Another Bang on a Can Marathon coming soon!

Bang on a Can's next ALL LIVE Bang on a Can Online Marathon takes place on Sunday, June 14, 2020 from 3pm-9pm ET.

The Marathon will be streamed online at http://marathon2020.bangonacan.org, featuring 25 live performances from musicians' homes in the USA, Canada, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Scotland, Italy & Ireland plus ten world premieres of newly commissioned works.

The Marathon begins with a performance by Rhiannon Giddens at 3pm and concludes with a performance by Terry Riley. Additional highlights include performances by Roscoe Mitchell, Nico Muhly, Conrad Tao, Pamela Z and many more. The 6-hour live Marathon will be hosted by Bang on a Can Co-Founders and Artistic Directors Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe, who will interview composers and performers in between pieces throughout the performance.

Bang on a Can presented its first online Marathon on May 3, 2020. According to The New York Times, it “approximated what our critic cherishes about going to live performances,” and highlighted the event's “genial vibe and leisurely pace." Until concerts can resume in a normal way, Bang on a Can will continue to present online Marathons periodically.

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

The marathon kicks off with composer, singer, songwriter, historian, archivist, and activist Rhiannon Giddens. She has dedicated her life to exploring American roots – where our music and our culture come from, the debts we all owe to our forebears and to each other.

A core feature of the 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

The marathon will conclude with Terry Riley, live! The man and the myth, minimalist godfather Terry Riley joins us in an early celebration of his 85th birthday.

Here is the complete schedule for the Marathon:

3pm (EDT)
RHIANNON GIDDENS
HELENA TULVE Without love atoms would stop spinning (world premiere) performed by ARLEN HLUSKO
AARON GARCIA disconnect. (world premiere) performed by KEN THOMSON
SHARA NOVA New Work (world premiere)

4pm
ALVIN CURRAN Shofar Rags XXL
TED HEARNE Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job
ŽIBUOKLĖ MARTINAITYTĖ Abyssal Zone (world premiere) performed by ROBERT BLACK
NIK BÄRTSCH

5pm
IVA BITTOVÁ
ROSCOE MITCHELL
PAULA MATTHUSEN of an implacable subtraction performed by DANA JESSEN
TOMEKA REID Lamenting G.F., A.A., B.T., T.M. (world premiere) performed by VICKY CHOW
NICO MUHLY

6pm
SUSANNA HANCOCK EVERYTHING IN BLOOM (world premiere) performed by NICK PHOTINOS
DON BYRON
AILIE ROBERTSON New Work (world premiere) performed by GREGG AUGUST
TIM BRADY At Sergio’s Request (world premiere)

7pm
JUDD GREENSTEIN In Teaching Others We Teach Ourselves performed by NADIA SIROTA
PAMELA Z
ALEX WEISER Music from ‘and all the days were purple’ performed by ELIZA BAGG
KENDALL WILLIAMS New Work (world premiere) performed by DAVID COSSIN

8pm
CARLA KIHLSTEDT New Work (world premiere)
FREDERIC RZEWSKI Which Side Are You On? performed by CONRAD TAO
LEILA ADU Black-Crowned Night-Heron (world premiere) performed by MARK STEWART
TERRY RILEY

Hope, and a call to action

Violins of Hope: Music for violin & piano by Dauber, Bloch, John Williams, Chajes, Farber, Laks, Perlman, Ben-Haim, Ravel


The Violins of Hope project was founded by Amnon Weinstein and his son Avshalom Weinstein, Israeli luthiers who collect the actual instruments that have survived from their time in the camps of the Holocaust, refurbish them to concert quality, and bring them to communities all over the world. James A. Grymes documented this in his 2014 book Violins of Hope: Violins of the Holocaust - Instruments of Hope & Liberation in Mankind's Darkest Hour.

Niv Ashkenazi is the only violinist to have one of these instruments on a long-term loan. "In most Violins of Hope events, musicians have a limited time with each instrument. I have been given a unique opportunity to develop a relationship with this special instrument and its voice." Ashkenazi goes on to introduce the reason for his new album Violins of Hope:

One of the missions of Violins of Hope is to help silenced voices be heard again. This album is intended to create a permanent chronicle of that voice so it is never again silenced.

Ashkenazi has chosen a beautiful programme of pieces by composers from the early 20th century to today, many of whom were affected by the Holocaust. He begins with the Serenade by Robert Dauber, a lovely short, sentimental piece of light music that becomes almost unbearably sad when you learn that Dauber survived stints in Theresienstadt and Auschwitz, only to die in Dachau just before the end of the war.



Other highlights from this album include the Trois pièces de concert, by Szymon Laks, the concert-master of the  concertmaster of the Birkenau Men’s Camp Orchestra in Auschwitz, and the moving Nigun by Ernest Bloch. I never tire of John Williams's Theme from Schindler’s List, written for Itzhak Perlman to play in Steven Spielberg's film. All of these are beautifully played by Ashkenazi. He gets a full, sweet tone from his instrument, built in the first third of the 20th century in Germany or Eastern Europe, and plays with passion, but also grace and style. Also, when called for, wit and humour. The fine pianist Matthew Graybil provides superb support.

The most substantial piece, and one that repays multiple listening, is the Triumph movement from Sharon Farber's Bestemming. Farber herself made this arrangement for piano four hands and narrator, and plays the second piano part herself. Tony Campisi is the narrator in this performance, providing a perfectly nuanced, subtle commentary to the heartbreaking story told by a master composer.

We need hope more than ever today, as a new wave of fascism begins to break over the world. May this inspiring project provide us with a new will towards action. According to Alain De Botton, "In order to be effective, political art can't simply say that something is wrong; it needs to make this error feel vivid enough to generate the emotion necessary to stir us into reform." This amazing album is a perfect example.