About the Artists

Julia Wolfe, composer
Julia Wolfe’s music is distinguished by an intense physicality and a relentless power that pushes performers to extremes and demands attention from the audience. She draws inspiration from folk, classical, and rock genres, bringing a modern sensibility to each while simultaneously tearing down the walls between them.

The 2019 world premiere of Fire in my mouth, a large-scale work for orchestra and women’s chorus, by the New York Philharmonic with The Crossing and the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, received extensive acclaim—one reviewer called the work “a monumental achievement in high musical drama, among the most commandingly imaginative and emotively potent works of any kind that I’ve ever experienced” (The Nation Magazine). The work is the third in a series of compositions about the American worker: 2009’s Steel Hammer examines the folk-hero John Henry, and the 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning work Anthracite Fields, a concert-length oratorio for chorus and instruments, draws on oral histories, interviews, speeches, and more to honor the people who persevered and endured in the Pennsylvania Anthracite coal region. Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times wrote that Anthracite Fields “captures not only the sadness of hard lives lost… but also of the sweetness and passion of a way of daily life now also lost. The music compels without overstatement. This is a major, profound work.”

Upcoming and recent work includes Flower Power, a concerto for the Bang on a Can All-Stars co-commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Danish National Sym­phony; Oxygen for 12 flutes, commissioned by the National Flute Association and premiered by 12 flute choirs (144 flutes); and a new large-scale work, Her Story, for orchestra with the women’s chamber choir Lorelei, which will receive multiple performances in the 2022–23 season with a consortium of five orchestras: the Nashville Symphony, Boston Sym­phony, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Sym­phony, and National Symphony Orchestra.

Wolfe has collaborated with theater artist Anna Deavere Smith; projection/scenic designer Jeff Sugg; filmmaker Bill Morrison; visual artist Laurie Olinder; and directors François Girard, Anne Bogart, and Anne Kauffman, among others. Her music has been heard at venues throughout the world, including Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center, Muziekgebouw (Neth­er­lands), the Southbank and Barbican centers (UK), Settembre Musica (Italy), and Théâtre de la Ville (France.) Wolfe’s music has been recorded on Decca Gold, Naxos, Cantaloupe Music, Teldec, Sony Classical, and Universal.

In addition to receiving the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Music, Wolfe was a 2016 MacArthur Fellow. She received the 2015 Herb Alpert Award in Music, and was named Musical America’s 2019 Composer of the Year. Julia Wolfe is co-founder/co-artistic director of New York’s Bang on a Can, and artistic director of NYU Stein­hardt Music Composition. Her music is published by Ricordi New York (ASCAP).

Rebecca L. Hargrove, voice
Rebecca L. Hargrove is an actress and singer. She is a recent Grammy Award winner (Best Opera Album) for her participation in the ensemble of the Metropolitan Opera’s Porgy and Bess. She has also been featured in the companies of Evita and Cabin in the Sky at New York City Center. During the 2019–20 season, Har­grove starred (title role) in the New York Times’ “Critic’s Pick” performances of Acquanetta at Bard Summerscape; The Grey Land mono-opera as The Mother at Roulette Intermedium (album available on all streaming platforms); and as Yum-Yum in The Mikado with New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players. Previous engagements include Two Wings: The Music of Black America in Migration with Jason Moran and Alicia Hall-Moran at Carnegie Hall; In the Parlour as Nellie Quander at the National Black Theater; and a series of new plays at the Lucille Lortel Foundation. Follow her updates at www.RebeccaLHargrove.com and on Insta­gram @Rhargrov.

Sonya Headlam, voice
Soprano Sonya Headlam is a soloist, chamber, and ensemble singer who performs a diverse range of repertoire that ranges from the Baroque period to the 21st century. She is a member of the Grammy-nominated Choir of Trinity Wall Street, and performs regularly with the Vocalis Consort, a group of musicians devoted to sharing their passion for art song, and with the Raritan Players, an ensemble that “explores lost performance practices and repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries through engagement with period instruments and new research in musicology.” She joins the Raritan Players on the recently released recording In the Salon of Madame Brillon. Recent opera roles include le Feu in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, and the title role in Delibes’ Lakmé. Other recent soloist performances include Beethoven’s Mass in C with Downtown Voices, Ellen Reid’s dreams of the new world at the 2018 Prototype Festival, and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the West Village Chorale. Music-making during the Covid-19 pandemic has included several virtual recitals, and the premiere of a short opera film, How They Broke Away, music and film direction by Andy Teirstein. Headlam received her doctorate in music arts from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts, where she has also worked as a part-time lecturer in the music department.

