Long Play

Four decades ago, three young composers—Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe—struck a blow for creativity, innovation, and unbounded exploration with Bang on a Can, a do-it-yourself collaborative that would change the course of contemporary music. Planting their flag with a rule-flouting marathon concert, Bang on a Can produced concerts in nightclubs, art galleries, makeshift spaces, and open fields, bringing together concert-music composers and performers with innovators active in rock, jazz, world music, and styles for which no label had been invented.

Ever since BAM hosted Bang on a Can’s Millennium Marathon in 2000, these two New York institutions have found common cause in revolution and evolution. It’s fitting, then, that we join forces once again this spring, celebrating Bang on a Can’s 40th anniversary as a part of the characteristically audacious Long Play—a recent tradition that saturates the entire borough in musical innovation, offering more than 50 concerts in venues throughout downtown Brooklyn over the course of a spectacular weekend. Check BAM.org in January 2027 for more details.