Bang on a Can is a multi-faceted

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is Western art music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st-century classical music, 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 Modernism (music), post-tonal music after the death of ...

organization based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It was founded in 1987 by three

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

composers who remain its artistic directors:

Julia Wolfe Julia Wolfe (born December 18, 1958) is an American composer and professor of music at New York University. According to ''The Wall Street Journal'', Wolfe's music has "long inhabited a terrain of its own, a place where classical forms are rech ...

, David Lang, and Michael Gordon. Called "the country's most important vehicle for contemporary music" by the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'', the organization focuses on the presentation of new concert music, and has presented hundreds of musical events worldwide.

Notable performances

Bang on a Can is perhaps best known for its Marathon Concerts, during which an eclectic mix of pieces are performed in succession over the course of many hours while audience members, who are encouraged to maintain a "jeans-and-tee-shirt informality," are welcome to come and go as they please. For the twentieth anniversary of their Marathon Concerts, Bang on a Can presented twenty-six hours of uninterrupted music at the

World Financial Center World Financial Center may refer to: China * Chongqing World Financial Center * Shanghai World Financial Center * Tianjin World Financial Center United States * Brookfield Place (New York City), formerly the World Financial Center complex ** 200 L ...

Winter Garden Atrium The Winter Garden Atrium is a , 10-story glass-vaulted pavilion on Vesey Street in New York City's Brookfield Place (formerly World Financial Center) office complex. Designed by Diana Balmori, the Atrium was originally constructed in 1988, and ...

in New York City. Among Bang on a Can's early events were performances by

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

, premieres of

Glenn Branca Glenn Branca (October 6, 1948 – May 13, 2018) was an American avant-garde music, avant-garde composer, guitarist, and luthier. Known for his use of volume, scordatura, alternative guitar tunings, minimal music, repetition, drone (music), dronin ...

’s epic symphonies for massed electric guitars, and fully staged operas by

Harry Partch Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer, music theorist, and creator of unique musical instruments. He composed using scales of unequal intervals in just intonation, and was one of the first 20th-century com ...

, featuring the composer's original instruments.

Programs

Bang on a Can Summer Festival at MASS MoCA

In 2002, Bang on a Can began the yearly Summer Institute of Music, a program at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) for young composers and performers. This program is sometimes referred to by the nickname "Banglewood" in reference to the nearby but far more traditional

Tanglewood Music Festival The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Stockbridge and Lenox in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts. The festival consists of a series of concerts, including symphonic music, c ...

Staged Works

The three artistic directors occasionally collaborate by jointly composing large staged works, often without revealing which sections each contributed. Examples include: * ''The Carbon Copy Building'' - a "comic book opera" with words and drawings by

MacArthur Grant The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

recipient

Ben Katchor Ben Katchor (born November 19, 1951) is an American cartoonist and illustrator best known for the comic strip '' Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer''. He has contributed comics and drawings to ''The Forward'', ''The New Yorker,'' ''Metropol ...

. It was the winner of the 2000

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...

for Best Production.List of 2000 Obie Award Winners
Village Voice * ''Lost Objects'' - a contemporary oratorio, with a libretto by Deborah Artman. It is a fusion of

baroque music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Classical music, Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance music, Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Class ...

and modern soundscapes, rendered in performance by the

original instruments Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of Western classical music, classical music which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of ...

ensemble

Concerto Köln Concerto Köln is an ensemble specialising in music of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The group formed in 1985, one of many groups associated with the surging interest in period instruments in that decade. Its members consisted mainly ...

with four electronic instruments, three solo vocalists, a choir, and a live

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

generated by

DJ Spooky Paul Dennis Miller (born September 6, 1970), known professionally as DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid, is an American Electronic music, electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is often called by critics "illbient" or "trip hop". ...

.''EUROPE: FESTIVALS 2001''
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', Travel Section, March 11, 2001 * ''The New Yorkers'' - a staged multimedia concert with additional contributions by filmmakers and visual artists including Ben Katchor, Bill Morrison,

Doug Aitken Doug Aitken (born 1968) is an American multidisciplinary artist. Aitken's body of work ranges from photography, print media, sculpture, and architectural interventions, to narrative films, sound, single and multi-channel video works, installatio ...

, and William Wegman. * ''Shelter'' - a multi-media work that, in the words of librettist Deborah Artman, "evokes the power and threat of nature, the soaring frontier promise contained in the framing of a new house, the pure aesthetic beauty of blueprints, the sweet architecture of sound and the uneasy vulnerability that underlies even the safety of our sleep."

