Biography
David Lang helped establish the Bang on a Can ensemble and has frequently been labeled a post-minimalist, although his approach encompasses greater depth and intricacy than the label conveys. Beyond expanding minimalist procedures, he has drawn on an eclectic range of sources in his music, such as rock textures and Bachian structural models. For the choral piece The Little Match Stick Girl Passion (2007), which takes its formal outline from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion while introducing strikingly personal material, Lang received the Pulitzer Prize. An Academy Award nomination arrived later for “Simple Song #3,” featured in the 2015 comedy-drama Youth, and the accordion music he composed for The Village Detective appeared on record in 2021. He has also joined forces on large-scale projects with Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, and Lao Luo.
Lang was born in Los Angeles on January 8, 1957, and studied trombone as his principal instrument during his youth. After completing a bachelor’s degree at Stanford in 1978 and a Master of Music at the University of Iowa two years afterward, he earned BMI Foundation student composer awards in both 1980 and 1981.
In 1987 he established the New York music collective Bang on a Can alongside Julia Wolfe and Michael Gordon; the group’s performances and recordings repeatedly connected avant-garde and popular idioms. He then obtained a doctorate in composition from Yale University in 1989, having worked with teachers that included Jacob Druckman, Hans Werner Henze, and Martin Bresnick.
Bang on a Can issued its first studio album, Industry, in 1995, followed by Cheating, Lying, Stealing on Sony Classical the next year. Point, a Universal imprint, released the subsequent project in 1998—a reworking of Brian Eno’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports that converted Eno’s tape sketches into refined pieces for live performers. In 1999 Lang attracted attention with the opera The Difficulty of Crossing a Field, whose libretto drew on an Ambrose Bierce short story and whose scoring was realized for the Kronos Quartet and vocal soloists. That same year The Carbon Copy Building, described as a comic-strip opera by Lang, Wolfe, and Gordon, earned the Village Voice OBIE Award in 2000. The three composers later collaborated on Lost Objects, scored for mixed chorus, vocal soloists, full orchestra, and turntablist DJ Spooky; Teldec issued the recording in 2001. Around the same period his own works appeared on disc, among them The Passing Measures (2001) for bass clarinet, amplified orchestra, and women’s voices and Child (2003), captured by Sentieri Selvaggi under Carlo Boccadoro.
Numerous large-scale commissions have shaped Lang’s output, including The Little Match Stick Girl Passion, jointly commissioned by the Carnegie Corporation and the Perth Theater and Concert Hall. Rooted in the Hans Christian Andersen fable, the choral score brought Lang the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Two years later the recording by Paul Hillier and Theatre of Voices received the Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance.
Bang on a Can maintained a consistent release schedule, issuing Steve Reich: Double Sextet; 2x5 (Nonesuch) in 2010 and Big, Beautiful, Dark and Scary (Cantaloupe) in 2012. Death Speaks, commissioned by Carnegie Hall and Stanford Lively Arts, premiered in early 2012; a 2013 recording featured Shara Worden on vocals and bass drum, Bryce Dessner on guitar, Nico Muhly on piano, and Owen Pallett on violin and vocals. The National Anthems, which incorporates anthems from around the world, was first heard at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2014, with the Los Angeles Master Chorale recording appearing on Cantaloupe in 2016. In the same year Lang earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song for “Simple Song #3” from the multilingual film Youth.
Subsequent works included the one-act chamber opera The Loser for solo baritone and Prisoner of the State, an opera derived from Beethoven’s Fidelio that the New York Philharmonic premiered in 2019. Recordings of both The Loser (Cantaloupe) and Prisoner of the State (Decca) emerged in 2020.
After composer Jóhann Jóhannsson died suddenly in 2018, Lang completed the score for The Village Detective. Accordionist Frode Andersen performed the music, and the soundtrack was released on Cantaloupe Music in early 2021.
Lang was born in Los Angeles on January 8, 1957, and studied trombone as his principal instrument during his youth. After completing a bachelor’s degree at Stanford in 1978 and a Master of Music at the University of Iowa two years afterward, he earned BMI Foundation student composer awards in both 1980 and 1981.
In 1987 he established the New York music collective Bang on a Can alongside Julia Wolfe and Michael Gordon; the group’s performances and recordings repeatedly connected avant-garde and popular idioms. He then obtained a doctorate in composition from Yale University in 1989, having worked with teachers that included Jacob Druckman, Hans Werner Henze, and Martin Bresnick.
Bang on a Can issued its first studio album, Industry, in 1995, followed by Cheating, Lying, Stealing on Sony Classical the next year. Point, a Universal imprint, released the subsequent project in 1998—a reworking of Brian Eno’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports that converted Eno’s tape sketches into refined pieces for live performers. In 1999 Lang attracted attention with the opera The Difficulty of Crossing a Field, whose libretto drew on an Ambrose Bierce short story and whose scoring was realized for the Kronos Quartet and vocal soloists. That same year The Carbon Copy Building, described as a comic-strip opera by Lang, Wolfe, and Gordon, earned the Village Voice OBIE Award in 2000. The three composers later collaborated on Lost Objects, scored for mixed chorus, vocal soloists, full orchestra, and turntablist DJ Spooky; Teldec issued the recording in 2001. Around the same period his own works appeared on disc, among them The Passing Measures (2001) for bass clarinet, amplified orchestra, and women’s voices and Child (2003), captured by Sentieri Selvaggi under Carlo Boccadoro.
Numerous large-scale commissions have shaped Lang’s output, including The Little Match Stick Girl Passion, jointly commissioned by the Carnegie Corporation and the Perth Theater and Concert Hall. Rooted in the Hans Christian Andersen fable, the choral score brought Lang the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Two years later the recording by Paul Hillier and Theatre of Voices received the Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance.
Bang on a Can maintained a consistent release schedule, issuing Steve Reich: Double Sextet; 2x5 (Nonesuch) in 2010 and Big, Beautiful, Dark and Scary (Cantaloupe) in 2012. Death Speaks, commissioned by Carnegie Hall and Stanford Lively Arts, premiered in early 2012; a 2013 recording featured Shara Worden on vocals and bass drum, Bryce Dessner on guitar, Nico Muhly on piano, and Owen Pallett on violin and vocals. The National Anthems, which incorporates anthems from around the world, was first heard at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2014, with the Los Angeles Master Chorale recording appearing on Cantaloupe in 2016. In the same year Lang earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song for “Simple Song #3” from the multilingual film Youth.
Subsequent works included the one-act chamber opera The Loser for solo baritone and Prisoner of the State, an opera derived from Beethoven’s Fidelio that the New York Philharmonic premiered in 2019. Recordings of both The Loser (Cantaloupe) and Prisoner of the State (Decca) emerged in 2020.
After composer Jóhann Jóhannsson died suddenly in 2018, Lang completed the score for The Village Detective. Accordionist Frode Andersen performed the music, and the soundtrack was released on Cantaloupe Music in early 2021.
Albums
Three Birthdays (Original Soundtrack Recording)
2025
Shade
2023
wed
2023
Heimat
2022
Hirschensong
2021
The Village Detective: A Song Cycle (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
2021
Ufzgi
2020
Beiz
2020
Sinfonia
2019
(Untitled)
2011
Child
2011
The Passing Measures
2011
Paulssen & Lang: Ein Sommernachtsalptraum
2010
Elevated
2005
Singles