Molly Netter, voice
A versatile and joyous musician, Canadian-American soprano Molly Netter enlivens complex and beautiful music, both old and new, with “a natural warmth” (Los Angeles Times) and “clear, beautiful tone and vivacious personality” (New York Times). She can be heard on five Grammy-nominated albums since 2017 and has performed as a soloist with ensembles such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, the Boston Early Music Festival, Apollo’s Fire, the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra, Juilliard415, and Heartbeat Opera. Netter has been a full-time member of the Choir at Trinity Wall Street since 2015 and is an active performer, curator, educator, and advocate of new music, regularly commissioning new works by living composers. Recent collaborators include David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Amy Beth Kirsten, Doug Balliett, Katherine Balch, Molly Joyce, and Jessica Meyer. Notable chamber performance highlights include inaugural casts of Pulitzer-winning operas Angel’s Bone (Du Yun, 2015) and PRISM (Ellen Reid, 2017). Netter was a featured curator/performer on Trinity Wall Street’s 2018 acclaimed Time’s Arrow Festival, programming an eclectic evening of Barbara Strozzi paired with newly commissioned contemporary works. In 2020, she began commissioning an entirely new repertoire for self-accompanied singer and clavicytherium, emphasizing the florid voice, early music vocal techniques, and improvisation as a bridge between style and genre. Netter holds a bachelor’s degree in composition and contemporary voice from Oberlin Conservatory and an master’s in early music voice from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. She is currently on voice faculty at the Oberlin Baroque Per­for­mance Institute. www.mollynettervoice.com.

BANG ON A CAN ALL-STARS

Robert Black, bass
Robert Black, a founding and current member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars, tours the world creating unheard-of music for the double bass, collaborating with the most adventurous composers, musicians, dancers, artists, actors, and technophiles from all walks of life. Current projects include First Fridays with Robert Black—a monthly series of streamed solo bass recitals; a 10-channel audio/video double bass installation reflecting on the Anthropocene with sound artists Brian House and Sue Huang, filmed at the Freshkills landfill in NYC; an outdoor environmental work for 24 basses with composer Eve Beglarian, and commissions from Carman Moore, Joan Tower, Nick Dun­ston, Žibuolkė Martinaitytė, Krists Auznieks, Jakhongir Shukurov, and Daniel Sabzghabaei. Solo recordings include Possessed (Cantaloupe Records), Modern American Bass (New World Records), The Bass Music of Christian Wolff and Giacinto Scelsi (Mode Records), and State of the Bass (O.O. Discs). Black teaches at the Hartt School/University of Hartford, the Manhattan School of Music, and the New Music on the Point Festival.

Vicky Chow, piano
Chinese-Canadian pianist Vicky Chow has been described as “brilliant” (The New York Times) and “one of our era’s most brilliant pianists” (Pitchfork). She is currently the pianist for Bang on a Can All-Stars. The New Yorker described her recording of Michael Gordon’s Sonatra as “a milestone of composition, and Vicky Chow’s recording of it is a milestone of pianism.” Her album Surface Image, composed by Tristan Perich, was among the top ranked avant albums in the Rolling Stone magazine. As an artist frequently broadcasted on WNYC radio, her recorded work can be found on the Nonesuch, New Amsterdam, Tzadik, and Can­ta­loupe Music labels. Interviews and articles featuring Chow have been published in the Huffington Post, Gramophone, the New York Times,  and elsewhere. As an educator, she has given master classes, seminars, and workshops at the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, New York University, Beijing Conservatory, Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Bard College, and Syd­ney Conservatorium of Music. Chow is on faculty at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival at MASS MoCA in North Adams (MA) and has also been on faculty at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. She is also on the board of advisors for Composers Now, and is a mentor for the Juilliard School mentoring program. Chow is a Yamaha Artist. www.vickychow.com.

