Bang on a Can All-Stars to Perform at UHart, 2/20

The Hartt School at the University of Hartford, in partnership with Real Art Ways, is pleased to present New York's electric chamber ensemble Bang on a Can All-Stars on

Saturday, February 20, at 7:30 p.m. in Lincoln Theater, University of Hartford, 200 Bloomfield Ave, West Hartford.

Tickets are $20 with discounts available for Real Art Ways members, students, alumni, seniors, and groups, and can be through the University Box Office in Lincoln Theater, 860.768.4228, or800.274.8587 or www.hartford.edu/tickets.

The six-person ensemble that is Bang on a Can All-Stars is internationally celebrated for their ultra-dynamic live performances and recordings of today's most innovative music. Bang on a Can All-Stars continues to take music into unfamiliar territories by crossing the boundaries between classical, jazz, rock, world, and experimental music. Hartt professor of double bassRobert Black joins Ashley Bathgate, cello; Vicky Chow, piano; David Cossin, percussion; Mark Stewart, guitar; and Ken Thomson, clarinets for a spectacular evening of music.

The program will include Tan Dun's Concerto for Six, Julia Wolfe's Believing, Kate Moore's The Hermit Thrush and the Astronaut, Michael Gordon's Gene Takes a Drink, Steve Martland's Horses of Instruction, and Philip Glass' Closing. A playful, dance-like piece, Tan Dun's 12-minute Concerto for Six embraces traces of classical Chinese instrumental music alongside of improvisation that brings out the amazing virtuosity of the individual Bang on a Can performers. Kate Moore's The Hermit Thrush & The Astronaut (2012) was commissioned by The Hartt School/University of Hartford with funds from the Faculty Development Fund for Bang on a Can bassist Robert Black. The piece was inspired by the infinitely varied birdsong of the hermit thrush and the stone engraving of an astronaut on the door of the Salamanca cathedral in Spain.

This concert is made possible in part by a grant from the Richard P. Garmany Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.