July 30 & 31: Daily Schedule Announced for Bang on a Can's LOUD Weekend at MASS MoCA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press contacts
Bang on a Can, Maggie Stapleton, Jensen Artists 646.536.7864 x2 | maggie@jensenartists.com
MASS MoCA, Christian Barclay, Communications Manager | 413.664.4481 x 8111 | cbarclay@massmoca.org

Bang on a Can and MASS MoCA Announce LOUD Weekend
Friday, July 30 & Saturday, July 31, 2021

Announcing Daily Festival Schedule

A fully loaded, 2-day, eclectic super-mix of minimal, experimental and electronic music 

Featuring Kronos Quartet, Mazz Swift, and Nathalie Joachim
World Premieres by Frederic Rzewski, Terry Riley, and much more

Bang on a Can LOUD Weekend at MASS MoCA
1040 MASS MoCA Way | North Adams, Massachusetts

General Admission 2-Day Pass: $95 Advance / $105 Week-Of | Preferred 2-Day Pass: $150
Tickets: www.massmoca.org/event/bang-on-a-can-loud-weekend-2021 or 413.662.2111 

Information on Accommodations: www.massmoca.org/visit/stay
More Information: www.bangonacan.org/loudweekend 
Watch the Trailer: bit.ly/LOUDWeekend  

“I’ve rarely witnessed such a seamless melding of art and music.” - New York Magazine
“nothing could have prepared me for the whirlwind…” - The Boston Globe

New York, NY & North Adams, MA — Bang on a Can and MASS MoCA announce the daily schedule for their multi-day music festival called LOUD Weekend, presented on Friday, July 30 and Saturday, July 31, 2021, at MASS MoCA in North Adams, located in the Berkshire mountains of western Massachusetts (1040 MASS MoCA Way). LOUD Weekend features two days of ear-bending music and mind-blowing art exhibitions taking place throughout the museum’s vast galleries and its stunning collection of indoor and outdoor performing arts venues. Featured performers include Kronos Quartet, Mazz Swift, Nathalie Joachim, and Bang on a Can All-Stars among many others. The opening concert on Friday July 30 at 4pm begins with Julius Eastman’s FEMENINE followed by world premiere performances of music by Frederic Rzewski, Terry Riley, and much more. Tickets are available now for $95 (2-day Pass). Capacity is limited. 

LOUD Weekend launched in 2019 as an expansion of Bang on a Can’s long-running Bang on a Can Marathon, multiplying that inclusive and ambitious programming from one day, to multiple days. Bang on a Can co-founders and artistic directors Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe say: 

We’re back! We’re live! We’re LOUD WEEKEND! More power-packed concerts by more supersonic composers in a single weekend. It’s all happening this summer at the huge renegade MASS MoCA. Composers will be on hand to talk and mingle. Seating is limited. So get your tickets now! We’re excited to bump elbows!

Highlights of the 2021 Bang on a Can LOUD Weekend at MASS MoCA include (see daily schedule below):

• WORLD PREMIERES by Terry Riley, Frederic Rzewski, Mary Kouyoumdjian, Sky Macklay, Theo Baer, Nathan Bales, Erich Barganier, Melika Fitzhugh, Brian Krock, Lila Meretzky, Christian Quiñones, and more

• The singular legendary Kronos Quartet perform TWO concerts of brand new music (what else?!) including world premieres by minimalist godfather Terry Riley, Mary Kouyoumdjian, Sky Macklay, and more

• The electric Bang on a Can All-Stars perform Terry Riley’s Autodreamographical Tales, a wildly unique creation from one of America’s most iconic composers and the All-Stars’ forthcoming release on Cantaloupe Music

• Nathalie Joachim performs Fanm d'Ayiti (Women of Haiti), her highly praised tribute to three pioneering Haitian female musicians—Carole Demesmin, Emerante de Pradines and Toto Bissainthe—weaving together their voices, stories and traditional Haitian folk music traditions.
   
