The San Diego International Airport will be the first U.S. airport to host the new music ensemble Bang on a Can All-Stars as they perform Brian Eno's groundbreaking album of ambient music titled "Music For Airports."
The New York-based group, founded in 1992 as an off-shoot of Bang on a Can, has performed their interpretation of Eno's album in other airports throughout the world. They will perform it in San Diego airport's Terminal 2 on Tuesday, Oct. 27.
Eno is said to have made the album because airports are a space we are all required to pass through and where a wide range of human emotions are expressed.
Bang on a Can All-Stars guitarist Mark Stewart - who is also Paul Simon's music director - said that range of emotion make airports dynamic.
"There are people greeting people so there’s happiness, but there's also people saying good-bye," Steward said by phone from Los Angeles. "There’s the natural anxiety about jumping in a large machine and going way up into the air. There are people working. It’s quite an interesting space."
Pulitzer-Prize winning composer and Bang on a Can co-founder, David Lang, told KPCC's art show The Frame that the first time they performed it in an airport was in London and Brian Eno was there.
"And one of the things that was really beautiful was that we were sitting there in the audience, and while I was trying to pay attention, most of the people listening were just people passing through," Lang told The Frame. "So you'd watch them stop, pay attention for a minute, you'd hear the announcements for what plane was landing or what plane was taking off, and I remember thinking, 'Oh my god, this really works! It really is the most beautiful background music in the world.'"
Bang on a Can All-Stars is composed of a cellist, pianist, percussionist, guitarist and clarinetist. The six-member ensemble is known for crossing boundaries between classical, jazz, rock, world and experimental music - and for their dynamic live performances.
Bang on a Can All-Stars will perform Brian Eno's "Music for Airports" in Terminal 2 of the the San Diego International Airport at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 27. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased at Art Power at UCSD.
