composition as explanation (2020) 60'
flute, clarinet, piano, percussion, violin, cello
eighth blackbird
Works
Opera/Music Theater
prisoner of the state (2019) 75'
soprano, tenor, baritone, bass; men's chorus; 2+pic.2.2(bcl).2+cbn/4.2[in C].2.0/timp/3 perc/strings
New York Philharmonic, de Doelen Concert Hall, Barbican Centre, l’Auditori, Bochum Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw Bruges, and Malmö Opera.
true pearl (2018) 30'
words by Sybil Kempson
SSAATTBB + ob.cl[bcl].2perc.pno.vla.vc.db
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
the mile-long opera (2018) 60'
co-created with Elizabeth Diller; texts by Anne Carson and Claudia Rankine
1000 singers
the loser (2016) 60'
solo baritone, solo piano; perc, va, vc, db
The Brooklyn Academy of Music, 2016 Next Wave Festival
anatomy theater (2016) 75'
Mezzo,Ten,Bar,Bass, fl(picc),cl(bcl),tpt,perc,pf(acc),vn,va,vc,db
the whisper opera (2013) 60'
text by David Lang
soprano; flute, clarinet, percussion, cello
International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)
love fail (2012) 60'
Text by David Lang (after Lydia Davis, Marie de France, Gottfried von Strassburg, Béroul, Thomas of Britain and Richard Wagner)
SSAA playing simple percussion instruments
love fail was co-commissioned by The Brooklyn Academy of Music’s 2012 Next Wave Festival, The International Festival of Arts & Ideas, The John F. Kennedy Center Abe Fortas Memorial Fund, The Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, The Secrest Artists Series at Wake Forest University, and Hancher Performances at the University of Iowa. Movement 4, 'the wood and the vine', was commissioned by The Newman Center for the Performing Arts at University of Denver, The University of California at Riverside, and the Santa Fe Concert Association in Santa FE, NM. Movement 10, 'I live in pain', in a different version, was originally written for “TheCrossing,” Donald Nally, conductor.
love fail – arr. female chorus (2012, rev. 2016) 60'
Text by David Lang (after Lydia Davis, Marie de France, Gottfried von Strassburg, Béroul, Thomas of Britain and Richard Wagner)
SSAA chorus (or 8 solo women singers) playing simple percussion instruments
The Brooklyn Academy of Music’s 2012 Next Wave Festival, The International Festival of Arts & Ideas, The John F. Kennedy Center Abe Fortas Memorial Fund, The Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, The Wake Forest University / Secrest Artists Series, and Hancher Performances at the University of Iowa
Shelter (2005) 65'
music by Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe; text by Deborah Artman
3 Sop, fl, ob, cl, bn, hn, tpt, tbn, tba, pno, egtr, eb, perc, 2 vln, vla, vc, cb [all instruments and voices amplified]
The Next Wave Festival of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, musikFabrik and Kunstiftung NRW