Press Release Tuesday, Oct 6, 2015 Contact: Jessica Wolf 310.825.7789 [email protected]

CAP UCLA Presents West Coast Premiere of ‘Steel Hammer,’ a New Collaboration from , SITI Company and All-Stars October 23-24 at Royce Hall

Bang on a Can All-Stars World Premiere concert of ‘Field Recordings’ October 25 at Royce Hall, followed by two performances of Brian Eno’s ‘Music for Airports’ in Orange County and San Diego

LOS ANGELES—Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA is proud to present the West Coast Premiere of Steel Hammer , a new theater work created by this year’s Pulitzer Prize winning composer Julia Wolfe with New York theater ensemble SITI Company and acclaimed contemporary music ensemble Bang on a Can All- Stars. Tickets ($19-$69) for two performances of Steel Hammer on Friday, October 23 and Saturday, October 24 at 8 p.m. are available now at cap.ucla.edu , via Ticketmaster and at the UCLA Central Ticket Office 310.825.2101.

Tickets ($19-$69) are also available for the West Coast concert premiere of Field Recordings , the latest multimedia project from Bang on a Can All-Stars, featuring newly commissioned work from a dozen contemporary composers. Performance begins at 7 p.m. Sunday, October 25 at Royce Hall. The All-Stars then travel to eSports Arena to perform Brian Eno: Music for Airports (October 26 at 7:30 p.m., presented by Santa Ana Sites,); and to the San Diego International Airport for the first performances of the piece take place in a U.S. airport (October 27 at 7:30 and 9pm, presented by ArtPower at UC San Diego).

Julia Wolfe’s Steel Hammer is a dramatic incarnation by director Anne Bogart, performed by SITI Company, the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and singers Emily Eagen, Katie Geissinger, and Molly Quinn. Wolfe’s text in Steel Hammer is culled from the many iterations of the century-old ballad and her music incorporates elements of minimalism, Appalachian folk music, and rock. Deconstructing and resetting more than 200 versions of the famous ballad, Steel Hammer examines not only the subject of human vs. machine, but delves into the richly populated mythos of American folklore and roots music.

Intersecting the music in this production is text commissioned from four remarkable American playwrights – Kia Corthron, Will Power, Carl Hancock Rux and Regina Taylor – based on heresay, recollection, and tall tales. Performers in Steel Hammer take on wooden bones, mountain dulcimer, step dancing, and more as they explore the human impulse to tell stories and this quintessential tale of an American folk hero who worked on the railroad. Steel Hammer , a Carnegie Hall and Maria and Robert A. Skirnick commission, was a finalist for the 2010 .

On October 25 at Royce Hall, the Bang on a Can All-Stars’ multimedia project Field Recordings features music commissioned from composers including Bang on a Can co-founders Michael Gordon, and Julia Wolfe, as well as Tyondai Braxton, Mira Calix, Anna Clyne, Bryce Dessner, Florent Ghys, Jo ́hann Jo ́hannsson, Todd Reynolds, , and Nick Zammuto. For Field Recordings, Bang on a Can asked composers to go into the field of recorded sound itself – to find something old or record something new, and to respond with their own music, in dialogue with what they found. Field Recordings taps into film, found sound and obscure audio-visual archives, bridging the gap between the seen and the unseen, the present and the absent, the past and the future, all channeled through the Bang on a Can All-Stars.

ABOUT SITI COMPANY SITI Company is an ensemble theater company based in New York that tours extensively throughout the United States and internationally. SITI is dedicated to the creation of new work, the training of theater artists, and to international collaboration. Founded in 1992 by Anne Bogart and Tadashi Suzuki, SITI seeks to redefine and revitalize contemporary theater in the United States through an emphasis on international cultural exchange and collaboration. SITI provides a rich context where the interaction of art, artists, audiences and ideas inspire the possibility for change, optimism and hope. The company believes that through the practice of collaboration, a group of artists working together over time can have a significant impact upon both contemporary theater and the world at large.

Through the Company’s performances, educational programs and collaborations with other artists and thinkers, SITI continues to challenge the status quo, to train to achieve artistic excellence in every aspect of our work, and to offer new ways of seeing and of being as both artists and as global citizens. SITI has traveled to 22 countries on five continents and created more than 35 new productions including such iconic works as Under Construction (2009), The Medium (1994), Death and the Ploughman (2004), bobrauschenbergamerica (2001), War of the Worlds—The Radio Play (1999), Hotel Cassiopeia (2006), and a triptych of solo pieces inspired by great artists: Bob (1998), Room (2000), and Score (2002) as well as a collaborations with the Martha Graham Dance Company, American Document (2010) and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, A Rite (2013).

ABOUT BANG ON A CAN ALL-STARS The Bang on a Can All-Stars are Ashley Bathgate, cello; Robert Black, bass; Vicky Chow, piano; David Cossin, percussion; Mark Stewart, guitars; and Ken Thompson, . Formed in 1992, the All-Stars are recognized worldwide for their ultra-dynamic live performances and recordings of today’s most innovative music. Freely crossing the boundaries between classical, jazz, rock, world and experimental music, this six-member amplified ensemble has consistently forged a distinct category-defying identity, taking music into uncharted territories. Performing each year throughout the U.S. and internationally, the All-Stars have shattered the definition of what concert music is today. Together, the All-Stars have worked in unprecedented close collaboration with some of the most important and inspiring musicians of our time, including Steve Reich, Ornette Coleman, Burmese circle drum master Kyaw Kyaw Naing, Tan Dun, DJ Spooky, and many more. The group’s celebrated projects include their landmark recordings of Brian Eno’s ambient classic Music for Airports and Terry Riley’s In C, as well as live performances with Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, , Iva Bittova, Thurston Moore, Owen Pallett and others. The All-Stars were awarded Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year in 2005 and have been heralded as “the country’s most important vehicle for contemporary music” by the San Francisco Chronicle

TICKET INFORMATION General tickets are available at cap.ucla.edu, all Ticketmaster outlets, by phone at 310.825.2101 or in person at the UCLA Central Ticket Office on campus. Student rush tickets, subject to availability, are offered at $15 one hour before show time to all students with valid ID.

PRESS REVIEW TICKETS/PHOTO PASSES/INTERVIEW REQUESTS : Contact Jessica Wolf at [email protected]/ IMAGES: Available for download at cap.ucla.edu/press-images . Register for access.

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