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…
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‘the difficulty of crossing a field’ CD released June 9
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!…
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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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NYT Op-Ed Article
June 3, 2012
I didn’t like it.
School was over and I was sick of it, and I thought it was about time to go to work. I had gone straight from high school to college to graduate school, and I was pretty burned out. I had loved everything I had been doing in school, but as I got further along I became confused.
The paradox of a musical education is that the more sophisticated you become about how it all works, the further away you move from the things normal listeners actually hear…
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before and after nature
words and music by David Lang
video and projections by Tal Rosner
performed by the Bang on a Can All-Stars with SATB chorus
duration: 60 minutes
Lead Commissioner: Stanford Live and LA Master Chorale
premiere TBD fall 2025
We are currently seeking additional commissioning support for interested presenters and/or ensembles
contact: email hidden; JavaScript is required and email hidden; JavaScript is required
Based very loosely on things I have thought about after reading the books ‘The End of Nature’ by Bill McKibben, ‘After Nature’ by Jedidiah Purdy, and ‘The Revolt Against Humanity’ by Adam Kirsch, my piece will look at different ways to define and understand nature, now that it has been forever changed by human behavior…
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Eighth Blackbird premieres ‘composition as explanation’
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…
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