In-School Performances

BANG ON A CAN ALL-STARS

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“A FULL-BORE THRILL RIDE OF KINETIC VIRTUOSITY.”
Chicago Tribune
“THE BRIGHTEST LIGHT OF NEW YORK'S AVANT-GARDE MUSIC SCENE.”
The New Yorker
“IF ALL CONTEMPORARY-CLASSICAL MUSIC CONCERTS WERE LIKE THIS, THERE WOULDN'T BE A PROBLEM WITH CONTEMPORARY-CLASSICAL MUSIC.”
Wall Street Journal
News and Events

06.02.10
Hot 8 Brass Band to be featured in new Spike Lee film for HBO
The Hot 8 Brass Band is featured in the upcoming Spike Lee film entitled "If God is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise."

05.24.10
Viver Brasil wins Lester Horton Dance Award
Viver Brasil recently won the Lester Horton Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in World Dance

Performance Highlights

07.30.10
Christopher O'Riley
Caramoor International Music Festival
Spanish Courtyard- Katonah, NY

08.05.10
ETHEL
Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, NY

08.28.10
Turtle Island Quartet
Waterstage - Grand Performances
Los Angeles, CA

Listen

from the album- Music for Airports
1/1 (Eno/Wyatt/Davies)
from the album- Bang on a Can Meets Kyaw Kyaw Naing
Hsaing Kyaik de Maung (Naing)
from the album- A Ballad for Many (Bang on a Can with Don Byron)
Show Him Some Lub (Byron)

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Biography

Michael Gordon

Michael Gordon was raised in an Eastern European community on the outskirts of Managua, but moved to Miami when he was eight. Gordon's compositions demonstrate a deep exploration into the possibilities and nature of rhythm and what happens when rhythms are piled on top of each other, creating a glorious confusion. John Adams, who has conducted Gordon's works with the London Sinfonietta and the Ensemble Modern Orchestra, calls these raw and complicated sounds "irrational rhythms."

Gordon's interest in adding dimensionality to the concert experience has led to frequent collaborations with other artists. In Decasia, a multimedia orchestral work with films by Bill Morrison and spectacle by Ridge Theater, the audience stands in the middle of a three-tiered, triangular structure surrounded by 55 musicians and large projection scrims. Decasia was recently featured at the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Minimalist Jukebox Festival. His work Gotham explores the rich imagery of New York City with large sonic textures and Morrison's stunning film employing vintage footage.

Works for music theater and opera include What To Wear, his collaboration with director Richard Foreman, which recently premiered at the RedCat Theater in Los Angeles. Other works include Aquanetta, about the 1940s B-Movie starlet, for Oper Aachen; Lost Objects, an Oratorio for Baroque Orchestra in collaboration with David Lang, Julia Wolfe and director Francois Girard, which was seen at the 2004 Next Wave Festival at BAM; and Van Gogh, vocal settings from the letters of Vincent Van Gogh, recorded by Alarm Will Sound, released on Cantaloupe Music.

Some of Gordon’s recent projects include a new work for the Los Angeles Philharmonic (January 12-13, 2008); Lighting at our feet, a music/ theater work in collaboration with Ridge Theater based on the words of Emily Dickinson (BAM Next Wave December 9-13, 2008); and 'popopera', a collaboration with the Dutch based dance troup Emio Greco/PC. Gordon is co-founder of the internationally acclaimed music collective Bang on a Can.