“With his winning of the Pulitzer Prize for the little match girl passion (one of the most original and moving scores of recent years), Lang, once a postminimalist enfant terrible, has solidified his standing as an American master.”
— The New Yorker
Passionate, prolific, and complicated, composer David Lang embodies the restless spirit of invention. Lang is at the same time deeply versed in the classical tradition and committed to music that resists categorization, constantly creating new forms.
Lang is one of America’s most performed composers. Many of his works resemble each other only in the fierce intelligence and clarity of vision that inform their structures. His catalogue is extensive, and his opera, orchestra, chamber and solo works are by turns ominous, ethereal, urgent, hypnotic, unsettling and very emotionally direct. Much of his work seeks to expand the definition of virtuosity in music — even the deceptively simple pieces can be fiendishly difficult to play and require incredible concentration by musicians and audiences alike.
the little match girl passion, commissioned by Carnegie Hall and premiered by Paul Hillier and Theatre of Voices, was recently listed by The Guardian as “one of the top 25 works of classical music written in the 21st Century.” It won the Pulitzer Prize in 2008 and the recording received a Grammy Award in 2010. Lang’s simple song #3, written as part of his score for Paolo Sorrentino’s acclaimed film YOUTH, received many awards nominations in 2016, including the Academy Award and Golden Globe.
His opera prisoner of the state (with libretto by Lang) was co-commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, Rotterdam’s De Doelen Concert Hall, London’s Barbican Centre, Barcelona’s l’Auditori, Bochum Symphony Orchestra, Bruges’s Concertgebouw, and Malmö Opera, and premiered June 2019 in New York, conducted by Jaap van Zweden. It is a dark retelling of a portion of the story of Beethoven’s only opera Fidelio, in which a woman alone must change her identity to survive within the state.
His most recent opera note to a friend premiered at the Japan Society in New York as part of the 2023 PROTOTYPE Festival. Co-commissioned by the Japan Society and the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, and with music and libretto by Lang, note to a friend combines and reimagines three texts by Japanese novelist Ryunosuke Akutagawa — his story “Death Register,” the last chapter of his “In a Grove,” and his suicide note “Note to a Certain Old Friend” — as a monodrama that addresses the eternal human fascination with death, love, family and suicide.
For the 2025-2026 season, Lang’s music is premiered around the world. Beginning in late August Lang’s before and after nature is given the EU premiere at the Helsinki Festival with the Helsinki Chamber Choir and the Bang on a Can All-Stars. At the beginning of September, on the other side of the world, the Australian Chamber Orchestra gives the premiere of flute and echo for recorder soloist Genevieve Lacey with strings. before and after nature returns to Europe September 18-21 at the Rurhtriennale with the Bang on a Can All-Stars and Chorwerk Ruhr — the work comes back to the US in November for a performance at Disney Hall with the LA Master Chorale and Bang on a Can All-Stars. At the end of November, the Cello Octet Amsterdam gives the world premiere of standards with soprano Claron McFadden — music set to poems by the 14th century composer and poet Guillaume de Machaut and sets them to new music, imagining them as if the texts are the lyrics from an evening in a smoky nightclub. In February and March, Lang’s chamber opera note to a friend receives two separate stagings: in February – performed by Theo Bleckmann and Attacca Quartet, directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer, at San Francisco Performances. The production then tours to UCLA, New Haven and New York. In conjunction with the premiere, a commercial recording will be released on Cantaloupe Records. Then in early March another staging of the opera note to a friend is performed by Theo Bleckmann with the Prometeo Quartet, directed by Fabio cherstich, Bolzano, Italy. March sees two more Lang world premieres: in wildness for the Danish Girl’s Choir and the Danish String Quartet — it begins a multi-date international tour which will come to the united states from april 10-18, including the New York premiere at Carnegie Hall on April 17. Last, but certainly not least, the New York Philharmonic March 19-22 world premiere of Lang’s the wealth of nations for soloists Davone Tines and Fleur Baron, chorus, and orchestra, conducted by Gustavo Dudmel.
Last November, the New York Philharmonic awarded Lang The Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music for “extraordinary artistic endeavor in the field of new music.” The award comes with a monetary prize, including the commission for the wealth of nations.
Other recent works include poor hymnal, co-commissioned by The Crossing/Donald Nally and the Nederlands Kamerkoor, a set of new hymns for a community that did not want to forget our responsibilities to each other, and that wanted to make our responsibilities to each other the central tenet of our coming together. daisy, co-commissioned by La Biennale di Venezia, Kings Place, Newport Classical, String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam, Park Avenue Armory, and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museu; the writings, commissioned by Carnegie Hall and the Netherlands Kamerkoor, and premiered by Theatre of Voices; the mile-long opera co-created with architect Elizabeth Diller and premiered in New York City’s mile-long elevated park The Highline, with texts by Anne Carson and Claudia Rankine; the loser, which opened the 2016 Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and for which Lang served as composer, librettist and stage director; the public domain for 1000 singers at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival; the concerto man made for the ensemble So Percussion and a consortium of orchestras, including the BBC Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic; mountain, commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony; and death speaks, a song cycle based on Schubert, but performed by rock musicians, including Bryce Dessner from The National, Shara Nova from My Brightest Diamond, Owen Pallett from Arcade Fire, and composer / pianist Nico Muhly.
Lang is a Professor of Music Composition at the Yale School of Music, and is co-founder and co-artistic director of New York’s legendary music collective Bang on a Can.
His music is published by Red Poppy Music and G. Ricordi & Co., New York (ASCAP) and is distributed worldwide by the Universal Music Publishing Group.
“With his winning of the Pulitzer Prize for the little match girl passion (one of the most original and moving scores of recent years), Lang, once a postminimalist enfant terrible, has solidified his standing as an American master.”
— The New Yorker
David Lang is one of the most highly esteemed and performed American composers writing today. His works have been performed around the world in most of the great concert halls.
Lang’s the little match girl passion, commissioned by Carnegie Hall and premiered by Paul Hillier and Theatre of Voices, was recently listed by The Guardian as “one of the top 25 works of classical music written in the 21st Century.” It won the Pulitzer Prize in 2008 and the recording received a Grammy Award in 2010. simple song #3, written as part of his score for Paolo Sorrentino’s acclaimed film YOUTH, received many awards nominations in 2016, including the Academy Award and Golden Globe.
His opera prisoner of the state (with libretto by Lang) was co-commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, Rotterdam’s De Doelen Concert Hall, London’s Barbican Centre, Barcelona’s l’Auditori, Bochum Symphony Orchestra, and Bruges’s Concertgebouw, and premiered June 2019 in New York (conducted by Jaap van Zweden). prisoner of the state received its UK premiere in January 2020 with the BBC Symphony (conducted by Ilan Volkov) and its EU premiere in May 2023 with the Bochum Sinfoniker (conducted by Steven Sloane).
Lang is a Professor of Music Composition at the Yale School of Music. He is co-founder and co-artistic director of New York’s legendary music collective Bang on a Can.
His music is published by Red Poppy Music and G. Ricordi & Co., New York (ASCAP) and is is distributed worldwide by the Universal Music Publishing Group.