Meet composer and conductor Bill Ryan and Billband for this New Sounds program.  Ryan is the director of the Grand Valley State University (GVSU) new music group, and the mastermind behind 2007’s “story of the year in new music circles” where his all-student, all-volunteer band recorded Steve Reich’s 1976 masterwork, “Music for 18 Musicians,” to choruses of critical praise.  Bill Ryan and the ensemble went on to record Terry Riley’s “In C.”  Ryan is also a composer, and has recently released a record of his own compositions, “Towards Daybreak.”  Members of Billband - violinist/composer Todd Reynolds, and Bang on a Can All-Stars pianist Vicky Chow and cellist Ashley Bathgate- perform Ryan’s works live in the studio.  

Billband performs at Le Poisson Rouge this Sunday night, Feb. 10, 2013.  More information: "Towards Daybreak" record release show.

Music by Steve Reich on this New Sounds - a piece of classical music for a rock band - his "2 x 5," from a new recording.  There's also music for electric guitar in a chamber music setting by Canadian composer Tim Brady, inspired by Dmitri Shostakovich, "Hocket, Canon, Fugue."  Plus, listen to a work for a hybrid electro-acoustic ensemble by Paola Prestini.

For this New Sounds, we’ll experience some sonic and at times, spiritual atmospheres, including ambient music, and other works that might invoke the “m” word – “minimalism.” From Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, we’ll hear some spiritually cast works, sometimes labeled (much to Pärt’s dislike of the term) “holy minimalism.” Listen to his atmospheric and soaring “Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, from a new recording by Canadian violinist Angèle Dubeau& the 12-woman (11 strings, 1 piano) ensemble La Pietà.

Listen to the insistent rhythms and repetitions of acoustic instruments on this New Sounds, with. Hear solo music from Kris Davis- her “Saturn Return.” Its organized lines of prepared piano evoke John Cage at first, and build into a refined assembly line. Then, listen to music by the American composer based in Berlin, Arnold Dreyblatt, and his intentionally mechanistic, “Resonant Relations,” which has clouds of overtones.  Also, there’s music with a hint of jazz from both Switzerland’s Nik Bartsch, and a New York outfit, Bizingas, led by trombonist/pianist Bryan Drye. Plus, music for player pianos by Colin Nancarrow, arranged for the six musicians of the Bang on a Can All-Stars by Evan Ziporyn.  

On this New Sounds program, we'll hear music from our New Sounds Live collaboration with the Ecstatic Music Festival: the Bang on a Can People's Commissioning Fund Concert recorded at Merkin Hall.  The All-Stars perform Steve Martland's propulsive "Horses of Instruction." Also, listen to the hauntingly subtle “Convex/Concave/Concord” by Danish composer Pelle Gudmunsen-Holmgreen, and the intensely grooving “Believing” by Bang on a Can co-founder Julia Wolfe.  And more.

From the New Sounds Live concerts at Merkin Hall, the Bang On A Can All-Stars premiere the newly commissioned work by Christine Southworth, called "Concerning The Doodle."  Rounding out the show are (relatively) older favorites by Michael Nyman, his "Manhatta" and Brian Eno's "Music for Airports 2/2."

Bang on a Can, the composers collective and revolutionary force hatched a quarter century ago as a plot in an East Village diner, celebrates a milestone anniversary of creating and presenting new music on this New Sounds show.  The Bang on a Can All-Stars, the resident ensemble of six musicians, give the unofficial US premiere of 3 parts of the suite "Field Recordings," with works by BoaC Co-founder Julia Wolfe, Florent Ghys, and Evan Ziporyn.  Plus works by Bang on a Can's two other co-founders, David Lang and Michael Gordon.

This week, the New Canon brings you a trio of new releases from a maverick new music cabal, a quartet of vocal violinists and a boundless Belarusian violinist.

Music by Steve Reich on this New Sounds - a piece of classical music for a rock band - his "2 x 5," from a new recording.  There's also music for electric guitar in a chamber music setting by Canadian composer Tim Brady, inspired by Dmitri Shostakovich, "Hocket, Canon, Fugue."  Plus, listen to a work for a hybrid electro-acoustic ensemble by Paola Prestini.

For this New Sounds, we’ll experience some sonic and at times, spiritual atmospheres, including ambient music, and other works that might invoke the “m” word – “minimalism.” From Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, we’ll hear some spiritually cast works, sometimes labeled (much to Pärt’s dislike of the term) “holy minimalism.” Listen to his atmospheric and soaring “Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, from a new recording by Canadian violinist Angèle Dubeau& the 12-woman (11 strings, 1 piano) ensemble La Pietà.

From the New Sounds Live concerts at Merkin Hall, the Bang On A Can All-Stars premiere the newly commissioned work by Christine Southworth, called "Concerning The Doodle."  Rounding out the show are (relatively) older favorites by Michael Nyman, his "Manhatta" and Brian Eno's "Music for Airports 2/2."