Bang on a Can - 25 Years

Won tickets Evan Ziporyn's opera premiered in Boston! The marathons in Winter Garden. And sadly, getting rejected (some would say overlooked) by BOAC's summer institute for a fellowship. :( Anyway.

As a bass player and a composer I've been inspired by Robert Black for awhile now. Last June I had the honor to briefly work with him at the ISB in San Francisco and it really pushed me to challenge myself creatively. Thanks!!

I'm not incredibly familiar with Bang on a Can yet, but I'm looking forward to this album. I was made aware of this opportunity by being a fan of So Percussion.

Over the years I've enjoyed taking friends from outside the city to your annual marathon--it's one of my definitions of why New York is 1) unique and 2) great. Thanks!

オリジナルよりBOACの“Music for Airports”が好き。

Happy 25th Bang on a Can!

Hearing Stockhausen's "Stimmung" as the sky grew light through the window wall of the world financial center at the end of the 2008 marathon was a surreal and beautiful experience that I get to relive whenever I hear the piece performed or in recording. Thank you for what you have brought to the world of music!

Summer 2006. You guys have not only influenced a whole generation as musicians, but as human beings too. Thank you for your encouragement and support throughout the years. Oh, and the music is pretty bitchin' too...

Happy 25th Bang on a Can!

I enjoyed the BOAC performance at the BBC Proms in London a few years ago. I hope you come back again soon.

Love your reinterpretation of minimalist/ambient classics (e.g., In C, Music for Airports, Music in Fifths) as well as compositions of the members. Thanks.

Loved seeing the Books and Michael Gordon's "Every Stop on the F Train" at the Winter Garden in 2008.

I was introduced to Bang On A Can through Cantaloupe Music.
Happy Birthday !

I'm a huge Brian Eno fan. I've fell in love with BOAC with the Music for Airport album. It's my memory but i have a wish for 2012. BOAC in Quebec City !

Help me please to find hidden treasure into happiness. Michael Gordon's Trance is poet Trance. I wish him a happy new year in the old, old juniper tree.

Huge bang on a can fan. especially when performing steve reich!! Listening to the music in a beautiful environment gives goosebumps every time!

I've enjoyed seeing your marathon concerts in NYC several times. The music and players are always wonderful. Thanks for the free download!

Playing Julia's "Stronghold" at lpr was quite a night. Getting to be a part of such a great concert will stick with me for a long time.

I first found out about Bang On A Can when I heard that the Asphalt Orchestra performed a Zappa composition. That sure got my attention.
Looking forward to listen to his album. A very nice new years gift. Thank you.

Not a memory, but, I absolutely love BOAC's Music For Airports. A desert island disc for sure. An absolute beauty.
Also, I accidentally mixed Brian Eno's In Dark Trees (from his amazing, Another Green World) with the Michael Gordon Timber track streaming on the Canteloupe site to stunning effect. I've since looped In Dark Trees so that it lasts the entire length of the Timber track and wow.
Do more with Eno you guys!!!!!!!
Keep up the good work,
Kip Luce
Saskatoon, Canada

As I've never been to New York, I haven't yet been able to hear Bang On A Can live, but I have been following the musical activities on CD.

Massive fan!

I got an e-mail & would like the free dowenload.

I don't have an in-person memory, but my favorite BOAC experience was listening their recording of Eno's Music for Airports at the new Indianapolis Airport.

I had heard about Bang on a Can many years ago, but my first experience was at the 24 hour marathon in NYC a few years ago. Since then, I've gone to the music fest held in Philly last year (looking forward to a repeat in 2012) and bought a number of discs. Great music!

Your first Bang will always change your life.

Thanks for the email. I look forward to hearing the album!

I had heard about Bang on a Can many years ago, but my first experience was at the 24 hour marathon in NYC a few years ago. Since then, I've gone to the music fest held in Philly last year (looking forward to a repeat in 2012) and bought a number of discs. Great music!

I was lucky enough to see the BOAC All-Stars perform several pieces in Knoxville, TN at the 2010 Big Ears Festival. The highlight was the performance of Terry Riley's "In C" with Terry, his son Gyan, and a number of contemporary musicians in the festival. I was able to talk to Mark Stewart the last night of the festival and thank him for the great performances. I also told him they were the main reason I had driven 400+ miles to the festival. Mark couldn't have been a nicer guy and was very appreciative of the compliment.

Not a memory, but, I absolutely love BOAC's Music For Airports. A desert island disc for sure. An absolute beauty.
Also, I accidentally mixed Brian Eno's In Dark Trees (from his amazing, Another Green World) with the Michael Gordon Timber track streaming on the Canteloupe site to stunning effect. I've since looped In Dark Trees so that it lasts the entire length of the Timber track and wow.
Do more with Eno you guys!!!!!!!
Keep up the good work,
Kip Luce
Saskatoon, Canada

An incredible July at MASS MoCA for Banglewood 2005. Got to meet and work with some of my favorite composers, and generally immerse myself in the creation and enjoyment of visceral, imaginative new music. It was a real turning point for me, and one I'll remember for the rest of my life. Thank you all and congrats on 25 years of happy music making!

Friend of a friend of a friend.

Bang On A Can alway reminds me to the day I met Evan Ziporyn in Rotterdam on the World Bass Clarinet Convention, where 150 Clarinettists played an immortal piece of music in the Guiness Book.

I loved meeting Mark Stewart at both the Terry Riley concert at UMD and again playing Steve Reich at The Strathmore Music Hall. His rendition of Electronic Counterpoint was spot on!

One of the things I have loved about moving to NYC is how welcoming the Bang family is. I was floored upon hearing that the All-Stars would be recording at my university's studio, and they were perfectly obliging of flies on the wall in the control room during the week's sessions.

Remember being at the 2007(?) marathon at 2 a.m. Everyone was starting to get a bit tired, and was confused why there were three sets of percussion laid out on different levels of the big staircase in back. Then So-called Laws of Nature started...

During the mid-200s, I loved the summer festivals at Mass MoCA in North Adams: the regular concerts, the park concerts, and the experimental works in the galleries. I especially appreciated the presentation of unrecorded works, such as the piece (I've forgotten its title) by Ed Ruchalski.

Heard my first Michael Gordon piece way back in college when my band-mate Ari Benjamin Meyers conducted it in ~1994 (?).
Have subsequently continued to listen, most recently to several shows at MIT...
Keep it up for another 25!
-Halsey

Too many. A truly important part of my personal and academic musical life. Thank you!

