Theo Bleckmann News

With more than 65 total events, featuring over 100 artists premiering in a four month span, the success of the newly-completed National Sawdust Digital Discovery Festival: Volume One has been a rare bright spot in NYC's post-COVID live music world.

Bang on a Can will present its third Bang on a Can Marathon – Live Online – on Sunday, August 16, 2020 from 3-9pm ET. 

With over sixty total events featuring more than 100 artists over a four month span, National Sawdust's ongoing Digital Discovery Festival is the rarest sort of story in NYC's post-COVID live music world: an unalloyed success.

National Sawdust's physical doors are still closed but, thanks to a generous grant from the Alphadyne Foundation, the mission of providing artists the resources and support they need to create and present new work continues with the Digital Discovery Festival, featuring over 100 artists from May through August.

National Sawdust's physical doors are still closed but, thanks to a generous grant, the mission of providing artists the resources and support they need to create and present new work continues with the Digital Discovery Festival, featuring over 100 artists from May through the end of July.

Rite of Summer Music Festival's 2020 Season has been postponed to Summer 2021 as a result of COVID-19 precautions and Federal, State, and Local guidelines. Due to mark its 10th Anniversary this summer on Governors Island, Rite of Summer Music Festival will celebrate this milestone with special extended festivities next year. The safety, health, and happiness of ROS audiences, artists, and crew are of primary concern to Artistic Directors Pam Goldberg and Blair McMillen. 

Joe's Pub, a program of The Public Theater, continues JOE'S PUB LIVE!, its free series of live-streamed and archived performances from their iconic stage in New York City. Designed to facilitate social connection during this time of physical distancing, Joe's Pub will share events with audiences worldwide each Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Joe's Pub, a program of The Public Theater, continues JOE'S PUB LIVE!, its free series of live-streamed and archived performances from their iconic stage in New York City. Designed to facilitate social connection during this time of physical distancing, Joe's Pub will share events with audiences worldwide each Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8PM.

Joe's Pub, a program of The Public Theater, continues JOE'S PUB LIVE!, its free series of live-streamed and archived performances from their iconic stage in New York City. Designed to facilitate social connection during this time of physical distancing, Joe's Pub will share events with audiences worldwide each Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8PM.

While Joe's Pub, a program of The Public Theater, remains closed to the public through May 31, 2020, it will continue to bring art and levity into homes across the world with JOE'S PUB LIVE! a free series of live-streamed and archived performances from their iconic stage in New York City.

National Sawdust, the non-profit arts institution based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, will launch Live@NationalSawdust, a free digital platform that will release weekly videos of concerts from the past five seasons, as well as professional development programming, and will include fundraising efforts for the institution and the artists involved.

Cantaloupe Music will release Meredith Monk's new album MEMORY GAME, featuring Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble and the Bang on a Can All-Stars, on March 27, 2020. The first track from the album, “Downfall,” is available today, exclusively from Apple Music. Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble and the Bang on a Can All-Stars will perform MEMORY GAME at the Big Ears Festival (March 26-29, 2020; Knoxville, TN) and Bang on a Can's inaugural Long Play Festival (May 1-3, 2020; Brooklyn, NY).

From January through May 2020, the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) presents three concerts celebrating the group's 15th anniversary, in a series called ACME: 15 Years, at the Tenri Cultural Institute (43A W. 13th St.) a?" the location of the ensemble's inaugural concert season in 2004-2005. Described as a?oevital,a?? a?oebrilliant,a?? and a?oeelectrifying,a?? by The New York Times, ACME is a force for new music led by Artistic Director Clarice Jensen and is dedicated to the outstanding performance of music of the 20th and 21st centuries.

February is coming in HOT at Joe's Pub!

This December, composer Phil Kline's mobile sound-sculpture UNSILENT NIGHT a?" a landmark in avant-garde public art a?" takes place in more than 40 cities across the United States, Canada, and Europe. Streets, parks and sidewalks will come alive with a?oea shimmering sound-wall of bells and chimes that is dreamlike to wander through in the December nipa?? (The Village Voice).

On Sunday, November 3, 2019 at 2pm, the San Francisco-based Telegraph Quartet, winner of the 2016 Naumburg Chamber Music Award, joins forces with composer Robert Sirota for a performance presented by the Live Arts Series at the Morris Museum (6 Normandy Heights Road) in Bickford Theatre. This concert is part of Sirota @ 70, a celebration throughout the 2019-2020 concert season featuring residencies, performances, and premieres in honor of the composer's 70th birthday.

Bang on a Can and the Jewish Museum's 2019-2020 concert season continues on Thursday, November 14, 2019 at 7:30pm at the Jewish Museum (1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street). Grammy-nominated jazz singer, new music composer, and long time collaborator with Bang on a Can, Theo Bleckmann takes on the mysterious songbook of British pop icon Kate Bush in a project entitled Hello Earth! a?" The Music of Kate Bush that goes beyond re-creating her music to further realms of sound and interpretation. Joining him on this performance are long-time collaborators percussionist Ben Wittman, bassist Chris Tarry, and keyboardist Henry Hey, along with special guest, multi-instrumentalist Caleb Burhans on viola, guitar, and laptop.

Birdland will kick-off their great week of programming with the following acts:

Birdland will kick-off their exciting month of programming with the following acts:

Bang on a Can and the Jewish Museum's 2019-2020 concert season, pairing innovative music with the Museum's exhibitions, begins on Thursday, July 11, 2019 at 7:30pm. The Young People's Chorus of New York City (YPC), founded and directed by Francisco J. Nuñez, perform a concert that will include songs and poems by Leonard Cohen and others, coinciding with the Jewish Museum's exhibition, Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything. Recognized throughout New York City and internationally as one of the leading and most diverse children's choirs, YPC is a longtime and frequent collaborator with Bang on a Can. The chorus has forged a unique presence in the city's music community both as a champion commissioner and performer of new works by today's leading composers and for its innovative vocal arrangements that consistently cross all musical borders.