News

On Sunday June 8 David Lang has premieres of two large scale works, in two different countries.

the national anthems for SATB chorus and string quartet, text in English by David Lang, 23′

At Disney Hall in Los Angeles, California, Grant Gershon conducts the Los Angeles Master Chorale with the Calder Quartet in the premiere of the national anthems, a co-commission with the Berlin Radio Chorus. Lang built the text by taking one line from every national anthem in the world, in order to create a kind of meta-anthem that could focus on the core of what all citizens of the world might share.

and!

crowd out for 1000 people yelling, whispering, speaking, and singing in the street, text in English by David Lang, 45′

In Birmingham, UK conductor Simon Halsey leads a community of voices with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group in the premiere of a spectacular event. 1000 mostly untrained voices come together to speak, sing and yell their way through a piece that examines all the things we gain when we come together in a crowd, and all the things we lose.

A co-commission from the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, the Berlin Philharmonic, and Spitalfields Music in London, crowd out will also be performed in Berlin on June 14 and 15, and in London on June 21, with 1000 new participants in each city.