New York new music collective, Bang on a Can, has produced yet another Pulitzer Prize-winning composer: Julia Wolfe. The revered artist won for her composition, Anthracite Fields.
Described as "a powerful oratorio for chorus and sextet evoking Pennsylvania coal-mining life around the turn of the 20th century" by the Pulitzer panel, the hour-long piece was commissioned by the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia. It was given a world premiere on April 26, 2014 along with the Ban on a Can All-Star lineup.
Wolfe, a co-founder of the Bang on a Can ensemble and former finalist for the Pulitzer, comes as the second composer from the group to win the prize. Fellow co-founder David Lang won in 2008 for The Little Match Girl Passion.
Other finalists in this year's music category include Lei Liang for the piece Xiaoxing, which has been described as a concerto for alto saxophone "inspired by a widow's wail," and John Zorn for the piece The Aristos.
Zorn's composition has been reckoned as a "demonstration of the brain in fluid, unpredictable action," for violin, cello and piano.
Wolfe describes herself as "a musical renegade," with inspirations that come from folk, classical and rock. She says, per The Morning Call, that she hopes the award can inspire other musicians to follow dreams that take unconventional paths.
For now, those who missed out on the performance will have a chance to hear the piece: a recording is to be up for release this fall on the Cantaloupe Music label and will feature the Bang on a Can All-Stars and the Choir of Trinity Wall Street. Julian Wachner will be conducting.
The label has also released a recording of last year's Pulitzer Prize-winning piece, Become Queen, by John Luther Adams.
In the meantime, check out a small documentary based on the piece below.
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