North Adams - Each year MASS MoCA and Bang on a Can offer intensive training in new music to a select group of emerging musicians. The third annual Bang on a Can Summer Institute of Contemporary Music at MASS MoCA starts on Saturday, July 17, with an opening concert, an explosive performance by the Bang on a Can All-Stars featuring Burmese master percussionist Kyaw Kyaw Naing at 8 P.M. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer described the All-Stars as “not a rock band, not a jazz combo, not a chamber ensemble. It’s all three, only different.â€
The first half of the concert will include Michael Gordon’s work, Light is Calling, with a film by Bill Morrison. Light is Calling is the title track to his new album on Nonesuch Records. Also on tap is Philip Glass’s Music in Fifths, a new All-Stars arrangement of this seminal work by minimalism’s best known composer Philip Glass from the All-Stars forthcoming Cantaloupe Music release due in September titled Bang on a Can Philip Glass. Music in Fifths an intense and rugged work predates Glass’s work in opera and film.
The second half will feature the All-Stars and Naing. One of Asia’s best kept secrets, Kyaw Kyaw Naing plays the pat waing, a drum circle made up of an astonishing set of 21 tuned drums. Naing’s talent as a percussionist developed throughout his childhood, living in a house filled with the music of the pat waing. Often playing ceremonies lasting from 8 P.M. until dawn, Naing cites strength and stamina as two keys for mastering the pat waing. To most listeners, the melodic and fast-paced music of the pat waing is unlike anything they have ever heard. Now, as a renowned musician, Kyaw Kyaw Naing strives to bring the music and culture of Burma to the United States.
Naing describes himself as a kid: “Whenever there was a quarrel it was me, and if someone was climbing to the top of a coconut tree, it was me, and if there was a rough game of football on the playground, I was in it.†Kyaw Kyaw Naing channeled the energy he had as a child and used it to become a powerful and enduring musician. Vowing to always keep his integrity, Naing continues to play and compose complicated pieces inspired by traditional Burmese music.
The Bang on a Can All-Stars are: Robert Black, David Cossin, Lisa Moore, Mark Stewart, Wendy Sutter, and Evan Ziporyn. They freely cross classical, jazz, rock, world, and experimental music. This six-member amplified ensemble from New York is known worldwide for its unparalleled performances of today’s most innovative music, defining styles so new they’re yet to be named. Many of these elite musicians began playing in preschool and performing major professional solo concerts in their teens.
They include New England Conservatory graduates, Julliard award-winners and Ivy League music school professors. Their credits include Academy Award-winning film scores and major Broadway hits. The Albany Times Union said of Bang on a Can’s 2000 performance of Carbon Copy Building at MASS MoCA: “The music ran the gamut from ambient sonic washes to propulsive polyrhythmic rock to minimalist series that echoed Philip Glass and Steve Reich.â€
The concert with Naing opens the two-week Bang on a Can Summer Music Institute where some of the world’s most renowned musicians and composers hold open classes throughout the MASS MoCA complex with some of the world’s most promising students. The Institute will close on Saturday, July 24, with a Bang on a Can Marathon performance by both teachers and students.
Since multi-instrumentalist Mark Stewart’s mother taught music, he grew up experimenting with handmade African drums, harmoniums, xylophones, guitars, banjos, violins, cellos and hundreds of others literally before he was in school. He studied guitar and cello during his conservatory days before moving to New York. Now he works mainly with electric guitar. “I like to say that I’m hired for my conservatory head and my rock and roll hands,†Stewart commented. He regularly performs with Fred Frith, Anthony Braxton, Steve Reich, and Zeena Parkins.
Cellist Wendy Sutter began playing at the age of five and made her solo debut with the Seattle Symphony at age sixteen. She has participated in festivals at Marlboro, Aspen and Evian and was awarded first prize in the Juilliard cello competition. She made her New York solo concerto debut at Avery Fisher Hall and has participated as soloist or ensemble player with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, the ensemble Sospeso, the Seattle International Chamber Music Festival and New York’s Music Today series.
She’s toured with Mikhail Baryshnikov and performed an onstage duet with him at Lincoln Center. “Working with and observing some of the great choreographers, like Jerome Robbins and Mark Morris, really opened my eyes to the power of music through movement and space. Since then I have never really been able to settle for the traditional ‘classical’ career,†Sutter commented, reminiscing on a major turning point in her career.
Clarinetist Evan Ziporyn’s work is informed by his 20-year involvement with the traditional music of Bali. He is founder and director of Boston’s Gamelan Galak Tika. He co-produced and arranged Bang on a Can’s acclaimed recording of Brian Eno’s Music for Airports. As part of the Steve Reich Ensemble, he shared a 1999 Grammy for the recording of Music for 18 Musicians. Other collaborators include the Kronos Quartet, The Netherlands Wind Ensemble, Ensemble Modern, Tan Dun, Wu Man, Basso Bongo, Paul Simon and Red Fish Blue Fish. A professor at MIT, Ziporyn has also taught at the Yale School of Music, New England Conservatory, and the University of California.
