Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group: David Bloom - Wolfe & Mattingly

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Explore Julia Wolfe

If there is a cutting edge in new classical music, it exists in a blurry space. Composers who grew up with the sounds of rock, pop or electronic dance music in their ears often look to mine those musical source materials alongside the orchestral canon. Often the walls of the classical concert hall and the local music club are porous, and in some cases contemporary classical music can find a sophisticated conversation between worlds that once had little to say to one another. For Julia Wolfe whose iPod skips from Led Zeppelin and Aretha Franklin to Steve Reich and Glenn Gould, all of those sounds find a thoughtful place in her distinct composing voice. Wolfe — who was awarded the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for her piece Anthracite Fields earlier this week — is best known for her work with New York City-based contemporary classical music organization Bang on a Can. Created in 1987, Bang on a Can was co-founded by Wolfe, composer Michael Gordon (Wolfe’s husband) and fellow Pulitzer-winning composer David Lang. The organization is known for marathon concerts that can last for more than 24 hours and bring together music acts ranging from avant garde or minimalist classical composers to experimental indie-rock groups under one umbrella of “radical, new music.” The Bang on a Can All-Stars was born out of the marathon concerts, and is an eclectic sextet that mixes rock and classical instruments and is dedicated to performing new music, often performing works by Wolfe herself. Wolfe’s composing style is often based upon driving, ferocious rhythm — owing in part to her love of minimalist and post-minimalist composers like John Adams. While repeated rhythms usually propel her work, Wolfe also builds a larger shape in her compositions, adding new layers and borrowing ideas from folk music and rock. Below are three pieces to explore Wolfe’s composing voice including the work that won her classical music’s top honor.