Founded in 1987 by composers David Lang, Julia Wolfe and Michael Gordon, Bang on a Can is one of the biggest forces in new music today, and Australian talent has long graced its roster.

Australian-born pianist Lisa Moore is a founding member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and works by Elena Kats-Chernin and Kate Moore make up part of the group’s extensive history of world premiere performances.

Lora Kmieliauskaite and Ella Beard performing at Bang on a Can’s Summer Festival. Photo © Lora Kmieliauskaite

BOAC’s annual Summer Festival is also very welcoming of Australian talent. Each year, 30 emerging composers and performers are selected from around the world for a three-week long fellowship. Connected by a deep passion for new music, the fellows get a chance to perform, compose and improvise together. The experience is raw, tiring, but also endlessly exciting; the fellows forge a tight bond with one another, and at the end of it, interact like old friends rather than people who have known each other for less than a month.