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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2011 > January > 25 > Entry
Bang On a Can — and lots more fresh, new music
It Bang On a Can was an avant-garde group at that the very edge of cutting-edge of new contemporary classical music.
They’re still on the edge. But the founders — composers Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe — have passed the baton on to a new generation of innovators who are continuing to tackle the freshest composed music.
For its winter tour, the Bang on a Can All-Stars — a six-person ensemble of cello, bass, percussion, piano, guitar and clarinet — are joined by Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche. Though Kotche may be more widely-known as a member of the Grammy-nominated rock band, his forays as a boundary-crossing composer have focused on the creative realm between rhythm and space, dissonance and consonance.
Wednesday the part-rock band, part amplified chamber ensemble will play piece by new music masters — including Brian Eno’s “Music for Airports” and Steve Reich’s “Music for Pieces of Wood” — and also a pair of new compositions by Kotche.
The Bang On a Can All-Star show kicks off a weekend of other new music gigs.
On Saturday, the New York-based five-member Ensemble Pamplemousse brings its ethereal and sound-bending style to town when it plays its newest concert piece “Absurd Limitations.”
And cross-genre Austin composer Graham Reynolds celebrates the release of two new CDs — one an homage to Duke Ellington, the other a remixed riff on his concerto “The Difference Engine” for 35-piece string orchestra.
Bang On a Can All-Stars with Glenn Kotchke
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Bass Concert Hall, UT campus
Tickets: $24-$36
Information: 477-6060. www.texasperformingarts.org
Ensemble Pamplemousse
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Mexican American Cultural Center, 600 River St.
Tickets: $15
Information: www.amoda.org
The Difference Engine,’ with Mother Falcon
When: 9 p.m. Friday (all ages show)
Where: United States Art Authority, 2908 Fruth St.
Cost: $10
‘Duke! Three Portraits of Ellington,’ with Butcher Bear and Ruby Jane
When: 10 p.m. Saturday
Where: Continental Club, 1315 S. Congress Ave.
Cost: $10
Information: www.grahamreynolds.com
Image: Glenn Kotche. Photo by Michael Wilson.
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