I heard about this via e-mail

The performance of Oscar Bettison's "The Afflicted Girl" in 2010. Fantastic.

i discovered BOAC because of their astonishing Brian Eno music fully played on classical instruments. I brought that dsicreet music very much alive and even human

So many great musical memories over the years, going back to perhaps my 1st marathon at the Henry St. Settlement...I gotta say winning a cd giveaway in 2010 was a high point!! But BoaC has given me so much it's a bit embarrassing to mention that.

People's Commissioning Fund - the idea is brilliant, the execution is brilliant. Never miss Bang on a Can, it's as good as it gets for music new or old.

Though I've unfortunately never seen the eponymous ensemble perform live, their work of Steve Reich's "2x5" has always tickled my ears.

Also, getting the supremely wonderful chance to have a lesson with Julia Wolfe and drive her back to the airport earlier in the Spring of last year will never, never leave me.

So awesome.

I got an email about this great offer. I love Bang on a Can but have never been able to see you rock it live. Some day I hope!

well I see Jeremy Podgursky -- who I don't know -- got here first, five minutes ago ... I too heard music for airports live, at DePauw University in Indiana, after having loved the recording for a long, long time. It was one of the peak concert experiences of my life ... and while the attendance at the concert was shamefully sparse I know I wasn't alone in feeling that way ... thanks so much.

My former professor Paula Matthusen is a member.

I first heard BOAC ("landed in Miami Beach") while listening to Q2 radio. It was your recording of Terry Riley's "In C", which was the first time I heard that piece too. That experience introduced me to a variety of composers and musical styles I would never have heard otherwise. Thanks BOAC and Q2.

I loved the David Bowie tribute, so happy birthday bang bang bang
Marino Anselmo - DuoCom
Sao Paulo, Brazil

Hearing Bang On A Can live in 2006 in Granada (Spain) was one of my most loved concert-experiences in my life. I'm Austrian and spent an exchange-year at Granadas university..studying psychology but attending this so-interesting-sounding lecture at the conservatoire...about electroaccoustic music...exploring this new wonderful music-world and BANG! - a additional wonderful live-experience during my time in this already so interesting flamenco-culture. I was totally absorbed by the music ;) thanks Bang On A Can for this living experience! (...still grateful, my professor told me about it!)

For the final class in 20th century theory we divided up the pieces on "Industry" for analysis and discussion. No piece the entire semester generated as much debate as the title track by Michael Gordon.

we attend the north adams marathon every year. we fight over which pieces we're going to miss in order to eat our picnic food because we don't want to miss anything. my music library now contains composers i would never have come across without bang. it has made my life infinitely better, and i am grateful to all the wonderful players and the passion they bring to this wonderful music.

My memory is that I don't remember how I first heard BOAC. It was the CD Industry and it blew me away.

I heard members of BOAC perform Reich's Music for 18 Musicians ain SF in 2000, shortly before my son was born. A special time.

I was at the world premiere of Wolfe's 'Steel Hammer' and was very impressed by the directness and focused quality the music had. Afterwards I met Steve Reich for the first time and ran out of the hall shouts "Balls!"

It was back in the early 90's when I went to a Present Music concert in Milwaukee, WI. They always have CDs on display to buy. I was speaking to the person who was selling the CDs and she highly recomended Cantalope Records as a place to find modern classical music. I bought what CDs they had on the label. After hearing them I have been a devoted fan of Cantalope and have bought every CD you have released. Love your music. Happy 25th . Dennis - Hartland, WI

The "Bang on a Can" mentality has been imperative to my life. I have a tattoo of a tin can on my arm to remind me to keep banging. With this release I am glad to see you are all still banging!

The first time I heard Bang on a Can was when my husband and I got the album "Lost Objects." We played it during dinner and then had to play it over and over the rest of the evening. After that we became avid Bang on a Can cd collectors.

We just could not believe that Bang on a Can did a version of Brian Eno's Music for Airports, one of our favorite records! We have not had the opportunity to attend their concerts, but their music has very much become part of our lives.

It took me too long (and a trip to London) to hear Julia Wolfe music for the first time. It changed my musical direction, and that's the best compliment I can think of. Thanks ;)

I saw BOAC play Music for Airports in Louisville, KY. It was astonishing. As a fan of the original Eno recording, I was amazed by how BOAC captured its unfolding on acoustic instruments. It was truly mesmerizing.

Serendipitous random late night YouTube watching.

I was a composition major in college, and worked in our music library a few hours a week. One day, while sifting through our enormous CD collection, I came across "Child" by Bang on a Can founder David Lang. The piece opened me up the the entire Bang on a Can crew and repertoire, and completely changed my palate as a composer and listener. Years later, having never attended a marathon or a Bang on a Can performance of any kind, I look forward to your email updates and follow you all online as closely as a I can. I look forward to my first concert. Come to DC!

Have been enjoying the work of bang on a can for a while now as a student composer and now as a teacher I love presenting this music to pupils to baffle and amaze! Thanks.

Adventurous music making to follow!

Every time I go to the music marathons down at the World Finance Center in NYC not only do I meet interesting folks, but I establish a relationship that invariably leads to a gig. All best in the new year, Sam Szurek

I remember a concert at the Winter Garden at the WTC that was great.

The great concert in Amsterdam in het muziekgbouw aan het IJ I will not forget

I first heard about Bang on a Can this Summer. I'm from Belgium and I study percussion. I was in the U.S. for five weeks, in May-June. Friends took me to New York, to the Bang on a Can marathon. I was amazed and instantly hooked to the music/the composers. In November, I was back in the States. I attended PASIC in Indianapolis. There, I witnessed amazing performances of the music of David Lang, Michael Gordon, Julia Wolfe. Happy birthday Bang on a Can! I consider myself as a relatively 'new' fan, but therefor not less of a fan.

a friend told me about it/sent me a link...

When I was a sophomore in college, I did a semester "national exchange" from the University of Wyoming to the University of Minnesota. I was 18 years old. I had never heard of Bang on a Can, but I went to the Walker Art Center's marathon concert and had my mind blown.

I'm a saxophonist, and I'm from Wyoming. I felt for a long time that I didn't fit in musically with my peers; that somehow I wasn't a jazz musician, but neither was I at home playing Bach transcriptions...

My first experience listening to the Bang on a Can All-Stars playing compositions from Renegade Heaven changed my life--it's as simple as that. Suddenly, I knew that I did fit in somewhere--that there was a way of expressing oneself musically that didn't have to subscribe to preconceived musical boundaries. I mean, electric guitar in chamber music? YES!! I felt like I'd been lit on fire.