• Inspiringly inventive composer-performer Mazz Swift performs a solo set featuring her unique blend of avant-violin and voice 
   
• A special 75th birthday tribute to acclaimed composer and teacher Martin Bresnick

• FEMENINE - composer Julius Eastman’s monumental fusion of minimalism and  jazz-informed improvisation

• The late French composer Gérard Grisey’s rigorous, lush, and luxurious masterpiece Vortex Temporum, conducted by Brad Lubman

• Boundary bashing bassoonist Dana Jessen performs electro-acoustic feats from her recent recording of George Lewis’ Seismologic and her own Through a fragile traverse. 

• Frederic Rzewski’s Amoramaro (World Premiere) and more performed by powerhouse pianist Lisa Moore 

• THE PANDEMIC SOLOS - world premieres of highlights from the 70 pieces commissioned by Bang on a Can for its eight online pandemic marathons, including premieres by Leila Adu, Jeffrey Brooks, Sophie Cash, Anna Clyne, Nick Dunston, Florent Ghys, Gabriel Kahane, Mary Kouyoumdjian, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Žibuokle Martinaityte, Leyla McCalla, Ailie Robertson, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Aeryn Santillan, Jakhongir Shukur, María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, Trevor Weston 
   
• Special guest composers Martin Bresnick, Robert Honstein, Shelley Washington, plus music by Bang on a Can co-founders Michael Gordon, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, and more
   
• Performances by Gregg August, Robert Black, Vicky Chow, David Cossin, Arlen Hlusko, Nathalie Joachim, Brad Lubman, Nick Photinos, Lauren Radnofsky, Todd Reynolds, Mark Stewart, Ken Thomson, plus 

Camellia Aftahi, Andrew Anderson, Emma Antonides, Raina Arnett, Luke Ellard, Amir Farsi, Adam Holmes, Annaliese Kowert, Taylor Levine, Soo Yeon Lyuh, Riley Palmer, Alexandrea Richard, Julian Velasco, Yifei Xu, Alexander “Sasha” Yakub, and more 

LOUD Weekend at MASS MoCA concludes the 19^th annual Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA, a professional development program led by today’s pioneers of experimental music for young composers and performers selected from an international applicant pool, which runs from July 12-29, 2021.

The Bang on a Can LOUD Weekend at MASS MoCA daily schedule (SUBJECT TO CHANGE):

Friday, July 30, 2021: 4pm-11pm

JULIUS EASTMAN | FEMENINE

LISA MOORE plays FREDERIC RZEWSKI’s Amoramaro (World Premiere) and more

Philip Glass Mad Rush | Don Byron Seven Etudes | Frederic Rzewski Amoramaro | Martin Bresnick Ishi’s Song, Bundists 

ARLEN HLUSKO plays world premieres by Gabriel Kahane, Mary Kouyoumdjian, Leyla McCalla

MARTIN BRESNICK 75TH BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE

Martin Bresnick, Caprichos Enfaticos and Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano

TODD REYNOLDS plays world premiere by Dai Wei and music by Paul Dejong

GREGG AUGUST plays world premiere by Ailie Robertson

BANG ON A CAN ALL-STARS play music by Louis Andriessen and more 

KRONOS QUARTET plays music by Jlin, Aleksandra Vrebalov, Tanya Tagaq, Stacy Garrop, Mary Kouyoumdjian*, Abel Meeropol, Antonio Haskell, Jacob Garchick (*world premiere)

GÉRARD GRISEY | Vortex Temporum

And More! 

Saturday, July 31, 2021: 11am-11pm

ROBERT BLACK plays world premieres by Žibuokle Martinaityte, Jakhongir Shukur, María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir  

NEWEST VOICES WORLD PREMIERE COMPOSER CONCERT 

Music by Nathan Bales, Erich Barganier, Christian Quiñones, Theo Baer, Melika Fitzhugh, Brian Krock, Lila Meretzky

DANA JESSEN plays Through a Fragile Traverse (with video by Eli Stine) 

Dana Jessen, Through a Fragile Traverse | George Lewis, Seismologic 

MICHAEL GORDON, Weather One | DAVID LANG, almost all the time

STEVE REICH, Quartet | JULIA WOLFE, Dark Full Ride

ROBERT HONSTEIN, Soul House

SHELLEY WASHINGTON, Uniforms, Silk, Big Talk 

NATHALIE JOACHIM sings Fanm d'Ayiti 

BANG ON A CAN ALL-STARS play ‘The Pandemic Solos,’ world premieres by Leila Adu, Jeffrey Brooks, Sophie Cash, Anna Clyne, Nick Dunston, Florent Ghys, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Aeryn Santillan, Trevor Weston 