People's Commissioning Fund (PCF)

Bang on a Can has commissioned and premiered pieces by composers including

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich descr ...

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist music, minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his work became notab ...

Michael Nyman Michael Laurence Nyman, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, libretto, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film soundtrack, scores (many written during his lengthy ...

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...

Somei Satoh is a Japanese composer of contemporary music. Style Satoh’s compositions mix Japanese court music with European romanticism and electronic music. Career His musical career began with an experimental, mix media group called "Tone Field ...

Iva Bittová Iva Bittová (born 22 July 1958) is a Czech avant-garde violinist, singer, and composer. She began her career as an actor in the mid-1970s, appearing in several Czech feature films, but switched to playing violin and singing in the early 1980s ...

Roberto Carnevale Roberto Carnevale (born 15 June 1966) is an Italian composer, pianist, conductor and academic teacher. Biography and career Born in Catania, he started studying piano at the age of seven. He took a degree in Arts at the University of Catania ...

Ornette Coleman Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer. He is best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Ja ...

Donnacha Dennehy Donnacha Dennehy (born 17 August 1970) is an Irish composer and leader of the Crash Ensemble specializing in contemporary classical music. According to musicologist Bob Gilmore, Dennehy's "high profile of his compositions internationally, togeth ...

and

Bun-Ching Lam Lam Bun-Ching (; b. Macau, 1954) is a Chinese American composer, pianist, and conductor. Early life and training Lam holds a B.A. degree in piano performance from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (1976). She obtained a scholarship from the Un ...

. In 1998 the organization began the People's Commissioning Fund, which supports the creation of new musical compositions by pooling contributions from numerous member-commissioners whose donations range from $5 to $5,000.

List of PCF commissioned composers

*1998

Virgil Moorefield Virgil Moorefield (born August 9, 1956) is a composer and intermedia artist based in Rüschlikon, Switzerland. Moorefield's work focuses primarily on live acoustic performance, electronic processing of acoustic signals, and live visual music ("Fi ...

Pamela Z Pamela Z (born 1956) is an American composer, performer, and media artist best known for her solo works for voice with electronic processing. In performance, she combines various vocal sounds including operatic bel canto, experimental extended ...

, Dan Plonsey *2000

Marc Mellits Marc Mellits (born 1966) is an American composer and musician. Mellits was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He studied at the Eastman School of Music from 1984 to 1988, at the Yale School of Music from 1989 to 1991, at Cornell University from 1991 t ...

, Edward Ruchalski,

Miya Masaoka Miya Masaoka (born 1958, Washington, D.C.) is an American composer, musician, and sound artist active in the field of contemporary classical music and experimental music. Her work encompasses contemporary classical composition, improvisation, ele ...

Toby Twining Toby is a given name in many English speaking countries. The name is derived the Middle English vernacular form of Tobias. Tobias itself is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew טוביה ''Toviah'', which translates to ''Good is Yahweh''. Ya ...

*2001 Jeffrey Brooks,

Sussan Deyhim Sussan Deyhim (; born December 14, 1958) is an Iranian-American composer, vocalist, performance artist, and activist. She is internationally known for her invention of a unique sonic/vocal language. LA Times quotes her as "One of Iran's most pote ...

James Fei James Fei or Fei Cheng-ting (; born Taipei, Taiwan, 1974) is a contemporary classical music and electronic music composer and performer. He lives in the San Francisco Bay area. He plays the soprano saxophone, soprano, alto saxophone, alto, and ...

, Keeril Makan *2002

Eve Beglarian Eve Beglarian (born Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S., July 22, 1958) is a contemporary American composer, performer and audio producer of Armenian descent. Her music is often characterized as postminimalist.Woodard, Josef"A Bird’s Eye, a Wonderer’s E ...

, John King,

Matthew Shipp Matthew Shipp (born December 7, 1960) is an American avant-garde jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader. Early life and education Shipp was raised in Wilmington, Delaware. His mother was a friend of trumpeter Clifford Brown. He began playing ...

*2003

Annea Lockwood Annea Lockwood (born July 29, 1939, in Christchurch, New Zealand) is a New Zealand-born American composer and academic musician. She taught electronic music at Vassar College. Her range is vast and often includes microtonal, electro-acoustic soun ...

Ingram Marshall Ingram Douglass Marshall (May 10, 1942May 31, 2022) was an American composer and a onetime student of Vladimir Ussachevsky and Morton Subotnick. Early life and education Marshall was born in Mount Vernon, New York. He was the son of Bernice Dou ...