That same concert exposed me to Happy Apple, another group that changed the way I think about music.... and Bjork's Vespertine had just come out. Magical times, and the beginning of a musical journey for me that has become the central pillar of my creative expression.

by the airport (the big beautiful not dark but so scary monster), with brian. Keep turning wonderful can.

About 12 years ago I the Saw Bang on a Can All-Stars in Tucson. I remember Cheating, Lying, Stealing. and the cellist with knee-high leather boots.

I heard of Bang on a Can through my interest in music by Steve Reich and percussion ensembles.

I first heard Bang on a Can's version of Philip Glass's 'Music in Fifths' and it was exhilarating and overwhelming. I've been a fan ever since.

I don't remember when I first heard about Bang on a Can, but I loved the recording of "In C." It's still my favorite version of the piece.

I performed Gordon's I Buried Paul a few years back and have been listening ever since.

love the music! my husband turned me on to it.

Heard about this offer on the great twitter-waves.

Marathons. All my memories are of marathons (well, reserving the performance of the Plonsey Episodes 1-9). Here's one from 2008 in the Winter Garden: dawn arriving within Stockhausen's Stimmung and the formerly sleeping birds of the Winter Garden sounding off with the players. Transcendent.

During 2011, I made a habit of listening to the Q2 Internet radio station on my Chumby, my main Christmas present of 2010. One night as my wife and I were getting ready for bed, I heard a piece with an interesting rhythm. When I checked the playlist, I discovered that it was a David Lang piece, "My Very Empty Mouth," and I wound up buy the album. I also discovered that David Lang was a Can Banger, which reminded me that I had downloaded Bang on a Can's version of "In C" from Emusic.com several years ago. I believe that new technology allows listeners to discover composers such as the Bang on a Can collective without having to live in New York City or otherwise have a "connection" to the group.
www.moderntempo.com

This isn't strictly Bang on a Can related but I thought I would share anyway. I bought one-bit symphony from Bang on a Can and when I, like an excited child, brought it to work for show and tell people were blown away by it. Thanks for the free download!

Being a Reich fan and knowing of Bang on a Can's association with Reich and his work, I checked them out at last year's MIT New Music Marathon, where I heard many of the pieces that will be on BBDaS. It was a tremendous and ear-opening experience. Now I catch BOAC every chance I get.

I found out about the upcoming CD after the champagne toast at the end of the most recent Banglewood. I asked David when I could expect a recording of his awesome "sun ray." He was really gracious and fun to talk to.

Happy 25, BOAC!

As a percussionist/ composer, I've been enjoying your music for years.

Mass MOCA marathon summer 2009

Sometime in 2004 or so, we saw a concert advertised at BAM. It seemed strange that it started at 2pm, but, hey, we were driving in from Hartford, CT and that would make it an easy drive back. I guess we didn't get the meaning of 'marathon.'

Imagine our surprise when we found out there'd be eight hours of the most amazing music.

At ten in the evening, were were converts and tried to make every marathon since then. Now we live on the West Coast and miss the marathons in NY or at MassMoca.

I first learned about you during a search for music at the iTunes store.

I remember seeing BOAC for the 1st time at emory university. I was stunned to realize that there could be a such a visceral & visual connection between classical music and modern rock & jazz musics. A revelation to me...

As a composer, I've been following Bang-on-a-can for a number of years now. Living in Holland, I don't get to actually see you very often but I think what you're doing is fantastic. And you do it with such flair! Keep going!

Sometime in 2004 or so, we saw a concert advertised at BAM. It seemed strange that it started at 2pm, but, hey, we were driving in from Hartford, CT and that would make it an easy drive back. I guess we didn't get the meaning of 'marathon.'

Imagine our surprise when we found out there'd be eight hours of the most amazing music.

At ten in the evening, were were converts and tried to make every marathon since then. Now we live on the West Coast and miss the marathons in NY or at MassMoca.

Brilliant hours and hours of inspirational journeys at the MASSMOCA and the Winter Garden marathons, BOAC artists' music appearing in numerous theatrical settings (i.e. Evan Zyporin's score for "Oedipus" at A.R.T., David Lang's operetta "The Difficulty in Crossing a Field"), and the endless flow of mind-expanding recordings emanating from this brilliant group!

I was lucky enough to see the BOAC All-Stars perform several pieces in Knoxville, TN at the 2010 Big Ears Festival. The highlight was the performance of Terry Riley's "In C" with Terry, his son Gyan, and a number of contemporary musicians in the festival. I was able to talk to Mark Stewart the last night of the festival and thank him for the great performances. I also told him they were the main reason I had driven 400+ miles to the festival. Mark couldn't have been a nicer guy and was very appreciative of the compliment.

My memory? It's a physical sensation. Excitement.

My memories are all good, and center around the principal works of the Bang On A Can coterie of composers and the recordings that Bang On A Can have made of those works. They have been an important part of my listening and enjoyment over the years, as they will certainly continue to be.

"Dark and scary" makes me think of the All-Stars performance of Terry Riley's "In C" in Copenhagen in 2010. Utterly different from the CD or any other version I've heard, it was edgy and dangerous, seeming like it could collapse at any moment. The ensemble's concentration was complete, and seemed to spread to the whole audience. We were on the edge of our seats throughout.

I remember being in Sydney with a Dutch friend who worked for some contemporary music ensembles. She put on a Bang on the Can album and said, "Isn't this terrible?" I was intimidated by her and said, "Yes, awful."

Then I moved to New York and fell in love with the music of David, Michael and Julia. I started buying every Bang-on-a-Can recording I could, and attending every concert in NYC.

I remembered recently how this Dutch colleague had belittled that recording. I have no idea which one it was that I first heard - but I know now that my colleague was wrong, and I should have said so way back when.

I witnessed Bang on a Can in Glasgow, not so long ago, after some recommendations hailing praise upon the aforementioned. I've had to create a new word to describe what I experienced. A total clusterf**k of awesome. Euphoric.

The Bang On a Can Marathon during the Philly Live Arts festival of September 2010 was the absolute best music experience of my life, and the longest, with 10 hours of incredible, exhilarating sound. I hope to make it to the marathon coming this june!

Hi, I'm a journalist and music critic of the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo (www.estadao.com.br) and followed for a long time your innovative work at Bang on a Can.
Só, Congratulations for your 25 years and long, long life.
Hugs,
João Marcos

I live in the Midwest. So I have never experienced Bang on a Can in person, but I have followed the group and their achievements for several years now. Their work gives me inspiration and hope for the future of serious music in America.

I went with my daughter to a show at the Cultural Center downtown. I think she was only four, but she was mesmerized. She's 11 now; come to Chicago again!

I heard about this album from the Bang on a Can email list.

