Who: Rhiannon Giddens, Arlen Hlusko, Ken Thomson, Alvin Curran, Ted Hearne, Robert Black, Nik Bӓrtsch, Iva Bittová, Roscoe Mitchell, Dana Jessen, Vicky Chow, Nico Muhly, Nick Photinos, Don Byron, Gregg August, Tim Brady, Nadia Sirota, Pamela Z, Eliza Bagg, David Cossin, Carla Kihlstedt, Conrad Tao, Mark Stewart, Terry Riley, more
What: Annual Bang on a Can Marathon
Where: Bang on a Can Marathon website
When: Sunday, June 14, free (donations of $10 or more accepted), 3:00 – 9:00
Why: Since 1987, the Bang on a Can Marathon, cofounded by Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe, has been showcasing a wide range of relatively lesser-known music. “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,” they explain on their website. “Our commitment to changing the environment for this music has kept us busy and growing, and we are not done yet.”
This year the marathon goes virtual, running online from 3:00 to 9:00 on June 14. The roster features Rhiannon Giddens, Arlen Hlusko, Ken Thomson, Robert Black, Iva Bittová, Roscoe Mitchell, Dana Jessen, Vicky Chow, Nico Muhly, Nick Photinos, Don Byron, Nadia Sirota, Pamela Z, Terry Riley, and many others performing, from wherever they’re sheltering in place (USA, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Switzerland, Scotland, Italy, Ireland, Lithuania), more than two dozen works, among them ten specially commissioned world premieres. Be on the lookout for Helena Tulve’s Without love atoms would stop spinning, Žibuoklė Martinaitytė’s Abyssal Zone, Susanna Hancock’s Everything in Bloom, Ailie Robertson’s The Bells Are All Silent, and Leila Adu’s Black-Crowned Night-Heron. Admission is free, but donations are accepted, with 10% of each virtual ticket (matched by the Bang on a Can board of directors) going to the Equal Justice Initiative, which is committed “to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting the basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.” The complete schedule and more information about the artists and commissions can be found here.