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a member of the rock band Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running ...

*2005

Cynthia Hopkins Cynthia Hopkins is an American performance artist, composer, and musician. Review of Hopkins' performance of ''Accidental Nostalgia'' at the Edinburgh Festival. Performance work She has written, composed, and performed five works of performance ...

Carla Kihlstedt Carla Kihlstedt (born 1971) is an American composer, violinist, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist, originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and currently working from a home studio on Cape Cod. She is a founding member of Tin Hat Trio (1997, ...

, J.G. Thirlwell *2006

Yoav Gal Yoav () is a male given name popular among Israeli Jews. Its popularity is attributed to both Joab (), commander of King David's army in the Hebrew Bible, and Yitzhak Dubno, a 1940s Palmach soldier whose codename was Yoav. Yoav is also the namesak ...

Annie Gosfield Annie Gosfield (born September 11, 1960, in Philadelphia) is a New-York-based composer who works on the boundaries between notated and improvised music, electronic and acoustic sounds, refined timbres and noise. She composes for others and perf ...

, John Hollenbeck *2007

Stefan Weisman Stefan Weisman is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He composes opera, chamber music, orchestral music, as well as music for the theater, video and dance. Raised in East Brunswick, New Jersey, Weisman credits his passion for m ...

, Joshua Penman, Lukas Ligeti *2008

Tristan Perich Tristan Perich (born 1982) is a contemporary composer and sound artist from New York City who focuses on electronic one-bit sound. Perich received his B.A. from Columbia University in 2004 and went on to earn a master's degree from New York Univer ...

Erdem Helvacioglu Erdem () is a Turkish and Mongolian masculine name that means "virtue, merit, kind, knowledge".https://tureng.com/tr/turkce-ingilizce/erdem Erdem may also refer to: Given name * Erdem Başçı Erdem Başçı (born 1966) is a Turkish people, Tur ...

, Ken Thomson *2009 Kate Moore, Lok Yin Tang''Bang on a Can People's Commissioning Concert''
WNYC New Sounds, March 19, 2009 * 2010

Oscar Bettison Oscar Bettison (born 19 September 1975) is a British-American composer known for large-scale chamber and large ensemble works. He has been described as possessing "a unique voice". His work has been described as having "an unconventional lyrici ...

Nik Baertsch Nik is a male nickname/moniker derived from the Ancient Greek word ''νίκη'' (nike), meaning 'victory'. The name Nik is a shortened form that has several origins. One of the interpretations is that the name comes from Nike, the mythological god ...

, Christine Southworth,

Dave Longstreth David Longstreth (born December 17, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. He is best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the indie rock band Dirty Projectors, whom he has fronted sinc ...

(of

Dirty Projectors Dirty Projectors is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002. The band is the project of singer-songwriter David Longstreth, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The b ...

) *2011

Bryce Dessner Bryce David Dessner (born April 23, 1976) is an American composer and guitarist based in Paris, and a member of the rock band the National. Dessner's twin brother, Aaron is also a member of the group. Together, they write the music in collabo ...

(of The National),

Karsh Kale Karsh Kale (pronounced ''Kursh Kah-lay'', ''कर्ष काळे'' in Marathi; born 1 November 1974) is an Indian-American musician born in England. Known primarily for his experimental tabla playing within electronic music contexts, Kale ...

Nick Brooke Nick Brooke (born December 26, 1968) is an American composer, musician, arranger, thereminist, instrument builder, and researcher of early musical automata. He was born in Manchester, New Hampshire. Brooke mixes musical sampling, lipsynching, a ...

Full audio of WNYC broadcast of the 2011 PCF concert at Merkin Hall
hosted by John Schaefer, Wqxr.org, February 13, 2011 *2012

Mira Calix Chantal Francesca Passamonte (28 October 1969 – 25 March 2022), known professionally as Mira Calix ( ), was a South African-born British-based audio and visual artist and musician signed to Warp Records. She also worked as Warp's press office ...

, Florent Ghys,

Christian Marclay Christian Marclay (born January 11, 1955) is a visual artist and composer. He holds both American and Swiss nationality. Marclay's work explores connections between sound art, noise music, photography, video art, film and digital animations. A p ...

Nick Zammuto The Books were an American-Dutch duo, formed in New York City in 1999, consisting of guitarist and vocalist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong. Their music typically incorporated samples of obscure sounds and speech. They released three cri ...