I saw Bang play in Miller Theater maybe 10 years ago when I was in school. It introduced me to a whole other kind of thinking.

I don't have a memory of bang on a can, however I do have memories of sitting in on lessons with Robert Black. I'm sure I'll have a memory after seeing the all Reich concert in L.A. in a couple of weeks!

My first experience was with Renegade Heaven in my car. 'Blown Away' is the only term I can use to describe my impressions of BoaC. Freakin' 'Blown Away'! Kronos Quartet started me on this journey to new music or new classical or whatever genre is listed. Bang on a Can is where a whole new door was opened. And what I found is still amazing, beautiful, emotive, and simply badass.

I had the honor of performing with Tactus at the 2006 Marathon (playing mandolin for "La Belle Chocolatiere" by Mayke Nas). Aside from the experience of working with so many great musicians, my standout memory was sitting backstage and watching the tuba players assemble before Anthony Braxton's 100 Tuba Marching Band. The performance was, of course, a spectacle, but I'll always treasure the opportunity to watch a community of musicians that rarely gets to play together (even in a group of two, let alone 80-100) be able to catch up and have a few laughs, compare instruments, and prepare to share their joy for music with each other and the city.

Congrats on 25 years!

listening to your music inspired my artwork for a new collection based on the compositions. thanks!

Unfortunately, no memory (I live in NC). I got the email.

I do a lot of can banging myself, but officially the most excitement this year was waiting for my copy of Michael Gordon's "Timber."

I was super depressed last spring when I realized that my relationship was about to end & a friend brought me to the FAST Music Festival at MIT. I'd been a fan of Kronos Quartet for years but had never experienced Bang on a Can All-Stars before. The performances that night lifted me out of my funk & did my heart awfully good. I did end up breaking up with my girlfriend later that weekend, but got Bang on a Can All-Stars instead, a great deal if you ask me :)

Bang on a Can-more please!!

They're always a highlight to nyc new music.

BOAC marathon 2010 was unforgettable

from an email

tumblr - yet to hear - but want to !

The first recording I heard was Gigantic Dancing Human Machine.

Memory of a revelatory performance of Eno's "Music for Airports" at the BBC Proms back in 1999

All the people at BOAC are among the most kind, funny, amazing, exilarathing and generous that anybody could possibly meet. Playing on the stage at the Bang On a Can Marathon and making records for Canteloupe are two of the most fantastic experiences any musician can have, and at Sentieri selvaggi we are quite happy to have done both.
Michael, Julie, David, Kenny, Philippa, Jillianne and all of the people at BOAC, Thank you so much for many years of stunning music commissioned by your organization. As a composer snd listener I am most grateful and wish you at least another 1000 years of great music and great performances.
Carlo Boccadoro

I heard Monica Germino play 'Industry' by Michael Gordon at a 'Night of the Unexpected' a few years ago…this caused me to seek out BOAC…

Always a long distance listener, and always with pleasure - especially the intersections (transPacific, style twisting, and the like) - a vital site and source for all of us

I heard about Bang on a Can when I was still in High School. I remember exploring the interesting sounds of David Lang, explorations of Evan Ziporyn, and rhythmic complexity of Michael Gordon. I've been following Bang on a Can ever since.

I saw the the Bang on Can All-Stars several years ago on tour when they played in Birmingham, Alabama at the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center. Steve Schick, Wendy Sutter, Evan Ziporyn, Robert Black, Lisa Moore and Mark Stewart were playing. The hall wasn't full, and I don't think Birmingham understood what a great chance they had to hear modern music performed by these great luminaries.

I have only one Bang on a Can memory to share... so far. I hope to soon have more. I had heard the name somewhere and so one day, a month or so ago, I typed it into my Rhapsody account and pulled up Bang on a Can Live Vol. 1 to check it out. I cued the first track and began listening to "Failing: a very difficult piece for string bass." Did I mention I was in a towel, about to take a shower? You know how we internet users are, intending only to give 10 seconds of attention to something before we move onto other, more important things. My g/f comes out of the shower soon after it begins and pretty soon we're five minutes in, both laughing and loving every moment of the performance, and mostly naked. It's not often that something grabs my attention so thoroughly on a first listen, but this did, and I haven't taken a shower since. That's not true of course, but it would be a better story if it were.

Day 1 at Mass Moca 2009 In C....realising that this festival was going to be something different and exciting! Thankyou!

I remember coming to the Bang on a Can Marathon. I had fallen asleep on the floor of World Financial Centre and woke up at 2am inside Music for Airports... Awesome!

Tristan Perich is my link to Bang on a Can. I loved his use of electronics in the classical milieu. I am excited to listen to works by his labelmates.

Thanks for doing what you do!

Bang on a Can was my entry point into contemporary music, music that had the energy and vitality that I loved in rock music, but with a greater expressive range and specificity of sound. I remember the first time I heard this music: I was a freshman in college, driving across Western Massachusetts to a concert in Boston with my teacher. He put Michael Gordon's Trance in the CD player, and I listened, transfixed, for the next hour. I still remember how the world seemed to split apart as the piece built up to its enormous vista in part 5. I had never heard something so freely visceral, so abstract and untied to the structures and cliches of most music. It was the kind of experience you only get a few times in life.

I can count on my hands the number of truly transcendental musical experiences I've had. Bang on a Can has been responsible for many of them. I can think of no greater goal for an arts organization to have then the creation of these kinds of experiences. And I would like to say thank you for that.

I receive regularly your newsletter.

My one big memory is playing the Bang on A Can Marathon in 2011 it was an amazing experience.

For as long as I can remember, Bang on a Can has been *the* organization that sets the bar for hipness in contemporary classical music, and it still is. My memories are more wrapped up in meeting two of it's founders, Julia and David, who are extremely friendly and down to earth. Bang on a Can inspired me to have the courage to create my own ensemble, the American Modern Ensemble here in New York City.

Here's to another 25 years of banging on cans - hopefully even more loudly.

Heard about this on Twitter

i don't have a concrete -memory- of you as such but i'm always interested in a group whose repertoire/commissions range from Reich, Cage, Partch, Riley, etc. through to Carla Kihlstedt, Matthew Shipp and Sonic Youth.

there are quite a few: but the time I saw the All-Stars at Lincoln Center, playing with disciplined abandon Louis Andreissen's Workers Union....was indelible....

my bang on a can came through my all-time fav Steve Reich. I was istening to one of his pieces on lastfm when I saw the funny name bang-on-a-can, then came NY (that I fell in love before as the city of Frank O'Hara and Henry Miller. Now the big apple stands so much for bang-on-a-can as well. And I particularly love the subtle sadness of David Lang's soundscapes. All and only the very best for the next 25 million years (at least)!!!
http://geographyoflight.blogspot.com

Fred Frith's Snakes and Ladders at Merkin a coupla years ago! The All Stars killed it! (in a good way)

I attended Banglewood in 2008 and had a fantastic time. I can't even begin to imagine the impact it has had on my career, I met so many amazing people and was exposed to a lot of music that has stuck with me. Many of my closest musical relationships were first made through BOAC, and for this I'll always be grateful. Here's to 25 more years!

