The Bang on a Can Marathon---which the New York Times calls "an annual orgy of new music," takes places this weekend, bringing 12 hours of free music to the World Financial Center's Winter Garden in downtown New York City. The event kicks off at 6 PM on Saturday evening with Alarm Will Sound's performance of the third movement to John Adams's Son of Chamber Symphony. The San Francisco Chronicle calls it a "vivacious" piece that "bursts with the technical prowess and cogent wit of the composer's finest efforts," and said of Alarm Will Sound's premiere of the work last December that it was “delivered with verve and precision." Choreographer Mark Morris's setting of the piece in his Joyride at the San Francisco Ballet's New Works Festival last month featured what the Chronicle called the epitome of "dazzlingly sophisticated musicality."

As the clock turns past midnight, Steve Reich's Daniel Variations is scheduled to be performed by SIGNAL, a new-music group featuring members of Alarm Will Sound and founded by Brad Lubman, who will conduct the performance in the 12-2 AM block.

The musical marathon continues into the wee hours of the morning, with works by such renowned  composers as Terry Riley, Michael Gordon, David Lang, Brian Eno, and Karlheinz Stockhausen, and even an arrangement of The Beatles' Revolution #9, which Alarm Will Sound will play shortly after SIGNAL's Daniel Variations performance.

For more information and the complete schedule of events, visit bangonacan.org.