The unorthodox All-Stars have entertained audiences in esteemed concert halls and festivals throughout the globe and have shocked and revolutionized the music world, defying expectations about how a chamber ensemble looks and sounds. As its memorably quirky moniker suggests, Bang on a Can is famous for a lively, whimsical approach to modern music, incorporating elements of classical, rock and jazz into their repertoire.
The group was founded in 1987 by the American composers David Land, Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe, and was conceived as an engaging, exuberant response to the composers' frustration with the off-putting pretention and inaccessibility that pervaded the overtly serious experimental music scene in New York City. The desire to escape the pedantic tendencies of typical musical specialists led Land, Gordon and Wolfe to establish an alternative outlet for exciting contemporary music that has proved a refuge to what Wolfe calls "a whole new generation of composers who didn't fit in anywhere."
Bang on a Can's audacious dedication to performing obscure pieces by young, unknown composers as well as music from prominent artists has resulted in a unique, transcendent sound that Vanity Fair describes as "a freewheeling parade of the strange, the raucous, and the beautiful." Heavily influenced by the minimalism movement that originated in the late-1960s downtown New York arts scene, these virtuosic performers tirelessly continue their commitment to producing new music that epitomizes the avant-garde.
While the first half of the program will highlight Bang on a Can's own distinctive brand of musical adventurousness and showcase the group's instrumentation (which consists of bass, percussion, cello, electric guitar, clarinets, piano and keyboards), the group will be joined after intermission by a special guest, Czech violinist/vocalist Iva Bittova. Bittova, a fellow critically-acclaimed experimental musician (and Bang on a Can's frequent collaborator) is renowned for her ethereal, folk-inspired style which the Jazz Times has praised as "experimental and earthy...coaxing up raw gypsy spirit." The latter half of the concert will feature Bang on a Can and Bittova playing selections from their iconoclastic collaboration "Elida," a poignant fusion of Eastern European classical and folk traditions with haunting vocal melodies.
The combined musical audacity of Bang on a Can and Bittova promises that tomorrow's concert will astound with energizing boldness and innovation, redefining listeners' notions of sonority and offering a glimpse of the future of music.
They will perform at the Spaulding Auditorium Thursday, Jan. 18, at 7 p.m. An informal discussion with the musicians will follow the performance.
