Music and Its Secret Powers for Good and Evil

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang presents a lecture titled “Music and its Secret Powers for Good and Evil” as part of the ongoing Creative Matters lecture series..
Sponsored by the UI Office of Research and Economic Development, Creative Matters is an initiative of the UI Arts Advancement Committee to encourage a campus-wide conversation about the centrality of creativity to the intellectual community and institutional identity and begin the celebration of the post-flood renewal of the UI arts campus. The full schedule is available at creativematters...
Prior to his lecture, which will include a performance of one of his compositions by UI School of Music students, Lang-a UI alumnus-has been named a College of Liberal Arts Alumni Fellow.
Lang has been described as a passionate, prolific, and complicated composer who embodies the restless spirit of invention. He is at the same time deeply versed in the classical tradition and committed to music that resists categorization, constantly creating new forms. In the words of The New Yorker, "With his winning of the Pulitzer Prize for the little match girl passion (one of the most original and moving scores of recent years), Lang, once a postminimalist enfant terrible, has solidified his standing as an American master." Musical America's 2013 Composer of the Year and recipient of Carnegie Hall's Debs Composer's Chair for 2013-2014, Lang is one of America's most performed composers.
The Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development provides resources and support to researchers and scholars at the University of Iowa and to businesses across Iowa with the goal of forging new frontiers of discovery and innovation and promoting a culture of creativity that benefits the campus, the state, and the world. More at research.uiowa.edu, and on Twitter: @DaretoDiscover.
Lang's talk is part of a year-long series called Creative Matters, an initiative of the UI Arts Advancement Committee in collaboration with my office. The lecture series will underscore the centrality of creativity in our intellectual community and encourage the cultivation of creativity in every discipline.