“[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…
continue readingOn 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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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…
continue readingDavid Lang’s prisoner of the state—co-commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, De Doelen, Barbican Centre, L’Auditori, Bochumer Symphoniker, Concertgebouw Bruges and Malmö Opera – premiered in June 2019 with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Jaap van Zweden, and received its British premiere in January 2020 at the Barbican Centre in London with BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers and conductor Ilan Volkov…
continue readingOn Saturday July 14 at 8pm at the World Financial Center Plaza, Lang’s hour-long, slowly-evolving work for strings, darker, is the starting point for a live re-imagination by Oneohtrix Point Never (Daniel Lopatin), who will real time loop and electronically process the live string sound of A Far Cry Orchestra back over and on to themselves.
Lopatin will also present his own work with selections from of his critically acclaimed albums (Returnal and Replica) specially arranged for A Far Cry Orchestra…
continue readingSince winning the Pulitzer Prize in 2008, David Lang’s the little match girl passionhas quickly joined the repertoire as a chamber work, a staged production, a work for full chorus, and a featured event on Christmas and Easter concerts around the world.
This season over 50 performances of the little match girl passion are being given by ensembles throughout North America, Europe and Australia, including the return of Donald Nally’s The Crossing to New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art…
continue readingDavid Lang is the composer-in-residence at Rotterdam’s de Doelen center, with 11 concerts featuring Lang’s music throughout the 2014/15 season:
Percussion HeavenResidentie Orchestra & So Percussion Sunday, November 30, 2014 at 20.15 VocaalLabthe little match girl passion Wednesday, December 17, 2014 at 20:30 Ensemble KlangKlang, Dance, Bang, Can Monday January 12, 2015 at 20.15 the whisper operaInternational Contemporary Ensemble, New York Monday, February 9, 2015 at 19:00 the whisper operaInternational Contemporary Ensemble, New York Monday, February 9, 2015 at 22:00 the whisper OperaInternational Contemporary Ensemble, New York Tuesday, February 10, 2015 at 19:00 the whisper OperaInternational Contemporary Ensemble, New York Tuesday, February 10, 2015 at 22:00 Ralph van RaatZappa’s Black Page Sunday, May 3, 2015 at 20:15 Anonymous4David Lang – love fail Tuesday, May 26, 2015 at 20:30 Anonymous4David Lang – love fail Wednesday, May 27, 2015 at 20:30 DoelenEnsembleDavid Lang – death speaks Friday, May 29, 2015 at 22:00
Hi! David Lang here. I am very excited that today is the world premiere CD release of my opera the difficulty of crossing a field. It is my most favorite piece that I have ever written, ever. I mean it. I am so happy about this CD.
Please click here to listen to the CD (password: Crossing2015) and here to buy the CD or the download!…
continue readingBy David Lang
http://www.themillions.com
September 22, 2016
In 1998, I wrote music for a production of Friedrich Schiller’s play Mary Stuart at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. The director was my friend Carey Perloff, the music was sung by the spectacular men’s vocal ensemble Chanticleer, and the translation of the text was by the writer and Village Voice theater critic Michael Feingold. There can be a lot of down time for a composer and a translator during theater rehearsals so Michael and I passed the time telling each other stories about books we should be reading, and Michael suggested I read Thomas Bernhard’s The Loser…
continue readingFrom January 7-14, the Prototype Festival presents the New York premiere of David Lang’s anatomy theater, co-produced by Beth Morrison Projects, with set design by Mark Dion, direction by Bob McGrath, conductor Christopher Rountree and the International Contemporary Ensemble, plus Bill Morrison (video), Laurie Olinder (projection), Christopher Kuhl (lighting), and Alixandra Gage Englund (costumes).
Based on actual 18th-century texts, anatomy theater follows the astonishing progression of an English murderess: from confession to execution and, ultimately, public dissection before a paying audience of fascinated onlookers…
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