On Feb. 2, the Red Theater at NYU Abu Dhabi hosted its first performance, the world premiere of Bang on a Can’s All-Stars concert. Founded by Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe, this musical ensemble now serves as a platform for collaboration among artists of various genres. As a band that provided its members a platform to answer questions for themselves as young composers and musicians, Bang on a Can is committed to blurring the lines of concert music and popular music, mixing genres and disciplines in order to create a sense of adventurous borderlessness.

When asked why Bang on a Can was chosen to open the new season, Executive Artistic Director Bill Bragin said, “This speaks to what I’m trying to establish as the NYUAD Arts Center’s role.”

Bragin further explained that he has been following the band since his college days; attending their marathons allowed him to pursue new ways of thinking about music. The NYUAD Arts Center commissioned Wahat al Karamah by Mohammed Fairouz, a New York-based Emirati composer, to be played by Bang on a Can. According to Bragin, Fairouz’s work draws on diverse influences, which makes Bang on a Can a fitting choice for premiering the composition.

####Could you tell us a little more about Bang On a Can, your current work and what the band looked like in the past?

Back when we all came out of school, we saw that there wasn’t a terrific or vibrant scene for contemporary music and there wasn’t a particularly engaged audience for it either. We saw so many different kinds of music and artists that we thought were interesting and everything felt disconnected. So, we created this happening called the Bang on a Can Marathon. It’s the cornerstone of our organization, it still exists today and it was a big 12-hour-long concert where we just programmed all different kinds of music and artists together in one show. The idea was that we would just break down the different kinds of genres and bring together artists that were mainly interested in experimental, innovative and non-mainstream kind of music. We had a terrific audience and we decided to do it again and now the organisation has grown from there.

####What is it like being in Abu Dhabi? What is your take on the audience that will witness the performance tonight?

It’s quite wonderful that now we’re in Abu Dhabi and there are going to be hundreds of people who are going to hear this strange and beautiful concert. 30 years ago, when we started, that was not the way the world was. And now the world has actually become much more inclusive for this kind of art. While there are other things that are drawing us apart from each other and dividing us — that seems to be the current political climate — it is even more important that we are having events like this that bring people together.

####You mentioned experimental music has been something Bang on a Can has focused on creating since the beginning, almost creating a new genre altogether. Would this music be perceived differently by the audience here?

Well, in a way it’s more impactful and fresh here, especially if people haven’t been exposed to this kind of music. We’ve always been interested in music that falls in between the cracks. There isn’t really a genre that it fits naturally into because it’s too classical for the real rock fans and it’s too rock and amplified for the true classical fans and we’re somewhere in between.

Here, maybe all of those associations like classical, jazz or rock may mean less as genres and definitions than they do in a place like New York. And if you come to a new place where they don’t have the same history of having divided all of these things up into different categories that they associate this music with, then maybe they are coming with very fresh ears, ready to just hear and experience. That’s different than when we go to London and play a concert where people are familiar with the composers or have seen where we come from and what influences our music, then they are comparing it. It takes some time for audiences like that to open their ears and their minds and get past their judgements to be able to decide if they like something or not. So, I think that’s what is exciting about coming to a newer place where we’re the first ones to show off these kinds of styles.

####Bang on a Can seems to be more of a platform than a traditional band that everyone is used to seeing. What are your thoughts on that?

It is a little bit of both in the sense that since we’ve been doing this for many years now, Bang on a Can All-Stars is a band that has developed a certain style of playing. Probably the most successful music will be created if the composer pays attention to who these players are because they have specific talents like all of us do. And if you do pay attention and say, Hey, I know Ashley Bathgate, the cellist or Robert Black, they can do some special things and I want to let them do those things that they do really well… as opposed to just thinking, Oh, I’m writing for cello, and then not thinking about the musician. This also allows for more engaged conversation.

####I am curious to know whether you envisioned something like this when the band first started. What was the vision 30 years ago and how has it changed since then?

Well, we didn’t have a master plan from the beginning. Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe, who are the three composers who started this, were sitting around complaining about how the world was not very receptive to this kind of music. And that is when they decided to do something, to do this concert and I don’t think there was a plan at that moment to go on for 30 years, but at the end of the concert we decided to do it again next year…

There wasn’t really a place where you could meet other young artists who were interested in this “fringe” type of music. So we thought we should create a place for them to come together and meet people that share those interests, explore ideas and resolve some problems that exist in the field of contemporary music. So far, the conversation continues to be exciting and the art is really great and so are the projects. And we keep going.

We’re almost trying to create a little utopia, like the one you have here at NYUAD, where you can experiment, explore ideas and meet people from all over the world in a safe space. I think that’s the world Bang on a Can imagines and is trying to create. And now, it becomes more poignant as it is a political act for people to come together and share an experience where they are open-minded to each other’s ideas. It is a very powerful way of escaping the daily headlines and the realities we are currently facing.