David Cossin, percussion
David Cossin was born and raised in Queens (NY) and studied classical percussion at the Manhattan School of Music. His interest in classical percussion, drum set, non-western hand drumming, composition, and improvisation has led to performances across a broad spectrum of musical and artistic forms. Cossin has recorded and performed internationally with Steve Reich and Musicians, Philip Glass, Yo-Yo Ma, Meredith Monk, Tan Dun, Cecil Taylor, Talujon Percussion Quartet, and the trio Real Quiet, as well as with Sting on his Symphonicity world tour. Theater work includes Blue Man Group, Mabou Mines, and projects with the director Peter Sellars. Cossin was featured as the solo percussionist in Tan Dun’s award-winning score to the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras throughout the world including the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Orchestra Radio France. His sonic installations have been presented in New York, Italy, and Germany, and he is also an active producer, composer, and instrument inventor, expanding the limits of traditional percussion. Cossin teaches percussion at the Aaron Copland School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music’s Contemporary Performance Program.

Arlen Hlusko, cello
Internationally acclaimed Canadian cellist Arlen Hlusko is a dynamic, versatile young artist who has performed extensively as a soloist and cham­ber musician across North America, Asia, and Europe. A laureate of numerous competitions, a Grammy Award winner for her collaboration with The Crossing, and a recent graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Hlusko is currently a member of Ensemble Connect (the resident ensemble of Carnegie Hall) and regularly performs with several ensembles based on the East Coast, including the Bang on a Can All-Stars and Dolce Suono Ensemble. She has recently been featured performer with groups including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Concert Orchestra, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Hlusko has also been on the roster of preeminent summer festivals including Music from Angel Fire, Tippet Rise, Spoleto USA, and Bay Chamber Concerts. As a teacher, she has served on faculty of Curtis Summerfest, the New York Philhar­monic, and Philadelphia Orchestra Teaching Artists, and given master classes in the USA, Canada, and Germany. Committed to using her music to serve her community, Hlusko founded her own interactive chamber music concert series, Philadelphia Performances for Autism, and is involved with several communities in Phila­delphia and New York City, including Carnegie Hall’s “Musical Connections” at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. arlenhlusko.com.

Mark Stewart, electric guitar, banjo, mountain dulcimer, harmonica
Multi-instrumentalist, singer, song leader, composer, and instrument designer Mark Stewart has been heard around the world, performing old and new music. As the music director for Paul Simon’s band, Stewart has recorded and toured with Simon since 1998. A founding member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars and the duo Polygraph Lounge with keyboard and theremin wizard Rob Schwim­mer, Mark has also worked with Steve Reich, Sting, Anthony Braxton, Bob Dylan, Wynton Marsalis, Mere­dith Monk, Stevie Wonder, Phillip Glass, Bruce Springsteen, Terry Riley, Ornette Coleman, Edie Brickell, Don Byron, Joan Baez, Hugh Masakela, Paul McCart­ney, Cecil Taylor, Bill Frisell, Jimmy Cliff, Charles Wourinen, the Everly Brothers, Steve Gadd, Fred Frith, Alison Krauss, David Krakauer & Klezmer Madness, Bobby McFer­rin, David Byrne, James Taylor, The Roches, Aaron Neville, Bette Midler, and Marc Ribot. He is the inventor of the Whirly­Copter, a bicycle-powered Pythagorean choir of singing tubes and the Big Boing, a 24-foot sonic banquet table mbira that seats 30 children playing 490 found objects, and he is a visiting lecturer in musical instrument design and performance practice at MIT. Stewart is also a curator at MASS MoCA of the immersive Gunnar Schonbeck exhibit of musical instruments and co-founder of SoundstewArt, a company that designs immersive sound environments and community music-making experiences. He lives in Brooklyn and North Adams, MA, playing, singing, and writing popular music, semi-popular music, and unpopular music, while designing instruments that everyone can play.

