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US Premiere of ‘man made’ with Gustavo Dudamel, LA Phil and So Percussion

LISTEN TO THE CONCERT STREAMED LIVE ON NPR!!!!!

On October 2-5, So Percussion with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, give the US premiere of David Lang’s concerto for percussion quartet and orchestra, man made on their season opening concert. Lang combines found percussion (sticks, pipes, metal trash) with orchestral instruments in a unique and incredibly compelling work commissioned by the Barbican Centre and the Los Angeles Philharmonic…

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man made; NY premiere: Mostly Mozart Festival

August 1-2, conductor Louis Langrée with Sō Percussion and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, give the New York premiere of David Lang’s man made. In this percussion quartet concerto, Lang combines found percussion (sticks, pipes, metal trash) with orchestral instruments in a unique and incredibly compelling work commissioned by the Barbican Centre and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Watch a video about the concerto with Lang and So Percussion

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news

world premiere: prisoner of the state

This season, the New York Philharmonic concludes their three-week-long Music of Conscience initiative, as well as their subscription season, with the world premiere of David Lang’s opera prisoner of the state on June 6–8, 2019, conducted by their new Music Director Jaap van Zweden. 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, prisoner of the state is the story of a woman who disguises herself as a prison guard to rescue her husband from unjust political imprisonment…

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prisoner of the state

David Lang, music/libretto
Elkhanah Pulitzer, director


watch prisoner of state video playlist

[REVIEW] click to read NY Times review of 'prisoner of the state'
de Volkskrant

David 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, and received its British premiere in January 2020 at the Barbican Centre in London with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers and conductor Ilan Volkov…

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Biography

“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…

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writing

First Person: Pulitzer Prize winning composer David Lang on the original Jewish love story

October 12, 2023

I wouldn’t say that I am super religious, but I am definitely religion-curious. It is a big part of my family background, and, to be honest, a big part of the history of my chosen field, Western classical music. For the past 1000 years, the church has been the most powerful commissioner of Western music, and its most active employer of musicians.

Because of this, much of our foundational repertoire is explicitly on the subject of how music helps a listener get in the mood for a religious experience…

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