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Playing drums with Van Morison in a outdoor concert in New Hampshire 1969 and then jamming at Mother Earths living room with members of the opening act Far Cry, whom years later I got to play with in various bands around Boston.
—Chuck PurroA recent one. Of Fred Frith Trio playing a set at Starline Social Club in Oakland. A rousing combo of electronics, punky groove, sound collage. Riveting to the whole crowd. And only 45 minutes or so, one piece. Everyone awed.
—Rebecca Weinsteinbeing able to dance with the music
—Leslie CrisfieldPhilip Glass Ensemble, live at Carnegie Hall in 1984. Had never heard his music before, and took a chance that it would be something interesting. It was.
—Keith CandorazaWhen I went to see a childhood favourite band of mine from my hometown, on the other side of the country! I just happened to be on their tour path while I was briefly staying with a friend. We went to see them and danced our butts off. —AnonymousWent to see Summer Salt at the Space Ballroom in Hamden, CT with my boyfriend —AnonymousBatya
—Philip FriedelWatching Krystle Warren shred in London during a Rufus Wainwright concert, and the squeak of the door before she started.
—Libby Hanssenseeing the reunion of van der graaf generator in london in 2005, my favorite band of all time
—hugh manateeMy favorite memory of a music event was performing Shostakovich's 5th Symphony. That was when I realized I wanted to be a professional musician.
—Gordon GreenCage piece for kotos
—Thomas MyernickYou have often been associated with minimalist music such as Philip Glass, why does this often feature in your work?
—Steve ReesI remember seeing Linda Ronstadt with that guy what was his name I know he was my boyfriend's friend and I went with him cause I was mad at Michael. You see how that turned out ...
—Randy RobertsWhen all the boundaries between audience members and each other, and musicians and audiences came down and we opened up as an enormous common field of openness and love, intricately, sparklingly interwoven!
—Peter SamisThe band is actually inside my head while listening to Tibetan Dixie and eating cajun food —AnonymousHow could is this music I just made up. How do you do this? This is where words meets music meets hearts meets me meet passion. —AnonymousStevie Wonder performing Songs in the Key of Life in its entirety at Madison Square Garden
—Tyler WayneAnother: The Alloy Orchestra's performance of its Metropolis score at the Winter Garden atrium, during the New Sounds Live silent film fest in 2000. Alloy's music and moves brought that film alive for me (and as a bonus intro'd me to the wonderful world of new scores for silent films). I listened to the New Sounds episode of that performance over and over for years, until it vanished from the archive. Bring that ep back, John Schaefer!
—Emily GertzWatching Meredith Monk live for the first time! —AnonymousPerforming Music for 18 Musicians at Winter Garden, NYC, as the sun started to rise.
—Mary FukagawaListening to the live performance of Brian Eno's Music for Airports at the Bang on a Can Marathon in my sleeping bag, blissfully drifting off, then being awoken by security guards!
—Betsey BiggsPauline Oliveros and the Deep Listening Band at the Winter Garden atrium in 2012 — the sounds transcended place and time...I was so fortunate to hear her perform in person.
—Emily GertzWell guys, not to seem too partial, but Jim Tenney's "Critical Band" by the Relache Ensemble was quite special. - Joseph Franklin
—Joseph FranklinOctet( 1979) by Steve Reich at the Sendesaal of Radio Frankfurt am Main in Germany (Hessischer Rundfunk). With the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, cond. Reinbert de Leeuw, 21 June 1979. —AnonymousSitting on a bean bag in a pier in Hobart Tasmania, listening to The Necks for the first time.
—Charles HaynesPrince live at the O2 in London
—AnonymousTalkings heads speaking in tongues tour
—Scott Sandler"Music Airported 2"
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—Chicco MartinBoy Dylan playing Highway 61 Revisited in Minnesota in 1997. Or maybe Richard Thompson playing 1952 Vincent Black Lightning about 8 feet from me in Morgantown, WV, in 2004. —AnonymousThe cave singers with mom at the tractor —AnonymousSeeing Arvo Part's Tabula Rasa live. it changed my life —AnonymousIf I had to pick one favorite, it would be seeing Satyagraha at the Met in 2008.
—Scott YostLila Downs at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York. In the basement. I remember crying spontaneously at the end of the concert. Juggling. Sound. It was a complete surprise, I did not know her music. Sound. —AnonymousSleeping through it. Of course. John said it was fine.
