | DAN PLONSEY | PHILIP GLASS
Kihlstedt: The Long and Short of It; A Brief History of Chatter*
Hopkins: Song Before Love Songs*
Thirlwell: Anabiosis*
Plonsey: The Plonsey Episodes
Glass: Music in Similar Motion [with Philip Glass, keyboard] (1969)
*World Premieres
Merkin Hall
at Kaufman Center, 129 W. 67th Street
(between Broadway and Amsterdam)
» Tickets
» New Sounds Live 2004-2005 Concert Season New York’s electric chamber ensemble Bang on a Can All-Stars takes on new works commissioned by the People, for the People, in this sixth annual People’s Commissioning Fund Concert. Hear stunning new works by Carla Kihlstedt, Cynthia Hopkins and JG (Jim) Thirlwell, along with a piece by Dan Plonsey from one of the very first PCF concerts. Plus, special guest Philip Glass joins the All-Stars onstage for a rare performance of his seminal early work Music in Similar Motion. Bonus live introductions and interviews with host John Schaefer, will be taped from the stage for later broadcast on New Sounds.
is a founding member of accordion-violin-guitar group Tin hat Trio. She is a violinist and singer-songwriter whose music is unexpected, challenging, and tuneful. Kihlstedt has contributed to recordings of artists ranging from Tom Waits to Grassy Knoll and is a founding member of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, and has another small ensemble, Two Foot Yard.
is a downtown singer-songwriter, known for her refreshingly original solo theatrical compositions and for riveting performance work with her band Gloria Deluxe. Her acclaimed show “Accidental Nostalgia” has just finished its run at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, and she is a collaborator with the Big Dance Theater as well.
blends rock, big band swing, minimalism and psychedelia into unique, haunting, cinematic soundscapes. Internationally recognized as the mastermind of the apocalyptic sonic rock band Foetus, Thirlwell was one of the early artists to pioneer sampled instruments and technology. His other side projects include: Wiseblood, Steroid Maximus, Garage Monsters, and as Clint Ruin with Lydia Lunch and he has collaborated with artists such as Nurse With Wound, Coil, Marc Almond, The The, Voi-vod, Pig, and many others.
is a SF Bay Area composer, sax-player and producer on the improvisation and creative music scene [he is curator of the wildly successful Beanbender's series]. Plonsey is the resident composer and frequent librettist for El Cerrito's Disaster Opera Theatre Company (13 one-hour operas since 1994), the co-founder of two composers' collectives (New Haven's Sheep's Clothing and the SF Bay Area's Composer's Cafeteria), the journal Freeway (and co-editor). He has written over 150 works for large and small ensembles, including this commission by the people for the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and is currently working on a commissioned puppet-opera for the Enormous Ensemble, among other things.
is one of the most influential American composers of our era, who has collaborated with a variety of artists in a range of projects and expanded his repertoire to include music for opera, dance, theater, chamber ensemble, orchestra, and film. In 1976 Glass reached an apogee in his collaboration with Robert Wilson, creating the opera Einstein on the Beach, a five-hour epic that is now seen as a landmark in 20th century music-theater. Glass then decided to make Einstein part of a trilogy that resulted in the creating of the operas Satyagraha and Akhanten.
Glass film scores include Godfrey Reggio's trilogy Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi; Errol Morris' The Thin Blue Line, A Brief History of Time and The Fog of War; Paul Shrader's Mishima; Bernard Rose's Candyman and Bill Condon's Candyman II; and an original score for the re-release of Dracula with Bela Lugosi. Critically acclaimed film scores include Martin Scorcese's Kundun, Peter Weir's The Truman Show, and Stephen Daldry's The Hours, for which he received an Academy Award nomination, along with winning the Anthony Asquith Award for Achievement in Film Music from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Named Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year for 2005, the Bang on a Can All-Stars have gained an international reputation for extreme virtuosity and an utterly unique sound, powered by their unusual combination of clarinets, electric guitar, cello, bass, keyboards, and percussion. Each year fans and critics across the globe anticipate the All-Stars’ ultra-dynamic live performances, not to mention their recordings of the latest, most innovative music. Freely crossing the boundaries between classical, jazz, rock, world, and experimental music, the six-member ensemble plays music from uncharted territories, shattering the definition of what concert music is today.
The All-Stars' flexibility reflects the vision of the three Bang on a Can artistic directors (Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe), who believe in the communicative power of a wide range of music from a new generation of composers and performers.
Recent and upcoming BoaC All-Stars projects include their landmark recording of Brian Eno’s ambient classic Music for Airports, live performances with Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Meredith Monk, Don Byron, and much more. With occasional homages to living masters, the heart of their repertoire remains the sound of a new generation.
The BoaC All-Stars appear annually in New York at venues including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Miller Theatre, and Merkin Hall. Other recent appearances include BBC Proms, Sydney Olympics Festival, Venice Biennale, Holland Festival, Davies Symphony Hall in SF, Hancher Auditorium, Iowa, and UCLA Live. The All-Stars now record on Cantaloupe Music and have released past recordings on Sony, Universal and Nonesuch.
Additional Resources:
» Bang on a Can's website
» Tin Hat Trio (Carla Kihlstedt)
» Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (Carla Kihlstedt)
» Two Foot Yard (Carla Kihlstedt)
» Gloria Deluxe (Cynthia Hopkins)
» Big Dance Theater (Cynthia Hopkins)
» Foetus (J.G. Thirlwell)
» An interview with J.G. Thirlwell
» Dan Plonsey's Website
» Philip Glass's Website
» More about the Bang of a Can People's Commissioning Fund
» New Sounds Live 2004-2005 Concert Season
» Merkin Hall