The music all you guys produce is so splendid- a constant delight and surprise! Here's to the next glorious 25 years! Cheers!

I haven't been able to attend a Bang on a Can performance, however, the individual musicians and the collective group has done amazing things in the past 25 years as a pioneer for new music. Thank you for the 1st 25 years and here's hoping that the next 25 are even more fruitful!

I'm afraid I don't have a particular memory. Have long loved the music. I heard about this offer because I'm on your mailing list.

Bang On A Can came into my conscience after hearing Trance by Michael Gordon. It took my breathe away, and still to do this day ranks as one of the most special moments of 'listening' I've had in my life. Sitting in my bedroom with headphones on and the volume high I was utterly blown away and have been time and time again by Industry, Cheating Lying Stealing and many many more.

Almost 10 years ago I showed up for my first day of work, and Kenny pointed to a giant bag of summer festival applications and said "go ahead and get started." Not my favorite memory at Bang on a Can :), but the one that began my love affair with my job, my colleagues and coworkers, and the summer festival at MASS MoCA! It just keeps getting better.

I have no memories... :) Am a subscriber to the Cantaloupe Club, tho...

KCRW introduced me to the BOAC cover of Music for Airports. Sold.

Please to have discovered your new music and met you in Paris in 2002.
Thanks from Europe for this renewal in contemporary music. Long life to Bang on a Can for more surprises !

First time I saw them was at the Winter Garden towards the end of the marathon. I had finally gotten a seat down front and was thrilled by the music. Right at the end of the piece. the crowd stood as if lifted together, that's how exciting it was. Gave me chills. Not sure who the composer was...a Japanese man who played the piano with them. So good. Thanks.

Bang on a Can Marathon 2006. Unforgettable.

Soon after I received my copy of One-Bit Music, I met Tristan Perich who was in Atlanta for a performance of his piece Observations. We discussed the methodology of creating one-bit pieces (his first such piece, Active Field, in particular) and why he was carrying his Portable Telephone (and how he made it). I came away understanding this: Tristan is the true mental synthesis of artist and engineer.

wnyc

great music, love the collaboration with Don Byron

My memories come from the associations I have with musicians who have been involved with the summer program.....they are people who have changed the way I look at music and who I am as an artist. "I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge, you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center." (Kurt Vonnegut)

sharing 1 bit symphony with jonathan ; )

I was at the very first BoaC Marathon. It was Mothers' Day, and my son was 6 weeks old. I didn't bring him – he stayed home with his mom – but 22 years later, he and attended the Marathon together, live-Tweeting it for posterity. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=57134579952&set=t.569360438&type=3&theater.

I can't remember when I learned about Bang on a Can - and I just received an email about the new album. Thanks!

I remember BOAC at the World Trade Center Plaza in the 1980s. It was a great place for it and music was legendary! I like the World Financial Center setting too--it's weather-resistant. But I really loved that wide-open space, the antithesis of the commercial world around it.

I've been listening to the Canteloupe label and Bang on a Can for a few years now and enjoy the creative compositions and excellent musicianship. Thanks, Matt

by your e-mail.

The 2008 Bang on a Can marathon was one of the best musical experiences of my life. Hearing "Stimmung" as the sun rose was mind-blowing.

Email alerts.

Merci à Steve Reich de m'avoir fait découvrir cet orchestre incroyable ! Et merci à facebook de partager ces liens de téléchargement !!! Thanks a lot

Q2

Sorry, I don't have a BOTC memory, but I have known about you for years.

Sometime in the 80s I attended one of the early marathons over on the far East Side. John Cage was there. A woman got up to leave and hit his knee with a Zabar's bag. A look of intense annoyance swept over his face for a millisecond, to be replaced immediately with his more usual demeanor of intense concentration on the music and what was going on around him.

All I know about Bang on a Can is in your releases. Never see you on stage. I hope one day naturally.
In France, if possible.
From @gacougnol on twitter.
I follow you.

I've been listening to the Canteloupe label and Bang on a Can for a few years and enjoy the creative compositions and excellent musicianship. Thanks, Matt

first heard of bang on a can with their rendition of music for airports. Wonderful.

I have not had the oportunity to enjoy any of your concerts, but plan to attend your Summer Music Festival this year at Mass MOCA.
Walt

I like you all. I have all ways liked you all since your crew played at University of Maryland College Park almost 10 years ago. I still hope to interact. work, play with you all in the future.I love the inspiration for radically independent music.

Music for 18 Musicians live while the sun rose over New York City at the 26 hour marathon in 2007!

I went to the marathon @ MIT in April 2011 - I was utterly transfixed for the entire performance! It was my first time seeing Kronos Quartet in performance after many years of enjoying their recordings. The absolute highlights for me were the performances by Wu Man and Gamelan Galak Tika.

Going to my first Bang on a Can Marathon in the summer of 2011!

Many BOAC memories! One is when I got to play on a marathon with my duo Trollstilt; was amazing! That day we also heard So Percussion play David's piece (first movement), and ended up spending the next decade working with So; how great is that, as an example of BOAC bringing people together?

I've been listening to the Canteloupe label and Bang on a Can for a few years and enjoy the creative compositions and excellent musicianship. Thanks, Matt

I bought the album Industry on a whim. It opened up a whole new world of music for me; it made it okay to love Pearl Jam and Bach, without feeling like either is so different. So, thanks.

The show in Philly was my first one. My favorite band Sun Ra Orchestra play a great set as always. It was nice to meet some of the "famous" members.

Bang on a Can has opened my ears to so much great music, not only of their own devising but also by many other artists through Cantaloupe Records. Where would we be without you?

My wife and I live in the Berkshires in the summer, and I used to read about MASSMOCA's "Bang on A Can" annual concerts and marathon. I never went because i thought it was.....people banging on cans.

One year, i steeled myself and decided to find out what all of this was about, so I went to one of the Bang Marathons...I think it was the year they celebrated the work of Terry Riley.

I immediately became addicted, as did my wife. We found this "modern" music totally fresh, accessible, beautiful, hypnotizing, thoroughly enjoyable.

