At The Awards: David Lang

David Lang’s early music, laced with elements of rock and minimalism, was at once bracing and controversial, heavily influenced by the Bang on a Can school he co-founded. As he tells critic Tim Page in Musical America’s tribute, however, “People should change as they get older, and I did.” Lang’s the little match girl passion, set not for rock band but for a rarified quartet of two sopranos, tenor, and bass-baritone, all of whom play small percussion instruments, won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize. A setting of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, it has been performed several hundred times internationally and also has been staged and choreographed. He made his New York City Ballet debut with plainspoken in 2010. Among numerous commissions, his new theater work, whisper opera, will receive its premiere in Chicago early next year by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE).

Read Tim Page’s tribute to David Lang

Musical America’s Edna Landau, left,
interviews David Lang, 2013 Composer of the Year.

2013 Composer of the Year David Lang
accepts his award

2013 Composer of the Year David Lang; Kristin Lancino, G. Schirmer; Features Editor Sedgwick Clark

Cia Toscanini, 2013 Composer of the Year David Lang, Ed Matthew, G. Schirmer

2013 Composer of the Year David Lang, 2013 Musician of the Year Gustavo Dudamel

2013 Composer of the Year David Lang, 2013 Instrumentalist of the Year Wu Man