Experimental Bass Quartet Performance Co-Presented with Bang on a Can

In 1959, hornist Gunter Schuller left his principal position at the Met Orchestra to pursue composing full-time. Influenced by jazz musicians like Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Gil Evans and the Expressionist and Surrealist work of the visual artist Paul Klee, Schuller took Klee’s paintings and put them into conversation with improvised and classical music to form a genre he called the “Third Stream.”

In the spirit of that joining of forms, Bang on a Can and the Long Play Festival have assembled a bass quartet especially for this program. Presenting a diverse suite of works, this quartet will plumb the depths of the low register, including Schuller’s own Quartet for Double Basses; Michael Gordon’s Low Quartet—a work for any four “low” instruments; Jacob Druckman’s Tromba Marina, in which the bass imitates the strange sound of a baroque trumpet; and Tom Johnson’s dada-esque masterpiece, Failing: A Very Difficult Piece for Solo String Bass, where a lone player tries to fail or not fail at a very difficult performance.

This concert is presented in conjunction with Bang on a Can’s 2026 Long Play festival, a multi-genre music festival that takes inspiration from the many artist communities of New York City. Long Play ticket holders receive free entry to this concert at the Jewish Museum.

About the quartet
Featuring the world class chamber musicians Zachary Cohen, Marguerite Cox, John-Paul Norpoth, and Eleonore Oppenheim, this quartet brings new music street cred and broad interests that run the gamut from old time music to klezmer to post-minimalism. Assembled especially for this concert, they are thrilled to be able to bring this music to you, together.

Tickets: $24 General; $16 Students and Seniors; $14 Jewish Museum Members. Free for Long Play 2026 Pass holders

Doors open at 6:30 pm; Includes Museum Admission