“…combining the power and punch of a rock band with the precision and clarity of a chamber ensemble.” The New York Times

Sponsored by the James L.D. and Rebecca J. Roser Visiting Artists Program and the Pendulum: New Music at CU Series

Date and Time:
Thursday, November 11, 2004 at 7:30 p.m.

Single Ticket Prices:
$10, 15, 22, 34, 45 (discounts available for seniors, youth, and groups)

Season Ticket Packages:
This concert is part of the Artist Series and Music in Motion Series season ticket packages.

Location:
Macky Auditorium

Running Time:
1.5 to 2 hours

Preconcert Conversation:
Andrew May, Director of Music Technology at 6:45 p.m. in Macky Room 102

Event Overview:
Since its founding in 1987, Bang on a Can has dedicated itself to exploring the pioneering music of the American experimental tradition. The group now joins forces with minimalism’s best known composer Philip Glass in a program exploring his legendary works from the 60’s. In reaction to the modernist music of the day Glass stripped his work bare, cutting out all but the most basic musical elements. Almost 40 years later, these pieces retain all their mesmerizing power.

Program:
David Lang - Cheating, Lying, Stealing
Michael Gordon - Light is Calling
Louis Andriessen - Workers Union
Philip Glass - Four Metamorphoses (solo piano)
Philip Glass - Music in Similar Motion
Philip Glass - Music in Fifths

Artist Bios:
Since its inception in 1987, the Bang on a Can Festival has been discovering and presenting the most exciting performers who have committed their lives to the music of our time. Over fifteen years, Bang on a Can has found many of these musicians - performers who are adventurous, virtuosic, dynamic and intense, who are equally at home with the diverse styles that exist within music today. From the outset, six players in particular kept coming back. They were among the festival's finest artists - six of the most accomplished performers of new music in the world. With these six players the festival created the Bang on a Can All-Stars.

The instrumentation of the Bang on a Can All-Stars is unique: clarinets, electric guitar, cello, bass, keyboards, drums and percussion. Part classical ensemble, part rock band, part jazz band, it has a flexibility that represents the vision of the festival, whose artistic directors, Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe believe in the communicative power of a wide range of musics from a new generation of composers and performers.

Since 1994, the ensemble has appeared annually in New York City at Lincoln Center on the Great Performer's Series where they have pioneered countless premieres of adventurous new works - highlighted by the sold out Alice Tully Hall performances of Bang on a Can's innovative live arrangement of Brian Eno's ambient classic "Music for Airports" in 1998, a ground-breaking collaboration with downtown New York legend Meredith Monk in 1999, and an ‘East/West’ presentation featuring jazz giant Don Byron and Burmese Pat Waing virtuoso Kyaw Kyaw Naing in 2002.

The magnetic energy of the ensemble's live performances has also been captured on several recordings. The group's growing collection of releases includes its hard-hitting CD titled Renegade Heaven (2001, Cantaloupe Music), featuring all new works by Glenn Branca, Arnold Dreyblatt, Michael Gordon, Phil Kline and Julia Wolfe; Terry Riley: In C (2001, Cantaloupe), an explosive reinterpretation of this minimalist classic; Music for Airports (1998, Point Music/Universal), which combines innovative arrangements and unique instrumentation bringing to life Brian Eno's landmark ambient piece; Bang on a Can Classics (2002, Cantaloupe) an all-new reissue of the out-of-print recordings Cheating, Lying, Stealing (1996, Sony Classical) and Industry (1995, Sony Classical) with works by Nick Didkovsky, Michael Gordon, Annie Gosfield, David Lang, Lois V Vierk, Julia Wolfe and Evan Ziporyn and forthcoming releases featuring new and reissued Bang on a Can recordings of works by Frederic Rzewski and Louis Andriessen.

Philip Glass
At 19, Philip Glass graduated from the University of Chicago with majors in mathematics and philosophy. Determined to become a composer, he moved to New York and attended the Julliard School. By then he had abandoned the 12-tone techniques he had been using in Chicago and began gravitating toward American composers like Aaron Copland and William Schuman.

By 23, Glass had studied with Vincent Persichetti, Darius Milhaud and William Bergsma. Rejecting serialism, Glass preferred such maverick composers as Harry Partch, Charles Ives, Moondog, Henry Cowell and Virgil Thomson-- but still had not found his own voice. He then moved to Paris and spent two years of intensive study under Nadia Boulanger.

In Paris, he was hired by a filmmaker to transcribe the Indian music of Ravi Shankar into notation readable to western musicians. In the process, he discovered the techniques of Indian music. After researching music in North Africa, India and the Himalayas, he returned to New York, renouncing his previous music, and applying eastern techniques to his own work.

By 1974, Glass had composed a large collection of new music for both the Mabou Mines Theater Company, that Glass co-founded, and for his own performing group, the Philip Glass Ensemble. This period culminated in Music in 12 Parts, a three-hour summation of Glass' new music. 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 creation of the operas Satyagraha and Akhnaten. Over the years, Glass and Wilson have worked together on several other projects including Civil Wars (Rome) - Act V of the multi-composer epic which was written for the 1984 Olympics.

Glass has also 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. His cooperative recording projects include Songs from Liquid Days with lyrics by David Byrne, Paul Simon, Laurie Anderson, and Suzanne Vega, as well as a collaboration with Ravi Shankar, Passages. Glass' orchestral works include the large-scale work for chorus and orchestra such as Itaipu and Symphony No. 5, a work based on text from wisdom traditions throughout the world; Symphony No. 2, Symphony No. 3, Symphony No. 6 (Plutonian Ode), with text by Allen Ginsberg; and "Low" and "Heroes" Symphonies, both based on the music of David Bowie and Brian Eno.

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 upcoming release, 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 the 1930 Dracula with Bela Lagosi. Critically acclaimed film scores include Martin Scorsese's Kundun - which won Glass the LA Critics Award, as well as the Academy, and Golden Globe nominations for Best Original Score- and original music for Peter Weir's The Truman Show- which won a Golden Globe Award for Best Score in 1999. Glass' most recent film work for Stephen Daldry's The Hours received Golden Globe, Grammy, and Academy Award nominations.

Links:
www.bangonacan.org/allstars.html
www.philipglass.com

Audio:
Listen to or purchase music from the Bang on a Can All-Stars and Philip Glass at Barnes&Noble.com. A portion of your purchase will be donated to CU Concerts.
• Bang on a Can Classics
• Fog of War Soundtrack (Philip Glass)