Ken Thomson, clarinets and harmonica
A staple of New York City’s contemporary music and jazz communities, Ken Thomson is widely respected for his ability to blend a rich variety of influences and styles into his own musical language while maintaining a voice unmistakably his own. Thomson has a growing catalog of music written for ensembles of differing sizes, and has toured with and released a number of albums with groups that he has created. His latest project combining the sounds of jazz and contemporary music, Sextet, has toured across the US and Europe and selected one of the top recordings of 2018 by websites Second Inversion and AnEarful. Thomson released two albums with his previous project, a five-piece group called Slow/Fast, that were praised by the New York Times for their “intricate long-form compositions” and earned a five-star review in All About Jazz. He has two full-length CDs available of his chamber music compositions: 2013’s Thaw with the JACK Quartet and 2016’s Restless with cellist Ashley Bathgate and pianist Karl Larson. Thomson is also active as a freelance clarinetist and saxophonist, performing with groups including the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Ensemble Signal, International Con­temporary Ensemble, and Novus. He is also on faculty on the Bang on a Can Summer Institute at MASS MoCA. Thomson is a D’Addario Woodwinds artist. www.ktonline.net.

Bang on a Can
Founded in 1987 by composers Michael Gor­don, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe, Bang on a Can has been creating an international community dedicated to innovative music, wherever it is found, and has grown from a one-day New York-based marathon concert to a multi-faceted performing arts organization with a broad range of year-round international activities. In addition to its festivals LOUD Weekend at MASS MoCA and LONG PLAY, current projects include live.bangonacan.org, a digital streaming platform launched during the pandemic with an ongoing schedule of live­streamed concerts and world-premiere per­formances of new commissions; The People’s Commissioning Fund, a membership program to commission emerging composers; the Bang on a Can All-Stars, who tour to major festivals and concert venues around the world every year; recording projects; the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA, a professional development program for young composers and performers led by today’s pioneers of experimental music; Asphalt Orches­tra, Bang on a Can’s extreme street band that offers mobile performances re-contextualizing unusual music; Found Sound Nation, a new technology-based musical outreach program now partnering with the US State Department to create OneBeat, a revolutionary, post-political residency program that uses music to bridge the gulf between young American musicians and young musicians from developing countries; cross-disciplinary collaborations and projects with DJs, visual artists, choreographers, filmmakers, and more. Each new program has evolved to answer specific challenges faced by today’s musicians, composers, and audiences, in order to make innovative music widely accessible and wildly received. Bang on a Can’s inventive and aggressive approach to programming and presentation has created a large and vibrant international audience made up of people of all ages who are rediscovering the value of contemporary music. Bang on a Can has also recently launched its new digital archive, CANLAND, an extensive archive of its recordings, videos, posters, program books, and more. Thirty-three years of collected music and associated ephemera have been digitized and archived online and is publicly accessible in its entirety at www.canland.org.

For more information about Bang on a Can, please visit www.bangonacan.org.

Bang on a Can Board of Directors
Betto Arcos, Daniel Baldini, Jeffrey Bishop, Stephen Block, Jeffrey Calman, Michael Gor­don, Lynette Jaffe, Alan Kifferstein, Michael Kushner, David Lang, Lesley Lassiter, George Lewis, Raulee Marcus, Elizabeth Murrell, Robert A. Skirnick, Jane Stewart, Sandra Tait, Julia Wolfe, Adam Wolfensohn.

Bang on a Can Staff
Michael Gordon, artistic director
David Lang, artistic director
Julia Wolfe, artistic director
Kenny Savelson, executive director
Tim Thomas, development director
Philippa Thompson, project manager and summer festival manager
Sruly Lazaros, producer
Brian Petuch, accounts manager
Adam Cuthbert, licensing and store manager
Jensen Artists,  publicity

