September 4, 2008

Bang on a Can All-Stars to defy genres with unconventional music

The concert will feature the band's innovative and unconventional brand of music, a blend of clarinet, cello, keyboard, electric bass and drums, said Abby Eddy, Purdue Convocations director of marketing. Purdue Convocations will present the concert as part of its Catalyst series.

Before the show, members of Bang on a Can All-Stars and Kotche will lead a discussion about their musical backgrounds and influences, as well as the evening's program. The pre-show event will be at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 25 in Stewart Center, Room 202.

Immediately after the concert, audience members will be invited to an autograph session with the artists in the Stewart Center West Lobby.

Bang on a Can was formed in 1987 by composers Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe. It started out as a one-day music festival and has grown over the years into a multi-faceted organization dedicated to commissioning, performing, creating, presenting and recording contemporary music and exposing innovative music to new audiences worldwide through festival concerts, recording projects, a professional development program for young composers and performers, and more – including Bang on a Can All-Stars, who tour to festivals and concert venues around the world every year, Eddy said.

"The All-Stars came together in 1992 from a core of dedicated and versatile musicians who regularly played the Bang on a Can festivals," she said. "The group was assembled specifically to blur the lines between classical and pop ensembles, and to give voice to the huge range of musical genres and styles represented by the performers. The players are all completely at home with new music, but they all bring varied experiences to the group - from collaborating with Yo-Yo Ma, to backing Mikhail Baryshnikov, to touring with Paul Simon and Bob Dylan.

"Working closely with some of the most important figures in contemporary music, including Phillip Glass, Brian Eno, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and DJ Spooky, the All-Stars perform and record definitive versions of today's cutting-edge music, approaching it with energy, authority and abandon."

The All-Stars are an active touring contemporary ensemble, on the road for much of the year in such venues as Carnegie Hall, The Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall and Paris' Theatre De La Ville. They also are active in the recording studio, with award-winning discs on Cantaloupe and Nonesuch labels.

For their Purdue performance, special guest Kotche, from the Grammy Award-winning indie rock band Wilco, will join Bang on a Can All-Stars. Kotche is a percussionist noted for his use of rhythm and space in eclectic performance and original compositions, two of which, "Snap" and "Mobile," are featured on the program. The All-Stars also will pay tribute to Eno with their re-creation of his atmospheric composition "1/1" from his album "Ambient I: Music for Airports."

Tickets for the performance are $26 for adults and $19 for children 18 years and younger, Purdue students and Ivy Tech Lafayette students. Tickets are available at the Elliott Hall and Stewart Center box offices at (765) 494-3933 or (800) 914-SHOW. Tickets also are available through Ticketmaster outlets. Discounted tickets for groups of 10 or more can be ordered at (765) 496-1977.

Initiated in 1902, Purdue Convocations is among the oldest collegiate professional performing arts presenters in the United States. Each year, Convocations offers the region 30 to 40 performances of widely varying genres: Broadway-style shows, theater, dance, children's theater, world music, jazz and chamber music, along with rock, pop, country and comedy attractions. With a vision for connecting artists and audiences in artistic dialogue and for drawing in academic discourse, Purdue Convocations aims to promote frequent exposure to and familiarity with human cultural expression in a multitude of forms and media.

Writer: Christy Jones, (765) 494-1089, christyjones@purdue.edu

Source: Abby Eddy, (765) 494-5045, aeeddy@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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