What?…WOW: David’s Lang’s Festival of Music 2015

Six concerts in two days – 6th & 7th March 2015 at the National Concert Hall

Friday 6 March 2015

3pm: Tom Johnson’s Nine Bells performed by Ola Pyras

6pm: Irish première of Julia Wolfe’s Steel Hammer performed by Bang on a Can All-Stars and Trio Mediaeval

8pm: Anna Clyne’s Rewind, Irene Buckley’s Stórr, David Lang’s man made (with So Percussion), and the European première of John Luther Adams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Become Ocean performed by RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra

10.30pm: Dublin Guitar Quartet gives world première of new work by Michael Gordon

Saturday 7 March 2015

2.30pm-6.30pm: Bang on a Can Marathon Part 1: Featuring the Bang on a Can All-Stars, So Percussion, Crash Ensemble, RTÉ ConTempo Quartet, Chamber Choir Ireland in music by Bryce Dessner of The National (European Première), Donnacha Dennehy, Kate Moore, Linda Buckley (world première), George Crumb, Meredith Monk, Pelle Gudmunsen-Holmgreen, Seán Clancy, Andrew Hamilton and Garrett Sholdice

8pm: Bang on a Can Marathon Part 2: Featuring the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Crash Ensemble, So Percussion and Voices of Chamber Choir Ireland in Brian Eno’s Music for Airports and Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians.

Complete schedule and ticketing information: www.nch.ie/online/What-Wow-David-Lang 

Bang on a Can, the’ relentlessly inventive’ (New York Magazine) new music collective, continues its mission to create an international community dedicated to innovative music, wherever it is found, when it comes to Dublin for “What?…Wow: David Lang’s Festival of Music” on Friday 6th and Saturday 7th of March 2015.

The festival, presented by New Music Dublin is a partnership initiative of The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, the National Concert Hall, RTÉ Orchestras and the Contemporary Music Centre. It is a unique festival comprising six concerts over two days, all held at the National Concert Hall.

Featuring a range of Irish and internationally renowned ensembles, it is curated by Bang on a Can co-founder and Pulitzer prize-winning composer David Lang, whose own composition man made will be performed by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra with New York-based quartet So Percussion.

“I am very honoured to be given the chance to programme this year’s New Music Dublin Festival”, said Lang. “The idea for the festival is centered on the birth of minimalism in New York and those who have followed in the wake of the great pioneering minimalist composers like Steve Reich and Tom Johnson, what we have done since, and the exciting new direction we have taken”.

Highlights of the festival include the Irish première of Bang on a Can co-founders Julia Wolfe’s Appalachia-inspired Steel Hammer, performed by Bang on a Can’s electric house band, the Bang on a Can All-Stars with superstar Norwegian vocal ensemble Trio Mediaeval; the European première of John Luther Adams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning and Grammy nominated work Become Ocean by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra; the world première of a new work by Bang on a Can co-founder Michael Gordon for the Dublin Guitar Quartet; the European première of Music for Wood and Strings by Bryce Dessner of The National; the world première of a new work by Irish composerinda Linda Buckley; performances of the Bang on a Can All Stars’ celebrated arrangement of Brian Eno’s Music for Airports and Steve Reich’s masterwork Music for 18 Musicians; Olaf Pyras in Tom Johnson’s 1970 classic Nine Bells; plus music by Kate Moore, Donnacha Dennehy, Irene Buckley, George Crumb, Meredith Monk, Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, Seán Clancy, Andrew Hamilton and Garrett Sholdice.

Bang on a Can has appeared annually throughout the US and Europe’s most prestigious concert hall and festivals, as well as in Argentina, Australia, China, Korea, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Poland and Russia. The New York Times reports, “[Bang on a Can’s] impact has been profound and pervasive. The current universe of do –it yourself concert series, genre-flouting festivals, composer-owned record labels and amplified, electric-guitar-driven compositions idioms would probably not exist without their pioneering example”.

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
For details, visit www.nch.ie/online/what-wow-david-lang 

Ticket Information
Bang on a Can Day Pass (Saturday 7th March) €25
Bang on a Can Weekend Pass €50 (limited to 100 passes)
National Concert Hall Box Office tel: 01 417 00 00 or www.nch.ie

Watch David Lang’s Introduction to the Festival:

For more information about Bang on a Can: www.bangonacan.org