Julia Wolfe, Bang on a Can All-Stars & Trinity Choir: Anthracite Fields

Julia Wolfe is a co-founder and co-artistic director of Bang on a Can, a University Professor at NYU Steinhardt, a 2016 MacArthur Fellow, and the winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Music for Anthracite Fields. Her music draws on folk, classical, and rock, distinguished by an intense physicality and relentless drive. Bang on a Can All-Stars are the collective’s amplified six-piece ensemble and longtime champions of adventurous new music. Anthracite Fields premiered in Philadelphia with the Mendelssohn Club in 2014 and received its New York premiere that May as part of the NY Phil Biennial.

Formed in 1992, the Bang on a Can All-Stars are recognized worldwide for their ultra-dynamic live performances and recordings of today’s most innovative music. Freely crossing the boundaries between classical, jazz, rock, world and experimental music, this six-member amplified ensemble has consistently forged a distinct category-defying identity, taking music into uncharted territories. Performing each year throughout the U.S. and internationally, the All-Stars have shattered the definition of what concert music is today.

Together, the All-Stars have worked in unprecedented close collaboration with some of the most important and inspiring musicians of our time, including Steve Reich, Ornette Coleman, Meredith Monk, George Lewis, Louis Andriessen, Terry Riley and dozens more.  The group’s celebrated projects include their landmark recordings of Brian Eno’s ambient classic Music for Airports and Terry Riley’s In C, as well as live performances with Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Don Byron, Iva Bittová, Thurston Moore, Owen Pallett and others. The All-Stars were awarded Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year and have been heralded as “the country’s most important vehicle for contemporary music” by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Current and recent project highlights include their own new arrangements of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s landmark album 1996; David Lang’s before and after nature premiered with the LA Master Chorale; Julia Wolfe’s Flower Power for Bang on a Can All-Stars and orchestra, premiered with the LA Philharmonic; a new live arrangement of Terry Riley’s iconic and inspirational A Rainbow in Curved Air, celebrating the legendary composer’s 90th Birthday year (2025);  a recording of legendary composer/performer Meredith Monk’s MEMORY GAME; Can Dance, a multimedia concert of collaborations between composers, filmmakers and choreographers; performances of the band’s much beloved arrangement of Brian Eno’s classic Music for Airports; Road Trip, an immersive and visually stunning concert collaboratively-composed by Bang’s founders Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe; In C, a dance collaboration with Sasha Waltz & Guests based on Terry Riley’s minimalist classic;  performances and recordings of Wolfe’s Pulitzer-Prize winning Anthracite Fields and groundbreaking Steel Hammer;  a collaboration featuring Chinese superstar singer Gong Linna called Cloud River Mountain;  and much more.

With a massive repertoire of works written specifically for the group’s distinctive instrumentation and style of performance, the All-Stars have become a genre in their own right. The All-Stars record on Cantaloupe Music and have released past recordings on Sony, Universal and Nonesuch.

With its peerless interpretation of both early and new music, Trinity Choir has redefined the realm of 21st-century vocal music, breaking new ground with artistry hailed as “blazing with vigour . . . a choir from heaven” (The Times, London). This premier professional ensemble — heard live, online, and in services, recordings, and performances — has also been described as “thrilling” (The New Yorker), “musically top-notch” (The Wall Street Journal), and “simply superb” (The New York Times).  

Trinity Choir leads liturgical music at Trinity Church on Sundays and at additional services throughout the year, all of which are livestreamed for a global audience. A typical season includes performing in the Bach at One series, Compline by Candlelight, and a variety of concerts and festivals, often in collaboration with NOVUS, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and Trinity Youth Chorus. The choir anchors Trinity’s critically acclaimed performances of Handel’s Messiah, which The New York Times referred to as “the best Messiah in New York” and “the gold standard.”  

The choir was recently featured in several world-premiere oratorios and operas: Paola Prestini’s Silent Light at National Sawdust; Luna Pearl Woolf’s Number Our Days at the Perelman Performing Arts Center; and Benedict Sheehan’s Akathist, which was recorded alongside NOVUS, Downtown Voices, Artefact Ensemble, and Trinity Youth Chorus, and nominated for a 2025 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance. Other recent highlights include Trinity’s production of Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard; Shall We Gather at the River, directed by Peter Sellars, and Tyshawn Sorey’s Monochromatic Light (Afterlife), both at the Park Avenue Armory; PROTOTYPE Festival’s production of Huang Ruo’s Angel Island; Broken Chord at BAM (created by Gregory Maqoma and Thuthuka Sibisi); a concert in the inaugural Refuge series at the Perelman Performing Arts Center; George Frideric Handel’s Theodora at Caramoor; Julia Wolfe’s Anthracite Fields; the “Notes from Ukraine” concert at Carnegie Hall; a concert of Bach cantatas at Salle Bourgie in Montreal; and collaborations with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the American Modern Opera Company.  

Performance venues in New York City have included Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Shed at Hudson Yards. The choir has toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe, performing at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Barbican Theatre in London, and Norway’s Stavanger Cathedral. Past collaborators include the Bang on a Can All-Stars, the New York Philharmonic, the English Concert, and the Rolling Stones. 
In addition to Grammy Award–nominated recordings Akathist, LUNA PEARL WOOLF: Fire and Flood, and Israel in Egypt, Trinity Choir has released albums with Bright Shiny Things, Naxos, Musica Omnia, Pentatone, VIA Recordings, ARSIS, Avie Records, Acis, Cantaloupe Music, Decca Gold, and Philip Glass’s Orange Mountain Music. Trinity’s longstanding commitment to new music has fostered collaborations with composers including Julia Wolfe, Ellen Reid, Du Yun, Mary Kouyoumdjian, Trevor Weston, Paola Prestini, Luna Pearl Woolf, Ralf Yusuf Gawlick, and Elena Ruehr. Trinity Choir is featured on recordings of three Pulitzer Prize–winning works: Julia Wolfe’s Anthracite Fields, Du Yun’s Angel’s Bone, and Ellen Reid’s p r i s m. 

Jeff Sugg (scenography and projection designer) is a Tony-nominated designer and theater maker with over 25 years experience in the performing arts. Sugg has designed for a wide range of productions from Broadway to regional theater to international concert halls. He is so grateful for the decade-long collaboration with Julia. He has collaborated with her in the making of her Pulitzer Prize–winning piece Anthracite Fields, Fire In My Mouth, Flower Power, and Her Story. Select theater credits include: Broadway: The Piano Lesson, Mr. Saturday Night, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical (worldwide), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweat, Bring It On, 33 Variations. London: Tina the Musical (West End), Jack Absolute Flies Again (National Theatre). His off-broadway and regional work has been seen at Second Stage, The Public, St. Ann’s Warehouse, BAM, Lincoln Center, Playwrights Horizons, NYTW, Steppenwolf, Arena Stage, La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Rep, and dozens more. Other work with music includes Harry Connick on Broadway; Natalie Cole; and Prince’s final appearance on Saturday Night Live. Jeff is the recipient of the Lucille Lortel Award, Obie Award, Bessie Award, and two Henry Hewes Design Awards.