ThoughtGallery.org > Bang on a Can Marathon—Live Online

Bang on a Can Marathon—Live Online

Bang on a Can will present its second Bang on a Can Marathon – Live Online. The first six-hour online Marathon on May 3, 2020 featured 25 live performances and was viewed by over 22,000 people around the world. The upcoming June 14 Marathon will expand the geography and include 25 live performances with musicians connecting from around the USA, Canada, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Scotland, Italy, Ireland, and Japan, plus ten world premieres of newly commissioned works. Bang on a Can plans to continue these Marathons periodically, streaming online at marathon2020.bangonacan.org, until live performances can resume.

The concert begins with a performance by Rhiannon Giddens at 3pm, live from Ireland, and concludes with a performance by Terry Riley, live from Japan. Additional highlights include performances by Roscoe Mitchell, Nico Muhly, Conrad Tao, Pamela Z, and many more.

Guest composers and performers will join for conversations in between performances with Bang on a Can Co-Founders and Artistic Directors Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe, who say:

Once is not enough! For six straight hours on May 3rd Bang on a Can tried to make us all forget our current isolation with a marathon concert of amazing composers and performers from around the globe. We had a blast doing it, but we noticed something as soon as it was over. We are all still isolated! Listeners everywhere are still hungry for connection! An entire ecosystem of composers and performers still needs our attention, and our love, and our financial support! So we are having another marathon on June 14th. Six more hours of uncompromisingly adventurous, searching music, including 10 brand new works commissioned especially for the day – 10 radically innovative composers premiering 10 mind-blowing new works played by 10 unstoppable virtuosi. Plus a lot of other incredible stuff. We are all sheltering in place, just like you. But we really need to be together. For a few hours on June 14th we will be. Please join us.

The Marathon will be free to stream and all Marathon performers and commissioned composers are being compensated by Bang on a Can.

A core feature of program will be ten world premieres of newly commissioned works:

Leila Adu New Work (world premiere) performed by Mark Stewart

Aaron Garcia New Work (world premiere) performed by Ken Thomson

Susanna Hancock New Work (world premiere) performed by Nick Photinos

Carla Kihlstedt New Work (world premiere) performed by Carla Kihlstedt

Žibuoklė Martinaitytė New Work (world premiere) performed by Robert Black 

Shara Nova New Work (world premiere) performed by Shara Nova

Helena Tulve New Work (world premiere) performed by Arlen Hlusko

Ailie Robertson New Work (world premiere) performed by Gregg August

Tomeka Reid New Work (world premiere) performed by Vicky Chow

Kendall Williams New Work (world premiere) performed by David Cossin

Featured artists:

Rhiannon Giddens, Terry Riley, Roscoe Mitchell, Nico Muhly, Leila Adu, Aaron Garcia, Susanna Hancock, Carla Kihlstedt, Žibuoklė Martinaitytė, Shara Nova, Ailie Robertson, Tomeka Reid, Helena Tulve, Kendall Williams, Nik Bӓrtsch, Iva Bittova, Tim Brady, Don Byron, Alvin Curran, Judd Greenstein, Ted Hearne, Paula Matthusen, Frederic Rzewski, Alex Weiser, Pamela Z, Gregg August, Eliza Bagg, Robert Black, Vicky Chow, David Cossin, Arlen Hlusko, Dana Jessen, Nick Photinos, Nadia Sirota, Mark Stewart, Conrad Tao, Ken Thomson

About Bang on a Can: Bang on a Can is dedicated to making music new. Since its first Marathon concert in 1987, Bang on a Can has been creating an international community dedicated to innovative music, wherever it is found. With adventurous programs, it commissions new composers, performs, presents, and records new work, develops new audiences, and educates the musicians of the future. Bang on a Can is building a world in which powerful new musical ideas flow freely across all genres and borders. Bang on a Can plays “a central role in fostering a new kind of audience that doesn’t concern itself with boundaries. If music is made with originality and integrity, these listeners will come.” (The New York Times)











