“[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
As part of Nico Muhly’s A Scream and an Outrage festival, The Barbican Centre features two premieres by David Lang.
On May 10, So Percussion and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with conductor Jayce Ogren, give the world premiere of Lang’s concerto for percussion quartet and orchestra, man made. 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…
From September 19-21, David Lang is the composer-in-residence at the Carlsbad Music Festival, with his music being featured throughout the festival, including the US premiere of his choral work when we were children, performed by Sacra/Profana.
The festival also features the new string orchestra, Renga, conducted and organized by Steve Schick, in a performance of darker…
David Lang’s music is featured in the upcoming film, Youth, by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino — 2014 Oscar-winner for best foreign film (The Great Beauty). David scored the new film (about a contemporary composer), and one of his recent pieces ‘just (after song of songs)’ is the music for the official trailer! It was commissioned, premiered and released by the Louth Contemporary Music Society and is performed by vocalists Trio Mediaeval and Garth Knox’s Salterro Trio…
I wanted to tell a story. A particular story—in fact, the story of The Little Match Girl, by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The original is ostensibly for children, and it has that shocking combination of danger and morality that many famous children’s stories do. A poor young girl, whose father beats her, tries unsuccessfully to sell matches on the street, is ignored, and freezes to death. Through it all she somehow retains her Christian purity of spirit, but it is not a pretty story…