Go Bang!

The total commitment with which you throw yourselves, headfirst, into the material continues to astound me. There is no fear, no hesitation. No matter how many times I see you perform Andriessen's Workers Union, the power of your performance never waivers.

The softer side is equally compelling... the realization of Music For Airports is transcendent.

I look forward to many more years of astounding performances and recordings!

Thank you for your advocacy of new music!

Jason Hoogerhyde

Thanks!

The brilliant acoustic rendition of "Music for Airports" blew my mind.

Dropping in on the recording sessions for Elida in Brooklyn, delivering the score and parts for Glenn Branca's new work for the band, watching them through the glass, jamming on Sir Duke. Yup, it's the All-Stars, all right.

I don't have a Bang memory, I'm sorry to say, although I have loved David Lang through his compositions on Maya Beiser's World to Come album

Mr Lang is currently Composer in Association at my local venue, the Sage in Gateshead, UK. This connection has enabled me to enjoy B.O.A.C. related music in the flesh. One memorable occasion was when Icebreaker performed some sections of Mr Gordon's "Trance" - seeing / hearing it performed live added a whole new visceral dimension to my experience of that piece!

thanks!

Purchasing a t-shirt from Julia Wolfe at the 24-hour marathon in the Winter Garden, and not realizing it was her until she got on stage.

Great vibe to your concerts!

I discovered Bang on a Can many years ago, looking for a new piano repertoire...
Actually, as a pianist, composer and a singer, I enjoy to follow the musical activity Bang on a Can organizes. My hope is to share soon a musical collaboration!

i love yr album of brian eno works and some stuff done with thurston moore

The first time I heard the group it completely changed my perception of how chamber music is approached and performed. I see Bang on a Can and like-minded groups as being the key to the evolution of the art form.

Jacob Nissly - Principal Percussionist, The Cleveland Orchestra - 2012

I saw BoaC and Philip Glass at the University of Maryland in 2004, and connected with the music in a way I didn't expect. Thanks!

seeing the control when tackling the steve reich reverberations festival at the barbican!

I heard about the album by email because I bought the 1 bit symphony by Tristan Perich.

I suppose it was at BoaC's 1st summer marathon at the World Financial Center's Winter Garden in NYC that I really first experienced Bang On A Can.

As a music student I was blown away by everything there.

Via your newsletter

I picked up Cheating, Lying, Stealing at Amoeba in SF over 10 years ago and have been following you guys ever since! Hope to make it to your festival one of these days! A very happy birthday to you!!! and many, many more!

Bang on a Can mailing list

It was the name that first drew me in to hear BOC. I fell in love, and never missed an NYC concert or marathon since. Got me hooked on "new music" generally, too, and I love it.

No memory - been wanting to attend an event for quite a while but each time there is something in my area I have been traveling. Arrrrggghhh.

The first time I saw the Bang On A Can All-Stars was at the Koger Center in Columbia, SC. As a sophomore jazz studies major I was still pretty green, but learning a lot about the different forms music can take. The concert completely opened up my mind to so many new concepts that I can honestly call it a formative experience. Having gotten the chance to play on the marathon a couple times I still think back to that concert occasionally and realize how things could have gone differently if I did what most of my classmates did instead (drink and screwoff).

2011 was my second year attending the BOAC Marathon. And again, my mind was blown by the sense of togetherness created by NYC's New Music Community.

How can I compete with S. Reich's incredible account of the history of Bang on a Can? Impossible! So, thanks for 25 years of culture-changing music and composers and community!

My memory of Bang on the Can is hearing about the 2011 concert in NYC and not being able to go...It is a sad memory

I can't remember life without Bang.

Listening to Michael Gordon's Van Gogh in the car ride through Colorado Mts...surreal.

I highly enjoyed the BOAC All-Stars show in January 2011 in Lexington, KY with guest Glenn Kotche. The whole show was electric!

We arrived in NY about 9 years ago. I had been telling my wife about how vibrant the new music scene here was. She scoffed. Changed her mind when we could barely find seating on the steps for our first marathon. Also a great way to introduce my then 7 year old daughter to modern music. Thanks.

It was a shock when I listened to Bang On A Can for the first time. It is definitely on of the most interesting music bands that I know. Highly recommended !

I have never seen Bang on a Can but I have hear them on recordings of Steve Reich music.

Don't have a memory - but continually try and catch a live show in NY, failing every time. Hopefully that will change this year.

Always curious of new music :-)

Becoming a Bang on a Can Marathon King in 2009 by staying for the whole damn thing -- awesome.

Music for Airports

Happy Birthday! One day ...

Yet another wonderful thing I've found out about from twitter. Cheers, Amanda Ameer

I had been listening to & hearing/reading about BOAC from afar for years, then finally moved to New York in 2008. My first marathon in 2009 was a revelation, followed by Crumb at Mass MoCA, PCF at Merkin, and many many other concerts and events. Congrats on 25 years! I hope to continue to share the next 25 with you.

bang bang bang bang bang - bang bang bang bang - - bang bang bang - - - bang bang - - - - bang - - - - -

love it.

David Bowie 2011

25 years ago I heard of this group named ‘Bang on a Can’ - hmmm. Little by little I got
to know who was involved. I heard Yo Shakespeare, Cheating Lying Stealing and Lick
and knew Michael, David and Julie were the real thing. And they weren’t alone.

About 20 years ago Mark Stewart came over to my studio to play his version of Electric
Counterpoint. I remember he had a blue guitar . He explained it was a Parker Fly. As
soon as he started playing it was clear he knew everything that needed to be known
about the piece. After it was over I just gave him a hug. There wasn‘t anything to say.
He’s been playing it even better than that ever since.

A few yeas later Evan Ziporyn asked me to spend some days at MIT where he would
organize a concert of my music. One piece was New York Counterpoint to be played
live by eleven clarinetists. He took me into a small rehearsal room completely filled with
all the players. No electronics whatsoever. They started to play - and it was
clarinetness. Essence of clarinet. I never heard anything like it. Evan also played the
piece solo against a tape he made himself when he recorded it for Nonesuch. He used
a lot of slap tonguing in the bass clarinet parts which made the piece sound like 11
clarinets and percussion. I didn’t know it, but he knew that was the way it was supposed
to be played. Still more recently he decided to play piano in 2x5. I wondered about that -
I mean, he’s a clarinetist. He played the piano parts exactly as I had imagined them.

Years later, since the cello has a huge range, I decided to write a Cello Counterpoint for
solo cello and tape. I had heard how beautifully Maya Beiser played that high solo line
in David’s Cheating Lying Stealing. Maya had then just started her solo career. Writing
my piece for her was a natural. Recording the overdubs of 8 cello parts was no easy
gig but Maya just didn’t let up. The result is amazing.

