David Lang (composer)

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David Lang (born January 8, 1957) is an American composer living in

Lang was born in Los Angeles, California. Lang is of Jewish descent.^[3] In his youth he played trombone.^[4] After completing his undergraduate degree at Stanford University, he went to the University of Iowa; he says, "There was a teacher in composition at the University of Iowa named Martin Jenni, and he had come to Stanford as a leave replacement to teach for a semester. And I just thought he was amazing. He knew a lot of stuff that I'd never heard of before. So when I thought about grad school, I went to Iowa. I was happy I did. It was really a kind of golden age. I really loved it."^[5]

Lang went on to earn a

A piece with multiple choruses and dance, battle hymns was first performed in Philadelphia in 2009 by the Mendelssohn Club and the Leah Stein Dance Company. Its U.S. west coast premiere was directed by Robert Geary and performed by the San Francisco Choral Society, Volti, the Piedmont Children's Choir, and the Leah Stein Dance Company in April 2013 at the Kezar Pavilion. In May 2014, the Collegiate Chorale and the Manhattan Girls Chorus performed battle hymns at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.[10] In 2015, the Shenandoah Chorus (Shenandoah University) performed 'battle hymns' at an on-campus concert.

The Little Match Girl Passion

Lang was awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in music for his piece The Little Match Girl Passion, composed in 2007 for Paul Hillier and his Theatre of Voices.

Lang wrote the libretto by typing short, personal phrases into a search engine and writing down the results. The opera includes these anonymous confessions, which are whispered by soprano Tony Arnold, while four instrumentalists from the International Contemporary Ensemble never play above a hush. No audience member can hear the entire opera and it cannot be recorded, so it can only be experienced live.^[18]

Crowd Out

Inspired by the powerful singing he heard from the crowd at an Arsenal F.C. football match, Lang came up with the idea of composing a song for over 1,000 people to sing. The first performance was 9 June 2014 at Birmingham's Millennium Point. Singers were split into groups arranged on the steps of the atrium, each one with a leader with a megaphone. The conductor was Simon Halsey. The lyrics came from Lang doing internet searches for the phrase "When I am in a crowd I …" Lang then organised the results into thematic groups.^[19]

The National Anthems

The composer surveyed all of the national anthems of the world, drew ideas and phrases from them, and translated them into English. Musically, it is very similar to The Little Match Girl Passion made up primarily of short, arpeggiated phrases. It is scored for chorus and string quartet. It was premiered on June 7, 2014 at Walt Disney Concert Hall by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the recording of the world premiere came out on Cantaloupe Music in the spring of 2016.^[20] The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, where Lang was Composer-in-Residence in 2015-16, performed the Canadian premiere of the national anthems, Trinity Choir Wall Street performed the New York premiere as part of their Twelfth Night Festival, and the London Symphony Chorus performed the UK premiere.

anatomy theater

Inspired by the 18th-century practice of public dissections of criminals, anatomy theater, with music by Lang and libretto by Lang and visual artist Mark Dion, premiered at Los Angeles Opera in 2016. It begins with the confession and execution of an English murderess and follows the quest of the anatomist, searching for signs of evil within her body, including an aria for the corpse. The audience was served food and drink and placed in the balcony, to put it in the position of the 18th-century witnesses to the dissection. When the work premiered at LA Opera this June, critics called it a fascinating, grisly, and profound exploration of the nature of evil.^[21] The original cast recording was released on Cantaloupe Music with Marc Kudisch, Peabody Southwell, Robert Osborne, Timur, International Contemporary Ensemble, and conducted by Christopher Rountree. ^[22]

The Loser

Lang's one-act chamber opera for solo baritone is based on Thomas Bernhard's novel, The Loser. Lang first read Bernhard's novel in 1998 and immediately sensed it was something he wanted to set to music. Lang served as composer, librettist and director of the loser. Produced by Bang on a Can, the loser opened the 2016 BAM Next Wave Festival. Its unusual staging placed the singer Rod Gilfry on a platform above the orchestra seating and at eye level with the theater's balcony. The only other person visible was pianist Conrad Tao, on a platform far behind Gilfry. A small ensemble was heard offstage. The orchestra seating was removed for the production.^[23] Lang and the loser were awarded the 2016 Richard B. Fisher Next Wave Award.

Symphony for a Broken Orchestra

More than 1,000 musical instruments owned by the

This opera with the New York Philharmonic received its premiere on June 6, 2019. It is based on Fidelio by Beethoven and directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer.^[25]

Awards

Lang has received several awards, including:

• Rome Prize, 1991^{[citation needed]}
• Bessie Award, 1999^{[citation needed]}
• Obie Award, 2000^{[citation needed]}
• Pulitzer Prize in Music, 2008^[26]
• Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance, 2009^[27]
• Musical America Composer of the Year, 2013^{[citation needed]}
• Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award, 2017^{[citation needed]}

Film music

He wrote the arrangements for the

In Italy, the Youth score and "Simple Song #3" won the David di Donatello awards for Best Score and Best Original Song.^[32] The Youth movie soundtrack also featured Lang's choral song "Just (After Song of Songs)," a composition that was originally commissioned by the Louth Contemporary Music Society.^[33] Most recently, he is scoring Paul Dano's film Wildlife.

Recorded works

Lang's music has been released on the

• Are You Experienced (1989)
• The Passing Measures (2001)
• Child (2003)
• Elevated (2005)
• Pierced (2008)
• The Little Match Girl Passion (2009)
• (Untitled), music from the film (2009)
• This Was Written By Hand (2011)
• The Woodmans, music from the film (2011)
• Death Speaks (2013)
• Love Fail (2014)
• The Difficulty of Crossing a Field (2015)
• The National Anthems (2016)
• Thorn (2017)
• The Day (2018)
• Writing on Water (2018)
• Mystery Sonatas (2018) performed by Augustin Hadelich
• Anatomy Theater (2019) with libretto by Mark Dion^[35]
• The Loser (2020)
• Prisoner of the State (2020)
• The Village Detective (2021)
• David Lang: The Writings (Pentatone) (2022)

Film

• Featured in New York Composers: Searching for a New Music (1997). Directed by Michael Blackwood.
• Arrangements for Requiem for a Dream (2000)
• Score for Amelia (film by Édouard Lock) (2002)
• Score for (Untitled) (2009)
• Score for The Woodmans (2012)
• His music is featured in
  La grande bellezza (2014)^[36]
• Score for Paolo Sorrentino's film Youth (2015)
• Score for Paul Dano's film Wildlife (2017)

Ballets

• Plainspoken, choreographed by Benjamin Millepied

References