loadbang Concert
loadbang will give a concert of UVA Graduate Composers' works on Friday, March 20, 2015 at 8pm at Westminster Presbyterian Church (400 Rugby Road, next to Beta Bridge) The event is free and open to the public.
This Residency is made possible by a grant through the Buckner W. Clay Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of the Humanities and Global Cultures.
New York-based new music chamber group loadbang is building a new kind of music for mixed ensemble. Since their founding in 2008, their unique lung-powered instrumentation (bass clarinet, trumpet, trombone, baritone voice) has provoked diverse responses from composers, resulting in a stylistic palette ranging from whistled Brazilian rhythms and microtonal jazz standards to the decoupled and deconstructed sounds of the second modernity. They have been praised as ‘cultivated’ by The New Yorker, ‘inventive’ by the New York Times and called a 'formidable new-music force' by TimeOutNY. Symphony Space, Avant Music Festival, MATA, and North River Music at Greenwich House Music School are some of their recent presenters.
loadbang has premiered more than 70 works, including many written by members of the ensemble. Other composers who have written originals and new arrangements for loadbang include Eve Beglarian, Nick Didkovsky, Reiko Füting, Pulitzer Prize winner David Lang, and Andy Akiho and Alexandre Lunsqui, who were both recently commissioned by the New York Philharmonic. Not content to dwell solely in the realm of notated music, loadbang is known for its searing and unpredictable improvisations, exploring the edges of instrumental and vocal timbre and technique, and blurring the line between composed and extemporaneous music. To this end, they have embarked on a project to record improvisations and works written by members of the ensemble. These recordings are designed, fabricated, and released in hand-made limited editions. They can also be heard on a 2012 release of the music by John Cage on Avant Media Records and a 2013 release of the music of loadbang member Andy Kozar on ANALOG Arts Records.
loadbang is dedicated to education and cultivation of an enthusiasm for new music. They have worked with students ranging from elementary schoolers in the New York Philharmonic's Very Young Composers program and at the Bronx Charter School for the Arts to student composers at Cornell, New York, Tufts, and Yale Universities. Recently they gave a lecture on John Cage at Carnegie Mellon University and held residencies at SUNY Fredonia and New York University.
More about Loadbang: http://www.loadbang.com/
Westminster Presbyterian Church is located at 400 Rugby Road in Charlottesville Va.