Bassist Robert Black works with his computer-assisted duo, Basso Bongo, composing and commissioning composers. He frequently collaborates with Yoshiko Chuma and her post-modern dance company, The School of Hard Knocks. He tours playing solo performances around the world including Japan, Brazil, Europe, and North America. Black still finds the time to teach at the FUNDEC de Eleazar de Carvalho in Brazil and his alma mater, Hartt School in Hartford, CT. “I find there are a lot of people who want to hear this music,†according to Black, “It’s really a great time to be a musician.â€
David Cossin studied classical percussion at the Manhattan School of Music. He specializes in new and experimental music, and has recorded and performed internationally with groups including Talujon Percussion Quartet, NewBand (on the Harry Partch instrumentarium), New Music Consort, Yo-Yo Ma, Tan Dun, Bo Didley, and B-blush. Numerous theater projects include Peony Pavilion, Blue Man Group, The Lion King, and Mabou Mines. Cossin was the solo percussionist for films like Fallen and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which won the Academy Award for best musical score. He has performed solo concerts throughout Europe and the United States, incorporating video, electronic processing, and homemade instruments. Cossin appeared on the television shows Good Morning America and CBS’ The Early Show with Yo Yo Ma.
Raised in Australia, Lisa Moore is the resident pianist for the Da Capo Chamber Players and has performed with the New York City Ballet, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, St Luke’s Orchestra, BargeMusic, Cassatt String Quartet, ISCM, Alpha Centauri, Steve Reich Ensemble, Australia Ensemble, Sydney Symphony, Albany Symphony, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. She’s performed at Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, La Scola, the Musikverein and at festivals in Adelaide, Israel, Warsaw, Holland, Southbank, Palermo, Paris d’Automne, BAM’s Next Wave, Sydney’s Olympic Arts and Tanglewood. “Bang on a Can continues to throw challenges at me. I’ve had to do things on stage I never thought I’d get a chance to do, as well as demonstrating straight piano chops,†according to Moore.
Tickets for Bang on a Can Opening Concert are $20. MASS MoCA members receive a 10% discount. Special discounted tickets for both this concert and the Marathon concert on July 24 can be purchased for just $30. Tickets are available through the MASS MoCA Box Office located off Marshall Street in North Adams from 10 A.M. until 6 P.M. daily in July and August. Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during Box Office hours or purchased on line at www.massmoca.org.
Bang on a Can is a New York-based organization dedicated to creating a forum for the most innovative and adventurous music of our time. They aim to discover emerging composers and ensembles who are exploring new musical territories and reaching for a musical expression beyond the status quo. Their programming incorporates visionary classics written not more than three decades ago -- exciting music by our best known living composers and by those only starting to gain recognition.
MASS MoCA’s Bang on a Can Summer Festival Closing Concert July 24
North Adams - On Saturday, July 24, at 4 P.M., MASS MoCA and Bang on a Can will close out the second annual Bang on a Can Summer Music Institute & Festival with a Bang on a Can Marathon in the Hunter Center. The Marathon will include brand new work created over the course of the two-week Institute by the world-class musicians, composers, and teachers and their hand-picked students who participated.
Participants will be on hand to discuss their work, including this year’s featured guest composer Terry Riley. The Albany Times Union described last year’s nearly sold-out Marathon: "The institute came to a roaring climax in a sprawling concert of contemporary music that was consistently challenging and nearly always richly rewarding.†The series of performances runs from 4 to 10 P.M. Patrons may feel free to come and go throughout the Marathon.
“A New York tradition, the Marathon was a great addition to MASS MoCA’s 2003 summer schedule and we’re looking forward to this year’s event,†commented Jonathan Secor, MASS MoCA’s director of performing arts. “You never know what will happen musically, and the non-stop music is a great complement to a gallery visit. Guests can come and go, enjoy a drink or a bite to eat or take a stroll through the galleries. It’s a really special event that we’re delighted to be able to bring to the area again this year.â€
The teachers/performers also include Bang on a Can founders Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe who all share an OBIE award for Carbon Copy Building, which was performed at MASS MoCA in 2000; the Bang on a Can All-Stars include Robert Black (bass); David Cossin (percussion); Lisa Moore (piano); Mark Stewart (guitar); Wendy Sutter (cello); and Evan Ziporyn (clarinet).
Launching the Minimalist movement in the 1960s, Terry Riley has become a revolutionary composer. With his classic, “In Câ€, written in 1964, Riley changed the path of contemporary music and influenced many prominent rock bands such as The Who and Curved Air. After developing an interest in classical Indian music, Riley traveled to North India to begin study with Hindustani teacher Pandit Pran Nath. Riley became a natural at performing the music of India.