(of

The Books The Books were an American-Dutch duo, formed in New York City in 1999, consisting of guitarist and vocalist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong. Their music typically incorporated samples of obscure sounds and speech. They released three cri ...

) *2013

Anna Clyne Anna Clyne (born 9 March 1980) is an English composer resident in the United States. She has worked in both acoustic music and electroacoustic music. Biography Born on 9 March 1980 in London, Clyne began writing music as a child, completing her ...

Dan Deacon Daniel Deacon (born August 28, 1981) is an American composer and electronic musician based in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland. Deacon is renowned for his live shows, where large-scale audience participation and interaction is often a major elemen ...

Jóhann Jóhannsson Jóhann Gunnar Jóhannsson (; 19 September 1969 – 9 February 2018) was an Icelandic composer who wrote music for a wide array of media including theatre, dance, television, and film. His work is stylised by its blending of traditional orchest ...

Paula Matthusen Paula Matthusen (born 1978) is an American composer of acoustic and electro-acoustic music and educator. She is a recipient of the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome. Biography Paula Matthusen was born in 1978 in Arizona. She attended ...

''Live Webcast from Merkin Concert Hall's 2013 Ecstatic Music Festival''
WQXR, hosted by John Schaefer, February 07, 2013 *2014

Glenn Kotche Glenn Kotche (born December 31, 1970 in Roselle, Illinois, United States) is an American drummer and composer, best known for his involvement in the band Wilco. He was named the 40th greatest drummer of all time by Gigwise in 2008. Prior to ...

, Jace Clayton (aka DJ/rupture), Ben Frost *2015

Caroline Shaw Caroline Adelaide Shaw (born August 1, 1982) is an American composer of contemporary classical music, violinist, and singer. She won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her a cappella piece '' Partita for 8 Voices''. Shaw received the 2022 G ...

, Gabriella Smith, Zhang Shouwang *2016

Anna Thorvaldsdottir Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna of East Anglia, King (died c.654) * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th ...

Juan Felipe Waller

Nico Muhly Nico Asher Muhly (; born August 26, 1981) is an American contemporary classical music composer and arranger who has worked and recorded with both classical and pop musicians. A prolific composer, he has composed for many notable symphony orchestra ...

Bang on a Can All-Stars

The Bang on a Can All-Stars is an amplified sextet formed by its parent organization in 1992. The All-Stars tour internationally and have received awards and public recognition for their work in the

field. The instrumentation of the Bang on a Can All-Stars is

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

/keyboard,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

. Current members include Vicky Chow, David Cossin, Arlen Husklo, Mark Stewart and Ken Thomson.

Asphalt Orchestra

Asphalt Orchestra is Bang on a Can's 12-piece marching band. The ensemble's premiere performance was in 2009 at the

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

Out of Doors festival, and featured new commissioned works by

Tyondai Braxton Tyondai Adaien Braxton (born October 26, 1978) is an American composer and musician. He has composed and performed music under his own name and collaboratively since the mid-1990s, including in the experimental rock group Battles from its for ...

(of

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, wit ...

group

Battles A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

Goran Bregovic Goran may refer to: Ethnic groups *Gorane, or Goran, an ethnic group of northern Africa *Goran (Kurdish tribe), an ethnic group of the Middle East *Gorani (ethnic group), an ethnic group of southeastern Europe Other uses *Göran, a Swedish name * ...

, and

Stew A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been Cooking, cooked in Soup, liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients can include any combination of vegetables and may include meat, especially tougher meats suitable for ...

and Heidi Rodewald, alongside arrangements of songs by

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

Meshuggah Meshuggah () is a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Umeå in 1987. Since 2004, the band's lineup consists of founding members Jens Kidman (lead vocals) and Fredrik Thordendal (lead guitar), alongside rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström, drumm ...

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz Double bass, upright bassist, composer, bandleader, pianist, and author. A major proponent of collective Musical improvisation, improvisation, he is considered one of ...

Conlon Nancarrow Samuel Conlon Nancarrow (; October 27, 1912 – August 10, 1997) was an American-Mexican composer who lived and worked in Mexico for most of his life. Nancarrow is best remembered for his ''Studies for Player Piano'', being one of the first ...

, and

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

. ''

'' has called Asphalt Orchestra's members "12 top-notch brass and percussion players", and praised their performance as "coolly brilliant and infectious."

Found Sound Nation

An independent project founded in 2009 and produced by Bang on a Can, Found Sound Nation (FSN) engages at-risk youth and underrepresented communities producing original audio and video projects across the globe in economically disparate settings. The work of FSN emphasizes a mobile, accessible, collaborative way of recording and producing professional quality music, a technique developed by combining the art music traditions of Bang on a Can with traditions of

musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic ...

