Three decades ago, composers Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe noticed something missing in the universe of music: a zone between rock, jazz, classical, and folk where new forms of musical expression could find new audiences and new players. So they invented a new world of music, and called it Bang on a Can.
The annual Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts includes daily performances in the museum galleries, a concert with the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and concludes with a six-hour blow-out Marathon Concert performed by the festival ensembles and special guests.
The festival also features workshops, late-night concerts, free events in North Adams, and more. This year features special festival guest composer Steve Reich.
Pulitzer Prize winning composer and Bang on a Can co-founder Julia Wolfe joins us.
Listen to Julia Wolfe's "Anthracite Fields":