Then there’s David Cossin creating his ‘Piano Phase/Video Phase’ a few years ago. He
plays the second piano (on percussion sampler) from behind a projection of himself
playing the first part. The projection in front and the side lit live David creates ‘Shiva
plays Piano Phase’. It always brings the house down.

I remember my 60th birthday Bang concert at Lincoln Center in 1996 with Julie,
Michael, David and me all releasing microphones swinging on their cables over
speakers on the floor for a rare performance of Pendulum Music. I don’t think it brought
the house down but it sure surprised a lot of people.

Then they started their own record label, Cantaloupe. Just when everyone else was
jumping out of the record business as fast as they could. They release all new music
and Cantaloupe is doing just fine thank you.

Recently there were a couple of summers when I spent some time as guest composer
at Banglewood. Young composers and musicians from all over the world rapidly
absorbing new music. very exciting and very encouraging.

‘Bang on Can’ indeed - who would have thought?

Steve Reich - 12/11

What consistent blows me away about the Bang on a Can Summer Festival, since I've been attending as faculty in 2007, is not the level of playing, or the displays of mastery of music in a million forms from around the world by both faculty and students. That's all great, and every year there are some monster musicians and performances. No--what really sets Banglewood apart is the community that's created: that we're ALL there to learn and share, that the process doesn't have to be exclusively top-down and dictatorial but can be fresh and enabling, and the feeling that anything is possible and should be explored. Even the WAY people hang out at B'wood is different--no pretension, no BS. It has to (and should be) experienced to be believed.

In the early 1990s I had an orchestra of boomboxes, kind of like a flea circus, but with tape loops and feedback. One Sunday afternoon I was playing to an audience of 6 people in the back room of a bar on Avenue B. As I began, one person got up and walked away, muttering "this guy's out of his freakin' mind." But I kept playing, and afterwards Glenn Branca loomed out of the darkness and said "I want you to send a tape and a letter to these people at Bang on a Can and tell them I told you to." Which I promptly did. Months later I got a call from Michael Gordon, saying "Phil, this is a very interesting tape you've sent us and we'd like to put you in the Marathon." So, a few months later I was in the auditorium of the Society for Ethical Culture, convinced, after my soundcheck, that it was going to be awful and that I was going to die. Then, just as I was getting up to go on stage, time slowed down, I was perfectly at ease and, in fact, things went pretty well.

It was a turning point in my life. While success didn't storm the door the next day, I knew that there was an audience for what I was doing, that I wasn't completely insane, and that there might be a chance for me to keep going for a while. As an artist, I felt like I had found a home. To me, Bang on a Can's greatest achievement has been to create such a home, an audience, a community and state of mind where we can do stuff without having to be apologetic or explain ourselves. For this, I can only offer my eternal appreciation and thanks.

The first project that Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe created for our annual NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL was THE NEW YORKERS in 2003 within which all three of the founders were represented on the stage of the Howard Gilman Opera House and it launched a three year commitment to them. It is the “how” it happened that I want to address for this unique celebration. The morning coffee and tea that was shared at a now defunct Dean & Deluca on University Place in my neighborhood in Manhattan. We talked and talked. It was a very personal time while also advancing our professional understanding of one another. The yield was insight, understanding, collaboration and friendship. Much love to you all.

Probably one of my most memorable concert experiences was playing David Lang's "the so-called laws of nature" at the World Financial Center during a Bang marathon. I found myself standing on those stairs looking down on all those people playing one of the most epic pieces of music I've ever played. I have to admit, I felt like a superhero. That being said, I felt even cooler when I got to meet Dan Deacon backstage after we played. I was a huge fan of Dan's and it turned out he like us as well. That was where we first met him, and we've made music together several times and been friends ever since. Thanks to everyone at Bang-on-a-Can for the last 25 years, and for what I'm sure will be an exciting 25 more.

My fondest memory of the Bang on a Can marathon is from 2003. We were at Symphony Space; AWS had just premiered its Aphex Twin set, and I came back to the audience to watch the All-Stars perform what turned out to be a mind-blowingly intense performance of Andriessen's Workers Union. Every time I thought they couldn't possibly keep going and ratchet it up one more notch, they did. I remember the whole audience sitting in completely rapt silence -- one of those moments where no one's looking anywhere but the stage or saying a word, but you can feel that everyone around is as blown away by what's happening as you are. And then when it finished, the entire auditorium exploded. And I thought -- what an amazing event this is; I'm so happy to be here experiencing this.

Its hard to separate my personal memories from the music itself. I first met Michael Gordon in the late eighties in Eindhoven in Holland. He was on tour with his ensemble the Michael Gordon Philharmonic. Evan Ziporyn tells me he was on that tour then, though I believe that I only spoke to Michael. I had been living in Europe, mostly in Berlin since the early eighties, and I was amazed both by the inventiveness and quirkiness of the music, and by the fact that Michael actually knew who I was! He had somehow procured a copy of my first record on India Navigation which had been produced by Phil Niblock.
Michael kept in touch over the following years (incredibly in those pre-internet days with handwritten letters!) and I was invited with the Orchestra of Excited Strings to the Bang On A Can Festival at La Mamma in May, 1991. We shared a bill with Glenn Branca, and as I remember that the Marathon took place two days later. At that point, I had been away from New York for a long time, and this was my first concert in New York in many years. It was a wonderful homecoming. I remember that an inner circle of old friends followed me to Katz's after the concert. The Marathon was a pleasant surprise, a completely new format for listening to contemporary music. Especially impressive was the social network of musicians and composers which made the festival possible. It was from this time that I got to know Michael and Julia more personally, and my wife and I accompanied the growth of their lovely family over the following years.

Since first meeting all the Bang folk @ Banglewood in 2004, my life has completely changed. I could write an entire dissertation on it, but in short, in Bang on a Can I discovered a musical + personal "family" that has been with me ever since- through Asphalt Orchestra, MASS MoCA, working in the office, and more. I love you, Bang!

My summer at Banglewood brimmed with wonderful memories in the making. Whether wheeling my harp in a marching band rendition of Riley's "In C" or having other Bang on a Can musicians helping me lift my harp up the stairs of a local bar for a live jam session, Banglewood left me with many fantastic stories. However, if I had to pick one memory to sum up my summer at the Bang on a Can Music Festival, it would be the sheer joy performers took from playing contemporary music. Whether in performance or rehearsal, Banglewood exuded contagious and exhilarating enthusiasm. I am so grateful to have attended; the faculty and fellow participants deeply inspired me. I left invigorated by the creativity, musical excellency, and nurturing artistic environment.

