New York, NY – On Thursday, July 14, 2016 at 7:30pm, Bang on a Can and the Jewish Museum will present a concert by clarinetist-composer Don Byron. A long-time collaborator of Bang on a Can, Byron has always found exhilarating and unexpected musical avenues to explore, interpreting a wildly diverse range of styles and artists from funk-drenched R&B to klezmer, from gospel legend Thomas A. Dorsey to Mickey Katz, Duke Ellington to Junior Walker. Don Byron is renowned for his dedication to and innovation in quintessential American traditional music genres from klezmer to blues to bluegrass to gospel to jazz. This program is made possible by a generous endowment from the William Petschek Family.

For over two decades, Don Byron, a recipient of the first Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, has been a singular voice in an astounding range of musical contexts, exploring widely divergent traditions while continually striving for what he calls “a sound above genre.”

As clarinetist, saxophonist, composer, arranger, and social critic, he redefines every genre of music he plays, be it classical, salsa, hip-hop, funk, rhythm & blues, klezmer, or any jazz style from swing and bop to cutting-edge downtown improvisation.  He has been consistently voted best clarinetist by critics and readers alike in leading international music journals since being named “Jazz Artist of the Year” by Down Beatin 1992. Acclaimed as much for his restless creativity as for his unsurpassed virtuosity as a player, Byron has presented a multitude of projects at major music festivals around the world.

This summer concert continues the third season of the Jewish Museum and Bang on a Can’s partnership, producing dynamic musical performances inspired by the Museum’s diverse slate of exhibitions. The 2016-2017 series includes five programs, primarily in the Jewish Museum’s Scheuer Auditorium (Fifth Avenue and 92nd Street). The season launched with a free outdoor performance by Mariachi Flor de Toloache at the June 14 Museum Mile Festival, and in addition to the July 14 Don Byron concert, will feature a Thursday, November 10 concert by Pauline Oliveros, a Thursday, February 16, 2017 concert by Florent Ghys/Bonjour, and a Thursday,April 27, 2017 concert by Bang on a Can All-Stars pianist Vicky Chow playing music by Tristan Perich.

Tickets for the July 14 program are $18 general public; $15 students and senior citizens; and $12 for Jewish Museum members and Bang on a Can list members, and include exhibition admission prior to the performance. Further program and ticket information is available by calling 212.423.3337 or at TheJewishMuseum.org/calendar. The Jewish Museum is located at Fifth Avenue and 92nd Street, Manhattan.

Support
Public Programming at the Jewish Museum is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

About Bang on a Can
Bang on a Can is dedicated to making music new. Founded by composers Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe, who curatored the first Marathon concert in 1987 and remain co-Artistic Directors to this day, Bang on a Can has been creating an international community dedicated to innovative music, wherever it is found. With adventurous programs, it commissions new composers; performs, presents, and records new work; develops new audiences; and educates the musicians of the future. “Bang on a Can plays “a central role in fostering a new kind of audience that doesn’t concern itself with boundaries. If music is made with originality and integrity, these listeners will come” (The New York Times). Current projects include the annual Bang on a Can Marathon; The People’s Commissioning Fund, a membership program to commission emerging composers; the Bang on a Can All-Stars, who tour to major festivals and concert venues around the world; the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA, a professional development program for young musicians; Asphalt Orchestra, Bang on a Can’s extreme street band; and Found Sound Nation, a musical outreach program partnering with the U.S. State Department to create OneBeat, a program that bridges the gulf between young American musicians and young musicians from developing countries. For more information, visit www.bangonacan.org.