works
works

prayers for night and sleep (2018) 15'

text by David Lang

solo soprano, solo cello, 1 perc, strings

Cello Biennale Amsterdam, Amsterdam Sinfonietta

Program Note Libretto Recordings rent music score preview More Info

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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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‘the difficulty of crossing a field’ at Nashville Opera

November 9-11, The Nashville Opera presents David Lang’s chamber opera the difficulty of crossing a field.

With this work, Lang and multi-Obie award-winning playwright Mac Wellman have created a radical cross between opera and theater mixing arias with spoken text, emotional melodies with intense drama, and featuring a string quartet as both the ‘orchestra’ and as part of the staging.

Based on a one-page short story by American satirist and abolitionist author,

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Torino Vocal Ensemble Records ‘i lie’

Rome is the set for Torino Vocal Ensemble, as they record David’s piece ‘I lie’ for Paolo Sorrentino’s new film La Grande Bellezza, conducted by Carlo Boccadoro. The film’s soundtrack also includes David’s ‘world to come.’

Here’s a short clip of the group behind the scenes:

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSSqZug3B-E width:300]
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NPR Music’s 25 Favorite Albums Of The Year (So Far)

NPR Music announced their 25 Favorite Albums of the Year (so far)… and David Lang’s ‘death speaks’ is on their list!

Here’s what they have to say about it:

You probably wouldn’t expect The National‘s Bryce Dessner and My Brightest Diamond‘s Shara Worden to work on a classically focused project inspired by Franz Schubert, but that’s exactly what happens within composer David Lang‘s amazing Death Speaks, which also features Nico Muhly playing piano and Owen Pallett on violin…

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