—Brice CatherinSeeing the Steve Reich Ensemble in the late 80's, possibly at the Whitney Museum. In the middle of Drumming part IV one of the marimbists lost their place in the complex structure of the work and fell out of the piece. Reich, playing the tuned drums, was simultaneously trying to give the lost musician the count by nodding his head on the "and . . . one". All the other musicians by sheer will were sort of generating an energy field trying to carry their colleague back into the piece. We the audience were collectively holding our breaths and then, after what seemed like a minute, the musician reaquired the count and launched back into the magnificent weave. It was a tremendous moment! We all knew we had just witnessed something very special—to be shown the inner workings of this complex, Swiss watch-like piece and what it takes for an ensemble of percussionists and singers to keep it aloft. We gave a huge and heartfelt ovation. It was an infinitely better concert experience than had every piece of the evening come off flawlessly.
—Richard ShawMy first gamelan concert, and at the Temple of Dendur - an ages-old fusion of sound, space, architecture, human spirit and imagination past and present —AnonymousWhen I was about 16 I saw the Philip Glass Ensemble in Houston and it absolutely blew my world open. I had been playing the Cello in an orchestral setting since I was about 9 and attending concert's at Rice's Shepherd School with my parents since I could walk, but our orchestra didn't get much more adventurous than Danzon Cubano and the student work at Rice was mostly repertory standards (the performance students) or so out there that it never really clicked with me (the composers). The PGE concert came together in a way that changed my understanding of performance, of the value of live music, of what music could be; and it suddenly left me searching for (and finding) more than a lifetime of incredible music.
I was actually there on a first date with a girl I had wanted to date for a while, but all I remembered even the next day was the music. I was locked into my seat the entire time, achieving some kind of otherworldly experience with the 3rd act of The Photographer. I'm not sure I said anything to my date for the rest of the night. I was still in it, and sorting out what exactly "it" was for a week. Thankfully she was a wonderful person and we remained friends, but I can honestly say that Glass has now impacted my life far more than she.
—Allen PierceSitting on the floor, back to the piano soundboard at the new Whitney Museum, listening to Conlon Nancarrow's piano rolls being played. Multisensory utopia. —AnonymousThe whole 2019 Big Ears Festival
—Scott PollardI loved Claire Chase's playing Steve Reich's flute piece tonight! It was beautiful to listen to!
—Laura LibenAccompanying my mum to the opera aged 7. Don Giovanni. The moment the orchestra started playing I was in awe of the sound! Of course I fell asleep, it’s a long one, but the parts I heard where otherwordly and magical to me.
—Juan HacelasFirst time I heard Turangalila, at San Francisco Symphony.
—Brad FoxFavorites are a bit of a constraint for me, but The Art Ensemble of Chicago's residency at Michigan State
University in East Lansing, Mi. in September of 1973 was a life changing musical experience for me.
—Terrence HamlinMon meilleur souvenir s'est déroulé à Nantes lors de la tournée de Meredith Monk pour Impermanence. Une claque!
—Patrick Miqueubottles rolls off table and breaks in ross crean opera the great god pan
—Patricia R McMillenSteve Shick performing a solo concert in Perth, Western Australia. It was the first time I realised what it could be like to lose yourself in music - both as an audience member and as a performer.
—Callum MoncrieffFirst time I ever saw jazz live, I couldn't believe that music could sound that way. Dave Holland Quintet, Ann Arbor, c. 2003. It changed my life forever.
—Michael Maliswhen I was a child, an outdoor concert was rained out. but the performer wanted to play anyway so he gathered a group to go play in the barn behind the stage. I went and fell asleep on my father's lap while listening. —AnonymousPhilip Glass's live performance of "Glassworks," St. Louis Art Museum, 1973. Snatches of the uniquely interesting piece were promoted on local FM stations for two weeks. The Auditorium audience started with about 150 people in attendance. The walk-out began gradually 5 minutes into the piece. I stayed about 20 minutes with maybe 8 people scattered about, when I realized my high pain threshold was deteriorating and the shear boredom of the repetitive arpeggios was driving me insane. The composer, playing keyboard and directing from the bench with an occasional nod, gave no indication that corrections should be made nor that there was, indeed, an audience or a problem. To this day, I consider this piece one of the most god-awful examples of the genre called, Minimalism. I guess, if you are a composer, you have to start somewhere.
—James NickelThis is a VERY difficult question for me to answer, but I will lump just a few select "experiences" together and call it a day: (1) Hearing Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8 performed by the Blair String Quartet at Vanderbilt University, (2) Performing a Bach Chorale from the St. Matthew Passion ("Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden") IN the Thomaskirche, in Leipzig, Germany, and (3) Taking part in all things "Bang on a Can" that I was lucky enough to experience in person (Marathons, the Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA, etc.)...
—Sam Crawford
