4

TUESDAY

“Bang on a Can” was a one-day festival put together by Julia Wolfe, David Lang, and Michael Gordon in 1987. Since then, the group has put on a wide variety of events, featuring an even wider variety of performers. Over time, a fairly steady working group of musicians known as the Bang on a Can All-Stars has evolved out of these performances. The collective’s approach is unorthodox, even for new music. Take, for example, the performance of Dutch minimalist composer Louis Andriessen’s Workers Union: The piece is written for “any loud sounding group of instruments,” and though the rhythms are composed, the pitches are entirely improvised. This blurring of the lines between modern composition, improvisation, and rock instrumentation fits in well with the work of Bang on a Can’s co-performer for this evening, Meredith Monk, whose works—which combine extended vocal technique, musical theater, and dance—have also placed her in the vanguard of new music performers. It begins at 8 p.m. at the University of Maryland Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center’s Dekelboum Concert Hall, University Boulevard and Stadium Drive, College Park. $20-$30. (301) 405-2787. (Jacob Long)