Commissioned Work
Artist commission programs are central to Stanford Live's mission, allowing support for emerging artists and deepening engagement with the many communities we serve. Commissioning provides support for artists early in their creative process. The new works that are presented in our venues represent the important ideas, movements, and issues of the present moment allowing artists the freedom and resources to share their creative visions and bring these meaningful works to life.
The photographs below are representative of some of the meaningful works Stanford Live commissioned during the first decade of Bing Concert Hall.
History of Commissioned Works
2023–24
2023–24
Akram Khan Jungle Book reimagined
Gregory Maqoma and Thuthuka Sibisi Broken Chord
Los Angeles Master Chorale Music to Accompany a Departure
Ronnie Burkett Wonderful Joe
Terry Riley Holy Lift-Off for Claire Chase, flute
Kronos Quartet The Five Decades Project: New work by Gabriella Smith
2022–23
2022–23
Circa Leviathan
Jonathan Berger, Vievee Frances, Enrico Riley The Ritual of Breath is the Rite to Resist
Dimitris Papaiaonnou Transverse Orientation
Okaidja Afroso Jaku Mumor
Joyce DiDonato Eden
Samuel Adams Echo Transcriptions
Meklit Hadero Movement LIVE
2021–22
2021–22
Matthew Aucoin The No One’s Rose
iskwē acakosik
A.I.M by Kyle Abraham Requiem: Fire in the Air of the Earth
Johnny Gandelsman This is America (With Love From J by Marika Hughes)
Mark-Anthony Turnage Without Ceremony
Sam Green 32 Sounds
David Lang sun-centered
Gabriel Kahane Magnificent Bird
Candybomber Productions Fray
Jacob Jonas dance.films
Jacob Boehme The Elders Project
2020–21
2020–21
Forced Entertainment Table Top Shakespeare
Constance Hockaday Artists-in-Presidents
Manual Cinema Christmas Carol
Taylor Mac Holiday Sauce
Daniel Bernard Roumain They Still Want To Kill Us
Stanford Live Film Series
St. Lawrence String Quartet Return to Haydn
Garrick Ohlsson & Beethoven Connection In Isolation
Kronos Quartet Testimony
Vân-Ánh (Vanessa) Võ From Vietnamese Master to Blood Moon Orchestra
Chanticleer From Darkness to Light
Marcus Shelby Holiday Trio
Kronos Quartet: Points of Entry
Zakir Hussain, Pezhham Akhavass and Abbos Kosimov The Stitches that Bind Us
New Century Chamber Orchestra New Century Reunited
Marcus Shelby Trio Harriet Tubman and the Blues
2019–20
2019–20
Bryce Dessner Triptych
Brad Mehldau The Folly of Desire
Yang Liping The Rite of Spring (performance canceled due to the pandemic, moved to the 2024–25 season)
2018–19
2018–19
Samuel Adams Movements (for us and them)
Nitin Sawhney and Wang Ramirez Dystopian Dream
Jimmy Lopez and Nilo Cruz Dreamer
2017–18
2017–18
Taylor Mac A 24-Decade History of Popular Music
Kronos Quartet Fifty for the Future
Guy Maddin Green Fog
2016–17
2016–17
Murat Eyuboglu, Paola Prestini, John Luther Adams, Glenn Kotche, William Britelle, and Shara Worden The Colorado
2015–16
2015–16
Anna Deavere Smith Notes from the Field: The School to Prison Pipeline
Larry Keigwin, Keigwin + Company: Bolero Silicon Valley
2014–15
2014–15
John Adams Second String Quartet, composed for and performed by the St. Lawrence String Quartet
Mikel Rouse and Ben Neill The Demo
2013–14
2013–14
Jaroslaw Kapuscinski and OpenEnded Group Linked Verse
2012–13
2012–13
Jonathan Berger A Place of Concert for Stanford Chorale on Bing Concert Hall's opening night
John Luther Adams Ilimaq, composed for Glenn Kotche, percussion
Steve Reich Radio Rewrite for Alarm Will Sound
Laurie Anderson Landfall (Scenes from My New Novel) for Kronos Quartet
Jonathan Berger Visitations: Theotokia/The War Reporter