Soon after, he returned to the States to teach Hindustani music in California. During his years at Mills College, he collaborated with the leader of the Kronos quartet, David Harrington, receiving commissions from Carnegie Hall and the Salzburg Festival. Riley joins the Bang on a Can All-Stars as the composer-in-residence. Riley’s innovative compositions combined with the strong sounds of Bang on a Can are sure to create a performance to remember.
Composers and co-artistic directors Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe founded Bang on a Can in 1987. Their original idea was simple: to have fun with new music. Their bold programming concept incorporates performing visionary classics written two to three decades ago and pieces by composers just born at that time -- exciting music by our best known living composers and by those only starting to gain recognition. Bang on a Can has grown from a one-day festival to a multifaceted organization. Bang on a Can aims to discover emerging composers and ensembles who are exploring new musical territories, reaching for a musical expression beyond the status quo.
Michael Gordon was raised in Nicaragua in an Eastern European community on the outskirts of Managua. His music is an outgrowth of his experience with underground rock bands in New York and formal composition studies at Yale. His work has been performed at The Kitchen in New York, the Edinburgh Festival, London’s South Bank Centre, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center and BBC Proms. His work has been commissioned by the new Ensemble Modern Orchestra, Ensemble Resonanz, and Ensemble Modern.
Composer-in-residence at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, David Lang’s work has been commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Singers, and the American Composers Orchestra. The Kronos Quartet, the New York Philharmonic, and the Netherlands Wind Ensemble have performed his work.
His work has been played at Tanglewood and Aspen Music Festivals, in theater productions in New York, San Francisco, and London, and in the choreography of Twyla Tharp, Susan Marshall, The Alvin Ailey Company and the Royal Ballet. Lang’s awards include the Rome Prize, the BMW Music-Theater Prize (Munich), a Kennedy Center/Friedheim Award, the Revson Fellowship with the New York Philharmonic, and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Julia Wolfe holds degrees from the Yale School of Music and Residential College at the University of Michigan. She’s received commissions from the Kronos Quartet, the American Composers Orchestra, the Koussevitzky Foundation for the Cassatt Quartet, Meet The Composer/Reader’s Digest, Orkest de volharding, the Huddersfield Festival, the Pan American Chamber Players, and the Rotterdam Arts Council. Her works have been played by the San Francisco Symphony, California EAR Unit, Margaret Leng Tan, and Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne. Wolfe’s works have been choreographed by Eliot Feld, Doug Varone, and the Dusselforf Ballet.
She composed music for Anna Deaver Smith’s play House Arrest. Her awards include a Charles Ives Scholarship, an Academy Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, two ASCAP Foundation grants, a fellowship at Princeton University, residency at the MacDowell Colony and Djerassi Institute, and a Fulbright fellowship.
Tickets for Bang on a Can Marathon are $20. A special discounted $5 gallery admission ticket is available for Marathon ticket-holders. MASS MoCA members receive a 10% discount. Tickets are available through the MASS MoCA Box Office located off Marshall St. in North Adams from 10 A.M. until 6 P.M. daily. Tickets can also be charged by phone at 413.662.2111 during Box Office hours or on line at www.massmoca.org.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.
Your Comments
iBerkshires.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary.
No Comments
Governor Healey Signs Breast Cancer Screening Bill
BOSTON — Today, Governor Maura Healey signed An Act Relative to Medically Necessary Breast Screenings and Exams for Equity and Early Detection.
This comprehensive legislation will ensure that patients have access to follow-up breast cancer screenings and exams, while also preventing any increase in patient cost-sharing by 2026.
"We know that early detection of breast cancer saves lives. This legislation will help ensure that cost is not a barrier for women to get the screenings and care they need," said Governor Healey. "I'm grateful to the Legislature for their leadership on this bill, and to the patients, providers and advocates who made their voices heard in support of more affordable and accessible care for Massachusetts residents."
This legislation would, starting in 2026, require insurers to cover diagnostic exams for breast cancer, digital breast tomosynthesis screening, and medically necessary and appropriate screening with breast MRIs and ultrasounds. This legislation would also prevent any increase in patient cost-sharing, thus removing cost barriers for patients who need more rigorous screenings due to dense breast tissue or abnormalities seen in their initial preventive screening mammograms.
Monument Mountain's Everett Pacheco took control of the race in the final mile and went on to a convincing Division 3 State Championship on Saturday at Fort Devens. click for more
Mila Marcisz ripped a shot from the top of the 18 that slipped just under the swing of teammate Adele Low and past the Mustangs keeper in the fourth minute of the second overtime to give Mount Greylock a 1-0 win. click for more
Mount Greylock dominated for much of the game, compiling a 17-4 advantage in shots on goal, not to mention numerous Mountie chances that went just wide or high of frame. click for more
Nora Schoeny, Gianna Love and Elyssa Scrimo Sunday led the Lenox girls cross country team to a narrow victory in the Division 2 race at the Western Massachusetts Championships at Stanley Park. click for more
Wahconah High senior Tim Kaley Sunday earned his second Berkshire Classic Championship by shooting a 77 at the Country Club of Pittsfield. click for more
