My Debt to Haydn, or Creation Myths I Have Known and Loved

All are welcome to join us for a webinar talk by composer David Lang, held as part of the Tangeman Lecture series.

This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Presented in conjunction with Yale Schola Cantorum's upcoming May 2 performance of Haydn's Creation.

Contact: Katya Vetrov

Notes from the speaker:

My recent piece 'before and after nature' - for the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Bang on a Can All-Stars, with projections by Tal Rosner - begins with a description of the creation of the universe.  Several descriptions, actually.  Because of this, Haydn's 'Creation' was never far from my mind.  In this talk I will explore the connections between the two works, make random and idiosyncratic observations about the meaning of an oratorio, and, I hope, help prepare people to hear performances both of Haydn's 'Creation' this May in Woolsey Hall, and of my piece, which will come to Yale in Spring 2027.

Speaker bio:

David Lang is one of the most highly esteemed and performed American composers writing today. His works have been performed around the world in most of the great concert halls.

Lang’s the little match girl passion, commissioned by Carnegie Hall and premiered by Paul Hillier and Theatre of Voices, was recently listed by The Guardian as “one of the top 25 works of classical music written in the 21st Century.” It won the Pulitzer Prize in 2008 and the recording received a Grammy Award in 2010. simple song #3, written as part of his score for Paolo Sorrentino’s acclaimed film YOUTH, received many awards nominations in 2016, including the Academy Award and Golden Globe.

His opera prisoner of the state (with libretto by Lang) was co-commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, Rotterdam’s De Doelen Concert Hall, London’s Barbican Centre, Barcelona’s l’Auditori, Bochum Symphony Orchestra, and Bruges’s Concertgebouw, and premiered June 2019 in New York (conducted by Jaap van Zweden). prisoner of the state received its UK premiere in January 2020 with the BBC Symphony (conducted by Ilan Volkov) and its EU premiere in May 2023 with the Bochum Sinfoniker (conducted by Steven Sloane).

Lang is a Professor of Music Composition at the Yale School of Music.  He is co-founder and co-artistic director of New York’s legendary music collective Bang on a Can.

His music is published by Red Poppy Music and G. Ricordi & Co., New York (ASCAP) and is is distributed worldwide by the Universal Music Publishing Group.

Photo credit:

Peter Serling