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David Lang appointed Carnegie Hall Composer-In-Residence

David Lang has been appointed as holder of the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair for Carnegie Hall’s 2013–2014 season. Full details about the concert activities associated with his residency will be shared in late-January as part of Carnegie Hall’s full 2013–2014 season announcement. But we can reveal that a key element of his season-long appointment includes a special collaborative workshop in November 2013, offering commissioning opportunities for composers and chamber ensembles.

Creating New Music will invite several young composers and chamber ensembles to work together on the creation and performance of new works specially commissioned by Carnegie Hall…

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‘death speaks’ CD released

“Art songs have been moving out of classical music in the last many years,” writes composer David Lang. “Indie rock seems to be the place where Schubert’s sensibilities now lie, a better match for direct story telling and intimate emotionality.”

Lang’s death speaks, along with his work depart, is released on Cantaloupe music on April 30.

Click to purchase the recording

In death speaks — co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall and Stanford Lively Arts, and written for Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, Owen Pallett and Shara Worden — Lang explores art song with the help of a group of classically trained artists who made their careers in the indie rock world…

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Donald Martin Jenni (1937-2006): A Remembrance

July 28, 2006

Two weeks ago I received a sad email, telling me that the composer Donald Martin Jenni had died, from a long and painful cancer. My first thought was that I was sorry I had not kept in closer contact, my second was that I was surprised to read in his obituary that he had ended up in New Orleans, with a new life and an adopted family. His life had changed so much since I had known him. I had been a masters student of Martin's from 1978 to 1980 at the University of Iowa, and although we had stayed in touch after I left Iowa—we would send each other music and he would come visit whenever he was in New York—the second that he retired he vanished…

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‘death speaks’ premiere sells out Carnegie Hall!

In October 2007 Paul Hillier and Theatre of Voices premiered David Lang’s the little match girl passion at Carnegie Hall. People in the audience that night knew they had heard something special. But this special? Only a few months later the piece won the Pulitzer Prize, then the recording on Harmonia Mundi won a Grammy, and the piece has gone on to become a hit around the world.

Carnegie Hall and Stanford Lively Arts bring back Theatre of Voices and the little match girl passion, along with the premiere of a major new work they have commissioned just for the occasion…

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David Lang receives Duke Foundation grant

David Lang is among 20 of America’s most vital artists working in the fields of contemporary dance, jazz and theatre announced by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) as recipients of the 2013 Doris Duke Artist Awards.

The grantees include: • Anthony Braxton (Middletown, CT (New York, NY)• Billy Childs (Los Angeles, CA)• Ping Chong (New York, NY)• Kelly Copper (New York, NY)• Lisa D’Amour (New Orleans, LA and New York, NY)• DD Dorvillier (New York, NY and Paris, France)• Amir ElSaffar (New York, NY)• David Gordon (New York, NY)• Pat Graney (Seattle, WA)• Stacy Klein (Ashfield, MA)• David Lang (New York, NY)• Pavol Liska (New York, NY)• Rudresh Mahanthappa (Montclair, NJ)• John Malpede (Los Angeles, CA)• Miya Masaoka (Berkeley, CA and New York, NY)• Myra Melford (Berkeley, CA)• Tere O’Connor (Champaign, IL and New York, NY)• William Parker (New York, NY)• Elizabeth Streb (Brooklyn, NY)• Jawole Willa Jo Zollar (Tallahassee, FL and Brooklyn, NY)

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NYRB Review: ‘the loser’

Francine Prose9/13/2016 The Loser, David Lang’s beautiful and startlingly original opera, had its world premiere this month at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Composed for a solo baritone, a chamber ensemble, and a concert pianist, the opera (Lang not only wrote the music but is also responsible for the libretto and the stage direction) has been adapted from the Thomas Bernhard novel of the same name—a book which, since its publication in 1983, has attracted an almost cultish following…

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