Bang on a Can’s 2021 programs are made possible with generous lead support from: Amphion Foundation, ASCAP and ASCAP Foundation, Atlantic Records, Daniel Baldini, Stephen A. Block, Bishop Fund, Jeffrey Calman, Charina Endowment Fund, City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs, Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, Exploring the Arts, Howard Gilman Foundation, Jaffe Family Foundation,, Alan Kifferstein & Joan Finkelstein, Michael Kushner, Leslie Lassiter, Herb Leventer, MAP Fund, Raulee Marcus, MASS MoCA, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Jeremy Mindich & Amy Smith, Elizabeth Murrell & Gary Haney, National Endowment for the Arts, New Music USA, New York Community Trust, New York State Council on the Arts (with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature), Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Scopia Capital Management, Mat­thew Sirovich & Meredith Elson, Maria & Robert A. Skirnick, Jane & Dick Stewart, Sandra Tait and Hal Foster, Trust for Mutual Under­standing, Williamson Foundation for Music, Adam Wolfensohn & Jennifer Small, and Wolfensohn Family Foundation.

CREDITS

For Cal Performances at Home
Tiffani Snow, Producer
Jeremy Little, Technical Director
Jeremy Robins, Executive Video Producer

For Future Tense Media
Jesse Yang, Creative Director

For Cal Performances
EXECUTIVE OFFICE
Jeremy Geffen, Executive and Artistic Director
Kelly Brown, Executive Assistant to the Director

ADMINISTRATION
Andy Kraus, Director of Strategy and Administration
Calvin Eng, Chief Financial Officer
Rafael Soto, Finance Specialist
Marilyn Stanley, Finance Specialist
Gawain Lavers, Applications Programmer
Ingrid Williams, IT Support Analyst
Sean Nittner, Systems Administrator

ARTISTIC PLANNING
Katy Tucker, Director of Artistic Planning
Robin Pomerance, Artistic Administrator

DEVELOPMENT
Taun Miller Wright, Chief Development Officer
Elizabeth Meyer, Director of Institutional Giving
Jennifer Sime, Associate Director of Development, Individual Giving
Jamie McClave, Individual Giving and Special Events Officer
Jocelyn Aptowitz, Major Gifts Associate

EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS
Rica Anderson, Interim Director, Artistic Literacy

Human Resources
Judy Hatch, Human Resources Director
Shan Whitney, Human Resources Generalist

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS
Jenny Reik, Director of Marketing and Communications
Ron Foster-Smith, Associate Director of Marketing
Mark Van Oss, Communications Editor
Louisa Spier, Public Relations Manager
Cheryl Games, Web and Digital Marketing Manager
Jeanette Peach, Public Relations Senior Associate
Elise Chen, Email Production Associate
Lynn Zummo, New Technology Coordinator
Terri Washington, Social Media and Digital Content Specialist

OPERATIONS
Jeremy Little, Production Manager
Alan Herro, Production Admin Manager
Kevin Riggall, Head Carpenter
Matt Norman, Head Electrician
Tom Craft, Audio/Video Department Head
Jo Parks, Video Engineer
Tiffani Snow, Event Manager
Ginarose Perino, Rental Business Manager
Rob Bean, Event Operations Manager

STAGE CREW
Charles Clear, Senior Scene Technician
David Ambrose, Senior Scene Technician
Jacob Heule, Senior Scene Technician
Jorg Peter “Winter” Sichelschmidt, Senior Scene Technician
Joseph Swails, Senior Scene Technician
Mark Mensch, Senior Scene Technician
Mathison Ott, Senior Scene Technician
Mike Bragg, Senior Scene Technician
Ricky Artis, Senior Scene Technician
Robert Haycock, Senior Scene Technician

STUDENT MUSICAL ACTIVITIES
Mark Sumner, Director, UC Choral Ensembles
Bill Ganz, Associate Director, UC Choral Ensembles
Matthew Sadowski, Director of Bands/Interim Department Manager
Ted Moore, Director, UC Jazz Ensembles
Brittney Nguyen, SMA Coordinator

TICKET OFFICE
Liz Baqir, Ticket Services Manager
Gordon Young, Assistant Ticket Office Manager
Sherice Jones, Assistant Ticket Office Manager
Jeffrey Mason, Patron Services Associate

Opening fanfare used by permission from Jordi Savall from his 2015 recording of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo on Alia Vox.

Major support for the Cal Performances Digital Classroom is provided by Wells Fargo.

Major support for Beyond the Stage is provided by Bank of America.

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