When: Sun., Jun. 14, 2020 at 2:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Bang on a Can will present its second Bang on a Can Marathon – Live Online. The first six-hour online Marathon on May 3, 2020 featured 25 live performances and was viewed by over 22,000 people around the world. The upcoming June 14 Marathon will expand the geography and include 25 live performances with musicians connecting from around the USA, Canada, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Scotland, Italy, Ireland, and Japan, plus ten world premieres of newly commissioned works. Bang on a Can plans to continue these Marathons periodically, streaming online at marathon2020.bangonacan.org, until live performances can resume.

The concert begins with a performance by Rhiannon Giddens at 3pm, live from Ireland, and concludes with a performance by Terry Riley, live from Japan. Additional highlights include performances by Roscoe Mitchell, Nico Muhly, Conrad Tao, Pamela Z, and many more.

Guest composers and performers will join for conversations in between performances with Bang on a Can Co-Founders and Artistic Directors Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe, who say:

Once is not enough! For six straight hours on May 3rd Bang on a Can tried to make us all forget our current isolation with a marathon concert of amazing composers and performers from around the globe. We had a blast doing it, but we noticed something as soon as it was over. We are all still isolated! Listeners everywhere are still hungry for connection! An entire ecosystem of composers and performers still needs our attention, and our love, and our financial support! So we are having another marathon on June 14th. Six more hours of uncompromisingly adventurous, searching music, including 10 brand new works commissioned especially for the day – 10 radically innovative composers premiering 10 mind-blowing new works played by 10 unstoppable virtuosi. Plus a lot of other incredible stuff. We are all sheltering in place, just like you. But we really need to be together. For a few hours on June 14th we will be. Please join us.

The Marathon will be free to stream and all Marathon performers and commissioned composers are being compensated by Bang on a Can.

A core feature of program will be ten world premieres of newly commissioned works:

Leila Adu New Work (world premiere) performed by Mark Stewart

Aaron Garcia New Work (world premiere) performed by Ken Thomson

Susanna Hancock New Work (world premiere) performed by Nick Photinos

Carla Kihlstedt New Work (world premiere) performed by Carla Kihlstedt

Žibuoklė Martinaitytė New Work (world premiere) performed by Robert Black 

Shara Nova New Work (world premiere) performed by Shara Nova

Helena Tulve New Work (world premiere) performed by Arlen Hlusko

Ailie Robertson New Work (world premiere) performed by Gregg August

Tomeka Reid New Work (world premiere) performed by Vicky Chow

Kendall Williams New Work (world premiere) performed by David Cossin

Featured artists:

Rhiannon Giddens, Terry Riley, Roscoe Mitchell, Nico Muhly, Leila Adu, Aaron Garcia, Susanna Hancock, Carla Kihlstedt, Žibuoklė Martinaitytė, Shara Nova, Ailie Robertson, Tomeka Reid, Helena Tulve, Kendall Williams, Nik Bӓrtsch, Iva Bittova, Tim Brady, Don Byron, Alvin Curran, Judd Greenstein, Ted Hearne, Paula Matthusen, Frederic Rzewski, Alex Weiser, Pamela Z, Gregg August, Eliza Bagg, Robert Black, Vicky Chow, David Cossin, Arlen Hlusko, Dana Jessen, Nick Photinos, Nadia Sirota, Mark Stewart, Conrad Tao, Ken Thomson

About Bang on a Can: Bang on a Can is dedicated to making music new. Since its first Marathon concert in 1987, Bang on a Can has been creating an international community dedicated to innovative music, wherever it is found. With adventurous programs, it commissions new composers, performs, presents, and records new work, develops new audiences, and educates the musicians of the future. Bang on a Can is building a world in which powerful new musical ideas flow freely across all genres and borders. Bang on a Can plays “a central role in fostering a new kind of audience that doesn’t concern itself with boundaries. If music is made with originality and integrity, these listeners will come.” (The New York Times)

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