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

, and contemporary composition. FSN has led site-specific projects in New York City, India, Zimbabwe, Mexico, Italy, Switzerland and Haiti. In 2012, the project received an award from the U.S. Department of State to produce OneBeat, an international music exchange which will bring together innovative musicians from around the world to compose, produce and perform original music. Found Sound Nation was co-founded by Christopher Marianetti and Jeremy Thal. The project is directed by Marianetti, Thal and Elena Moon Park.

Recordings

In the past, Bang on a Can released recordings on Composers Recordings Inc. (CRI), Sony Classical, Point Music (Universal), and Nonesuch, but now the majority of its recordings are found on its own record label,

Cantaloupe Music Cantaloupe Music is a Brooklyn-based record label that produces and releases contemporary classical music and other forms of avant-garde music. The label was founded in 2001 by Michael Gordon, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, and Kenny Savelson. Gordon ...

. In addition to releasing works by Gordon, Wolfe, and Lang, the label releases CDs of music by composers and musical groups affiliated with the organization, including

Evan Ziporyn Evan Ziporyn (b. Chicago, Illinois, December 14, 1959) is an American composer of post-minimalist music with a cross-cultural orientation, drawing equally from classical music, avant-garde, various world music traditions, and jazz. Ziporyn h ...

Phil Kline Phil Kline (born 1953) is an American composer, sound artist, and performer most recognized for his '' Unsilent Night'' (1992) and ''Zippo Songs'' (2004). Beginning as a guitarist and singer in the New York City art punk scene, Kline has since ...

Alarm Will Sound Alarm Will Sound is a 20-member chamber orchestra that focuses on recordings and performances of contemporary classical music. Its performances have been described as "equal parts exuberance, nonchalance, and virtuosity" by the ''Financial Times ...

Icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

, Ethel, Gutbucket, R. Luke DuBois, and

Don Byron Donald Byron (born November 8, 1958) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He primarily plays clarinet but has also played bass clarinet and saxophone in a variety of genres that includes free jazz and klezmer. Biography His moth ...

, among many others. Below is a partial discography of released works performed by Bang on a Can:

Bang on a Can discography

* ''Bang on a Can Live, volume 1'' (1992) * ''Bang on a Can Live, volume 2'' (1993) * ''Bang on a Can Live, volume 3'' (1994) * ''Industry'' (1995) * ''Cheating, Lying, Stealing'' (1996) * ''

Music for Airports Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all human societies. Definitions of mu ...

'' (composed by

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

) (1998) * ''Renegade Heaven'' (2001) * ''Lost Objects'' (2001) * ''In C'' (composed by

) (2001) * ''Bang on a Can Classics'' (2002) * ''Gigantic Dancing Human Machine'' (music of

Louis Andriessen Louis Joseph Andriessen (; 6 June 1939 – 1 July 2021) was a Dutch composer, pianist and academic teacher. Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition. Although ...

) (2003) * ''ShadowBang'' (composed by

) (2003) * ''Music in Fifths / Two Pages'' (composed by

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

) (2004) * ''Bang on a Can Meets

Kyaw Kyaw Naing Kyaw Kyaw Naing (; born 1964) is a Burmese traditional hsaing waing musician known for introducing Burmese folk music to the world stage. He is a master of the pat waing, a traditional Burmese drum-circle instrument; the player sits in the midd ...

'' (2004) * ''Elida'' (composer and guest musician

) (2005) * ''A Ballad for Many'' (composer and guest musician

) (2006) * ''The Essential

Martin Bresnick Martin Bresnick (born 1946) is a composer of contemporary classical music, film scores and experimental music. Education and early career Bresnick grew up in the Bronx, and is a graduate of New York City's specialized High School of Music and A ...

'' (2006) * ''The Carbon Copy Building'' (2007) * ''Music for Airports (Live)'' (2008) * ''Music from the Film (Untitled)'' (2009) * ''Double Sextet / 2x5'' (music of

) (2010) * ''Big Beautiful Dark and Scary'' (2012) * ''Shelter'' (Ensemble Signal) (2013) * ''Field Recordings'' (2015)

References

External links

Bang on a Can official websiteAsphalt Orchestra official websiteFound Sound Nation official website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bang On A Can Contemporary classical music ensembles Musical groups established in 1987 Musical groups from New York City Experimental music festivals