News
Song of Song premiere with dance
June 30, 2022
From July 1-3 at Bard SummerScape David Lang and choreographer Pam Tanowitz premiere a new evening-length work, entitled Song of Songs. A hymn of yearning, steeped in images from the natural world, the dance was commissioned by The Fisher Center at Bard College, and the music was co-commissioned by The Fisher Center with LA Opera, The Company of Music (Austria), The Crossing (Philadelphia), and Flagey (Brussels). The program pairs Lang’s 2014 work just (after song of songs) with three vocal works composed and premiered over the past two years: let me come in, the sense of senses, and we were…
Read MoreDavid Lang, ‘again (after ecclesiastes)’ featured on NPR
June 14, 2022
David Lang, ‘again (after ecclesiastes)’
June 14, 2022 10:35 AM ET
Tom Huizenga
David Lang‘s again (after ecclesiastes) opens with sections of the Cappella Amsterdam choir, from high to low, interlacing on the phrase “People come and people go / The earth goes on and on.” The words are from Ecclesiastes, a curious book of The Old Testament that reads more like a philosophical argument than a rousing validation of belief…
Read More‘the writings’ premiere recording
June 10, 2022
“[the writings] are enchanted unaccompanied choral pieces, jewel-like in their crystalline beauty and performed with just the right degree of gentle detachment by Cappella Amsterdam.”
— Andrew Clements, The Guardian
Conductor Daniel Reuss and Cappella Amsterdam’s premiere recording of David Lang’s a cappella cycle the writings is now available on Pentatone Records and all streaming services…
Read MoreTallis Scholars premiere ‘sun-centered’
May 23, 2022
In April and May, The Tallis Scholars premiered sun-centered, a work commissioned to share a program with Antoine Brumel’s monumental Missa “Et ecce terræ motus” — a Renaissance mass for 12 voices that gets its name from a scrap of chant whose text means ‘and the earth moved.’
Lang describes the connection:
This scrap of text immediately reminded me of Galileo’s trial for the blasphemy of proving the Earth revolves around the Sun, which seemed to contradict the Bible…
Read MoreEighth Blackbird premieres ‘composition as explanation’
February 2, 2022
February 25-26, Eighth Blackbird premieres David Lang’s composition as explanation at Duke Performances. The new work is a nod to Gertrude Stein’s candid and circular 1926 lecture. Lang integrates composition and innovative aspects of theater, performance, and choreography. To create actors out of Eighth Blackbird, Lang sought out director Anne Bogart, co-artistic director of SITI Company. With Bogart at the helm, Lang envisions a new kind of musical artist, one with the formal training of actors on stage…
Read More‘the writings’ EU premiere
October 13, 2021
On October 13 the Nederlands Kamerkoor premieres the writings at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam. They perform the work in 5 additional Dutch cities through October 24 — click here for more details.
the writings — co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall for Paul Hillier and Theatre of Voices — combines some old and some new works into an hour-long piece:
·· again (after ecclesiastes)
·· if I am silent
·· for love is strong
·· where you go
·· solitary
You can click here to see the full score…
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