KRONOS QUARTET plays music by Nicole Lizee, Terry Riley*, Soo Yeon Lyuh, Bryce Dessner, Sky Macklay*, Michael Gordon (*world premiere)

MAZZ SWIFT

SOO-YEON LYUH plays music for the Haegum

BANG ON A CAN ALL-STARS play TERRY RILEY, Autodreamographical Tales  

About Bang on a Can: Bang on a Can is dedicated to making music new. Since its first Marathon concert in 1987, Bang on a Can has been creating an international community dedicated to innovative music, wherever it is found. With adventurous programs, it commissions new composers, performs, presents, and records new work, develops new audiences, and educates the musicians of the future. Bang on a Can is building a world in which powerful new musical ideas flow freely across all genres and borders. Bang on a Can plays “a central role in fostering a new kind of audience that doesn’t concern itself with boundaries. If music is made with originality and integrity, these listeners will come.” (The New York Times)

Bang on a Can has grown from a one-day New York-based Marathon concert (on Mother’s Day in 1987 in a SoHo art gallery) to a multi-faceted performing arts organization with a broad range of year-round international activities. “When we started Bang on a Can, we never imagined that our 12-hour marathon festival of mostly unknown music would morph into a giant international organization dedicated to the support of experimental music, wherever we would find it,” write Bang on a Can Co-Founders Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe. “But it has, and we are so gratified to be still hard at work, all these years later. The reason is really clear to us – we started this organization because we believed that making new music is a utopian act – that people needed to hear this music and they needed to hear it presented in the most persuasive way, with the best players, with the best programs, for the best listeners, in the best context. Our commitment to changing the environment for this music has kept us busy and growing, and we are not done yet.”

In March 2020, when the pandemic began, Bang on a Can responded with the Live Online concert series including its signature Marathon concerts. With this online series, Bang on a Can has been able to support composers and performers and engage audiences throughout the pandemic shutdown. Other in-person programs include two festivals LOUD Weekend at MASS MoCA and LONG PLAY, current projects include The People's Commissioning Fund, a membership program to commission emerging composers; the Bang on a Can All-Stars, who tour to major festivals and concert venues around the world every year; recording projects; the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA, a professional development program for young composers and performers led by today’s pioneers of experimental music; Asphalt Orchestra, Bang on a Can’s extreme street band that offers mobile performances re-contextualizing unusual music; Found Sound Nation, a new technology-based musical outreach program now partnering with the State Department of the United States of America to create OneBeat, a revolutionary, post-political residency program that uses music to bridge the gulf between young American musicians and young musicians from developing countries; cross-disciplinary collaborations and projects with DJs, visual artists, choreographers, filmmakers and more. Each new program has evolved to answer specific challenges faced by today’s musicians, composers and audiences, in order to make innovative music widely accessible and wildly received. Bang on a Can’s inventive and aggressive approach to programming and presentation has created a large and vibrant international audience made up of people of all ages who are rediscovering the value of contemporary music. Bang on a Can has also recently launched its new digital archive, CANLAND, an extensive archive of its recordings, videos, posters, program books, and more. Thirty-three years of collected music and associated ephemera have been digitized and archived online and is publicly accessible in its entirety at www.canland.org. For more information about Bang on a Can, please visit www.bangonacan.org.

About MASS MoCA: MASS MoCA is one of the world’s liveliest centers for making and enjoying today’s most evocative art. With vast galleries and a stunning collection of indoor and outdoor performing arts venues, MASS MoCA is able to embrace all forms of art: music, sculpture, dance, film, painting, photography, theater, and new, boundary-crossing works of art that defy easy classification. Much of the work we show in our light-filled spaces, on our technically sophisticated stages, and within our lovely network of late 19th-century courtyards is made here during extended fabrication and rehearsal residencies that bring hundreds of the world’s most brilliant and innovative artists to North Adams all year round. For more information about MASS MoCA, visit www.massmoca.org.  

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