Bang on a Can All-Stars founder Robert Black has died. He was 67.

Robert Black. Photo © Stephanie Berger

Black’s work ranged across traditional orchestral and chamber music to cutting-edge collaborations with actors, dancers, and live action-painting performances. During his career, Black collaborated or performed with American icons including Philip Glass, John Cage, Meredith Monk, Michael Gordon and Cecil Taylor.

He co-founded Bang on a Can All-Stars in 1992, an amplified ensemble that visited and played in Australia, notably in 2012 in the John Cage Festival (Sydney Opera House) and in the concert Extended Play in 2018.

Black recorded prolifically. His solo recordings include Philip Glass: Bass Partita and Poetry, (Orange Mountain Music), Possessed, Modern American Bass, The Bass Music of Christian Wolff, Giacinto Scelsi and State of the Bass.

He recorded 25 CDs with the Bang On A Can All-Stars whose recording of Terry Riley’s In C made the 2001 New York Times top ten lists in both classical and pop. Black also recorded for Sony Classical, Point/Polygram, Koch International, CRI, Opus One, Artifact Recordings, Folkways Records, and others.

Black also served as professor of double bass and instrumental music for many years at the...