The Bang on a Can Marathon June 19, 2011

The Bang on a Can Marathon, 12+ hours of FREE ear-bending music by more than 150 performers and composers working in numerous genres, kicks off the River To River Festival and is co-presented by Arts World Financial Center. Since 1987, the Marathon has blurred the lines between genres. The tradition continues this year with bold innovation and unabashed experimentalism. Of last year’s Marathon, The New York Times reported, “Disparate strands from the contemporary classical, jazz, electronica, world music and indie rock spheres were neatly woven together into a crazy-quilt representation of adventuresome notions." Highlights this year include live performances by Philip Glass and the Bang on a Can All-Stars, renegade street band Asphalt Orchestra performing music by Yoko Ono and Frank Zappa, a rare performance by New York’s legendary Glenn Branca of his hour-long Ascension: The Sequel, the outer-planetary Sun Ra Arkestra, Italy's new music gurus Sentieri Selvaggi, and music by Bryce Dessner of The National, Fausto Romitelli, Michael Gordon, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, and much more.