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It's official: Red Bull Music Academy—the festival lauded for spotlighting an incredibly diverse range of inventive contemporary music—is descending upon the city for a fifth year. As we've come to expect over the past half-decade, the monthlong series—which will run from April 29 to May 21—will feature an impressively wide range of events, including club nights, concerts, workshops and lectures.
Exploring varied local and global electronic and experimental music scenes, the eclectic offerings present something for musicians and fans of all stripes. On May 7, RBMA delves into outré currents of the NYC electronic underground with A Bedstuy Function, bringing together innovative DJs from various local Brooklyn collectives: Fake Accent, KUNQ, Discwoman and more. On the commercially acclaimed side of the cultural sphere, Solange (responsible for one of our favorite albums of 2016) presents a one-of-a-kind performance at the Guggenheim that will feature meditations on solidarity through dance on May 18.
As always, the fest will feature intimate conversations with influential artists. Groundbreaking experimental composer Alvin Lucier will discuss the foundational tenets of his work, while revolutionary filmmaker Werner Herzog takes to the stage at the MoMA to discuss how music has informed his cinema.
Also included are a celebration of the life and music of jazz musician Alice Coltrane, Gucci Mane performing piano renditions of his hits, a 10-hour ambient event bringing together generations of musicians ranging from airy vocalist Julianna Barwick to New Age multi-instrumentalist Laraaji, and an all-night party from Detroit house-music producer Moodymann that will entirely feature deep cuts from Prince’s extensive catalogue.
Tickets go on sale today, Wednesday, March 22 at 11am EDT. See more details on the individual events, sign up for the #RBMANYC newsletter, and purchase tickets here.
