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‘whisper opera’ world premiere

David Lang’s newest work, the whisper opera, receives its world premiere on May 30 at the MCA in Chicago by the International Contemporary Ensemble with Tony Arnold as solo soprano.

This one-of-a-kind work is performed with the musicians, singer, and audience enclosed in an intimate, onstage set. Composed for flute, clarinet, percussion, cello, and solo soprano, the music and the environment work together to convey themes of secrets, and the tension between what we hide and what we choose to reveal…

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Collected Stories at Carnegie Hall 4/22-29

As part of the 2013/2014 Debs Chair composer-in-residence at Carnegie Hall, David Lang has curated an amazing series of concerts to focus on the art of storytelling in music. From April 22-29, Carnegie Hall presents: Collected Stories

Lang comments on the mini-festival:

Music and storytelling began their lives together—music to accompany heroic tales, music to worship by, music to suggest the emotions running deep below the surface of a text…

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interviews

New Music at Carnegie Hall

October 25, 2008
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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…

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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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David Lang is Musical America’s 2013 Composer of the Year

Musical America, now in its third century as the indispensable resource for the performing arts, announced the winners of the annual Musical America Awards, recognizing artistic excellence and achievement in the arts.

The announcement coincides with the publication of the 2013 Musical America International Directory of the Performing Arts, which, in addition to its comprehensive industry listings, pays homage to each of these artists in its editorial pages.

The annual Musical America Awards, sponsored by Deutsche Grammophon will be presented in a special ceremony at Lincoln Center on Thursday, December 6…

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2013-2014 Carnegie Hall composer-in-residence

[video:http://youtu.be/EZhi0ta-v90 width:300 height:169 align:left]

http://www.carnegiehall.org/lang/

http://www.carnegiehall.org/Subscriptions/2013-2014-Season/David-Lang/

David Lang — Carnegie Hall’s 2013–2014 Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair — embodies the restless spirit of invention with his creation of new forms that defy categorization. The musically omnivorous creator references folk, pop, and jazz influences in his compositions, while at the same time being deeply rooted in the classical tradition.

His cultural openness also informs the performers with whom he collaborates…

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David Lang receives Duke Foundation grant

David Lang is among 20 of America’s most vital artists working in the fields of contemporary dance, jazz and theatre announced by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) as recipients of the 2013 Doris Duke Artist Awards.

The grantees include: • Anthony Braxton (Middletown, CT (New York, NY)• Billy Childs (Los Angeles, CA)• Ping Chong (New York, NY)• Kelly Copper (New York, NY)• Lisa D’Amour (New Orleans, LA and New York, NY)• DD Dorvillier (New York, NY and Paris, France)• Amir ElSaffar (New York, NY)• David Gordon (New York, NY)• Pat Graney (Seattle, WA)• Stacy Klein (Ashfield, MA)• David Lang (New York, NY)• Pavol Liska (New York, NY)• Rudresh Mahanthappa (Montclair, NJ)• John Malpede (Los Angeles, CA)• Miya Masaoka (Berkeley, CA and New York, NY)• Myra Melford (Berkeley, CA)• Tere O’Connor (Champaign, IL and New York, NY)• William Parker (New York, NY)• Elizabeth Streb (Brooklyn, NY)• Jawole Willa Jo Zollar (Tallahassee, FL and Brooklyn, NY)

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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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Seattle Symphony premieres new work

On February 8, in Benaryoa Hall, conductor Ludovic Morlot and the Seattle Symphony premiere David Lang’s first symphony: symphony without a hero, commissioned for the Seattle Symphony by the Lynn and Brian Grant Family. The 27-minute work is in one movement, with two related parts — two separate musical movements that are performed simultaneously: one heavy and oppressive and one light and hopeful. Lang explains that one doesn’t “really hear the light and hopeful music until the oppressive movement ends.”

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