On March 26th & 27th, Present Music will present two world premieres of original compositions. One of them will be Copper Canvas by GRAMMY®-nominated composer Andy Akiho, which explores the number 29 from the Periodic Table of Elements. The other world premiere will be Turkish American composer Kamran Ince’s then, nothing which asks big existential questions with colorful passion.

In addition to these world premieres, crowd-pleaser and Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lang will present a droll, counterintuitive arrangement of Steppenwolf’s iconic biker anthem Born to be Wild. The final piece of the evening, 26 Little Deaths, will honor illustrator Edward Gorey’s 100th birthday. Carla Kihlstedt’s work is based upon the late artist’s darkly humorous alphabet book The Gashlycrumb Tinies. Slides of the famous illustrations will accompany Kihlstedt’s vocals and violin. The performance will serve as an album-release party for the Kihlstedt-Present Music collaboration from Cantaloupe Music label.