It’s the time of year when an intrepid trio of musicians and composers invite other adventurous writers and players of music to the northern Berkshires for weeks of intense creation and communion.
Bang on a Can’s Loud Weekend starts July 30 at MASS MoCA in North Adams, the culmination of their summer workshop for young musicians to attend weeks of intense study. Each year the festival brings those fellows that have been living and creating together onto the many stages of the museum to showcase works they've built throughout that time, along with luminaries of music composition and performance from all over the world.
We chat with Bang on a Can and festival co-founder Julia Wolfe about this year's group of fellows and the works that she and her co-founders will perform over the course of the festival’s three days. And we talk with workshop alums and beyond, Shelley Washington and Karl Larson – both of whom will perform at this year’s festival – about their time in the program and how it’s influenced their work and performances in the intervening years.
Plus, we get to listen in on the rehearsal of one of the festival’s spotlight compositions from Bang on a Can all star Ken Thompson, “We Stay the Same”, and a preview of the haunting "Ghost Song" performed by Karl Larson, both of which will premiere this weekend.
