David Lang on Music for Crowds

Known for co-founding the musical collective Bang on a Can, his Pulitzer Prize-winning piece The Little Match Girl Passion, and his Academy Award-nominated music for Paolo Sorrentino's film Youth, David Lang's compositions challenge distinctions between classical, folk, and pop. His recent work has also upended the process of writing lyrics, turning to the Internet search engine for inspiration: The text for crowd out, which CHF brought to Chicago in early October for its North American premiere, is composed of responses to Lang's query “When I am in a crowd I…” Join him for a discussion of his crowd-sourced creative process and body of work as well as select songs performed by Northwestern University's Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble featuring conductor, Donald Nally.

This program is generously underwritten by Elizabeth A. Liebman and is presented in partnership with Illinois Humanities and Chicago Architectural Biennial.