Stanford University Live presents Bang on a Can All-Stars with the Los Angeles Master Chorale
Bing Concert Hall
Stanford University, 327 Lasuen St, Stanford, CA 94305-5005 USA
7:30 PM, Saturday, February 1, 2025

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[6:45 PM] {pre-concert talk with David Lang and Tal Rosner, Video and Visual Designer in conversation with Emily Polk, Sustainability Writing Specialist for the Doerr School of Sustainability}

[7:30 PM] {lights down, Welcome by Iris Nemani}
[7:34 PM] {enter performers}

David Lang (b. 1957): before and after nature (World premiere)

1. [7:35 PM] before us
2. [7:46 PM] things that never were
3. [7:52 PM] what is a mountain
   [7:59 PM] {brief pause}
4. [8:00 PM] sunray
5. [8:10 PM] last forever
6. [8:19 PM] sea change
7. [8:23 PM] soft rains
   [8:32 PM] {applause at end of work}
   [8:34 PM] {done}

Bang on a Can All-Stars

• Lizzie Burns: contrabass;
• Vicky Chow: piano;
• David Cossin: drums, percussion;
• Arlen Hlusko: cello;
• Taylor Levine: guitar;
• Ken Thomson: clarinet, bass clarinet, bass drum.

Los Angeles Master Chorale

• [Grant Gershon]: piano, choral director, conductor;
• son Abdou: alto vox;
• Michael Bannett: bass vox;
• Casey Breves: tenor vox;
• David Castillo: bass vox;
• Carmen Edano: alto vox;
• Sharmila G. Lash: alto vox;
• Graycen Gardner: soprano vox;
• Abdiel Gonzalez: bass vox;
• Jared Jones: bass vox;
• Michael Jones: tenor vox;
• Charlie Kim: tenor vox;
• Hannah Little: alto vox;
• Caroline McKenzie: soprano vox;
• Julia Metzler: alto vox;
• Lindsay Patter: alto vox;
• Evan Roberts: tenor vox;
• Alina Roitstei: soprano vox;
• Kathryn Shuman: soprano vox;
• Todd Strange: tenor vox;
• Chloé Vaught: soprano vox;
• Shuo Zhai: bass vox.

• Tal Rosner: video artist, filmmaker;
  others TBD.

Unfortunately, we arrived during the Q&A session after the pre-concert talk, whoops! Enjoying dinner at Gott's Roadside seemed more important than rushing over to Bing tonight. I appreciated hearing Lang talk about his compositional technique insofar as it related to putting the text together for tonight's work (and others): his slice and dice approach reminded me somewhat of David Bowie's style for lyric composition.

While it was certainly more abstract than representational, I really appreciated Tal Rosner's video contribution: it gave me something to hang my attention on when my mind wandered away from the musical and lyrical components of the work.

Like last night's show, I thought this one would be improved by some editing: a few of the sections dragged on too long for my taste. I suppose that in both cases, my appreciation would have increased if I'd been in a more soporific mood that simply allowed for the flow of each musical event. Since I instead felt I was being an active listener, the extended repetition of bits and pieces that I became frustrating as I recognized them: “oh, it's that bit happening again. show me something new!”

Different strokes for different folks, I guess!

Program Notes or program notes

Lou Fancher posted a promo article after interviewing David Lang for SFCV.

Benjamin Pesetsky posted a brief promo article about tonight's work on the Stanford Live website.

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2025 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2025 event list! ☸ On to the next event!