Banglewood was amazing. Amazing people everywhere. Amazing art around us. Amazing Museum staff with all their amazing parties. Amazing beer (ok, not amazing but cheap:) I enjoyed every second of every day.

Anyway, after the Festival I discovered a completely new world: Interesting, great, amazing and funny world of NYC and American contemporary music.

On top of the other incredible experiences at Summer Institute '0-11, the presence of the Gunner Shoenbeck instruments at Mass MoCA sealed the specialness of festival for me this year. On our first day with the instruments, Mark Stewart simply led all musicians into a small room filled to the brim with these oversized, incredibly bizarre instruments and invited everyone to just PLAY. What resulted was a fantastic mixture of noise-making and jam session. My favorite moment with the Shoenbeck instruments, however, was at the North Adams community event, during which a handful of these large instruments were lugged out on the street for all to play. The mix of young and old, longtime community friends and children, playing these instruments together was a joyful sight, and one that I believe Gunner Shoenbeck would have hoped to see happen with his wonderful creations.

Apparently even in the late 1980s people still wrote letters, with pens, on actual paper. I found one a few years back that I had written to my parents in the spring of 1987, mostly talking about my upcoming year in Bali, but mentioning in passing that before I left I would fly to New York 'to perform at the first Bang on a Can Marathon.' I guess we all knew there'd be more than one...though since I was 27 at the time, the idea that we'd still be at it 25 years later was completely off the radar screen. I remember what everyone remembers about that day - the elevators of Exit Art opening right onto the performance space, the beer, the performers helping to fold chairs after it all ended. I remember being blown away to be sandwiched between Robert Black and John Cage on the program, and even more to be standing backstage with both of them. But for me the highlight - and the thing that made us all realize that this was the beginning of a sea change - was the appearance of Milton Babbitt, whose Vision and Prayer was programmed right before Steve Reich's Four Organs. Babbitt spoke before his piece, apologizing for arriving late and missing part of the 12-hour program: "I got a little lost, having never been this far downtown before."

1. One of my favorite memories is from the first Marathon that I performed in (1996?) at Alice Tully. Julia was standing offstage right, holding newly-arrived baby Yael in her arms. My next Marathon was 2008—6 a.m. performance of Stimmung at the Wintergarden—Yael and a bunch of other kids were waking up beside the "green room," looking rather drowsy and grumpy, like "why do our parents have to do this to us?"

2. People's Commissioning concert at the Miller—May 2000—US premiere of Chrysalid Requiem...a really risky and unwieldy piece to perform at the time. The audience was unimaginably patient and gracious! Jon Schaefer was kind enough to extend his broadcast, because the singers and I ended up needing more time to reset between numbers.

3. Michael's opera CHAOS. I had to learn the role of Lorenz in 3 weeks—total immersion. Had the best time working with Bob MaGrath (director) and Ridge Theater Company. I love Kyle Gann writings, but really disagree with his review—maybe the book was flawed, but Chaos is among the most exhilarating pieces I've ever sung! Thank you, Michael.

4. Carbon Copy Building goes to Liverpool. During some time off, several of us are strolling around the city with Ben Katchor, cartoonist/librettist. Ben starts to extemporize a history of Liverpool's cultural imagination and social realities via reading the buildings around us—a peripatetic Katchor cartoon experience.

5. 2008 BOAC at MassMoca party before a concert. Evan Z. & David L. doing Karaoke—we love you guys, but…uh

Sixteen years touring worldwide in the All-Stars extending Bang on a Can’s reach across planet Earth produced many fond, unforgettable musical, professional and culinary memories and lessons. I learned a lot. Thank you!
Here are some fond and learned ‘on the road’ quotes that spring to mind:

1992 - Michael Gordon in New York at Ethical Culture: “Lisa, get used to it, this is rock and roll”.

1996 - Louis Andreissen in Turin doing Dubbelspoor: “Lisa, life is tough and then you die”.

1998 - Mark Stewart (backstage somewhere): “I am a musician so I am allowed to wear funny pants” (and while ordering food: “I’ll just have some of what your having”).

1999 - Steve Schick in Amsterdam: “Our hotel is called The Owl. Why isn’t it called the Sheraton?”

2000 - Maya Beiser in Milan: “It’s not good to be on time”

2001 - Evan Ziporyn in Uzbekistan: “Martin’s on tour because we need him to tell us what it all means....”

And whenever - Robert Black: no comment.....

Those were the days my friends...
Congratulations to Boac reaching 25 years. Who would have thought. What a wild and crazy ride. Here’s to another 25. Go forth and play.

the first time i shared the stage with any of the bang folks was when So first played the 1st part of David Lang's "the so-called laws of nature at the the marathon at BAM in 2000. (i think it was 2000) it was a total blur and when we were leaving the stage, i met steve schick for the first time. he was playing percussion with the All-Stars then and i realized he was watching the whole thing from off stage. that was super intimidating to me, since he is not just a Bang on a Can All-Star but like a percussion in general All Star or a music in general All-Star. super awesome. he was wearing something like green rimmed glasses and leather pants and kick ass boots and i was awed to meet him and very psyched he took the time to listen. and Mark Stewart was back stage too and couldn't stop talking about the page turn that 3 of us did in unison. i saw Steve Schick play Michael Gordon's XY for the first time that day and hear the 40 minute In C. it was my first marathon and was awesome to be in on it.

another memorable bang show was in Philly. i happened to be at the Kimmel Center earlier that day ad stuck around to see the show. the All-Stars played Hout and it was very cool to live. the 2nd half was their collab with Iva Bittova. magical!

the first time i saw the All-Stars play "worker's union" was also a super memorable experience. it was at the Orensanz Center as part of their dinner/drinks/fundraiser. it was slammin and David Cossin rocked vibes most of the piece and didn't bring in the kick and china til the way end. i hadn't heard their version before and that moment blew me away. i was waiting for it. they played music in 5ths that night too. super beautiful in that space.

and perhaps my most memorable experience was a recorded one. me and Lawson White were driving in his old, black Nissan pick up truck. fairly good sound system, at least by comparison for our friends and that time. we listened to Industry on the side of the road in the pitch black as loud as his stereo would go. AWESOME!

I'll never forget the day I picked up the phone in my Rochester apartment to hear the sounds of Philippa Thompson's voice inviting me to participate in the first ever Bang on a Can Summer Institute. That was almost exactly 10 years ago and the Bang on a Can community still permeates almost all aspects of my musical life.