Disco Party at The Greyhound

Wild Up Performs Arthur Russell’s 24→24 Music

The late composer, cellist, and singer Arthur Russell, whose stature and influence have only grown since his death in 1992, occupied a singular space in New York’s downtown scene. In his music, avant-garde composition, punk, new wave, funk, dance culture, and deeply personal singer-songwriter intimacy coexisted without hierarchy. He loved disco, not as a genre, but as a form to stretch, question, and reinvent.

24→24 Music was among his most ambitious statements: an improvised, rhythm-driven work grounded in disco, with grooves that subtly shift every 24 bars. It premiered at The Kitchen, then the legendary Soho outpost for experimental music. Self-released under the name Dinosaur L, complete with a hand silk-screened cover, the record became a cult artifact before being rediscovered by a new generation upon its 2007 reissue. Pitchfork later called it “disco at its loosest, warmest, and weirdest.”

At Big Ears 2026, 24→24 Music comes vividly to life in all its exuberant, dance-floor-ready glory, performed by Wild Up—the GRAMMY-nominated collective known for fearless, genre-defying work. Founded by Artistic Director Christopher Rountree, the ensemble has reimagined what a classical group can be, blurring lines between concert hall and club, tradition and experimentation. The setting: The Greyhound. And yes, there will be a disco ball.

The Living Legacy of Julius Eastman

Wild Up Performs Femenine

So Percussion Performs Stay On It

Over the past decade, few stories have been as powerful as the long-overdue recognition of Julius Eastman, rising from the ashes of obscurity like a phoenix to “crash the canon”

(as Zachary Woolfe wrote in an article a decade ago) and claim his place among the most revolutionary composers of the late 20th century. Woolfe now points to a true masterpiece within Eastman’s body of work: Femenine, an insistent, ritualistic work of shimmering momentum that can carry listeners into entirely new realms.

At Big Ears, Los Angeles-based Wild Up brings Femenine to the Bijou Theatre on opening night, March 26. And in the festival’s final hours on Sunday, So Percussion performs Eastman’s electrifying Stay On It—a fitting, exuberant close to the weekend.

Simon Hanes: GARGANTUA

It’s reached the point where if composer, bassist, and bandleader Simon Hanes (Tredici Bacci) unveils a new project, we’re all ears. GARGANTUA is no exception. Scored for an audacious large ensemble (three drum sets, three electric basses, three trombones, three French horns, and three voices) the work draws its title from Rabelais’ 16th-century epic Gargantua and Pantagruel. Its influences are equally expansive: Icelandic sagas, Celtic and Greek mythology, medieval brass, Renaissance polyphony, Ukrainian trembita music, Tibetan long horns, Scottish pipe and drum traditions, ’70s hard rock, American minimalism, and European avant-garde. The result is monumental and unrestrained—music that pushes toward extremes, at once terrifying and explosively joyous.

Reflecting on Knoxville Broadcast

On a beautiful October weekend, more than 500 Knoxville musicians—students, neighbors, community choirs, and longtime collaborators—joined composer Lisa Bielawa to fill World’s Fair Park and perform her site-specific spatial symphony, Knoxville Broadcast, created just for them.

In three performances spanning two days, 14 ensembles moved the music through the park, voices and instruments rising and receding as audiences walked alongside. You can hear the city in these moments: lyrics shaped in workshops, familiar melodies floating across the pond, and even an ensemble that zoomed quickly through the crowd playing the true-to-life chords of Knoxville’s freight train, hearkening back to the park’s history as the site of the L&N train station.

We thought of it as a love letter to our city. Thankfully, our friends at Loch & Key created a video that captures the joy and spirit of the occasion. We offer it as a Valentine for all, an offering of peace and love in these troubled times. A huge thank you to Lisa Bielawa and all of the musicians, educators, families, and funders who brought this wonderful, unique celebration to life!