Julia Wolfe's Anthracite Fields with the Bang on a Can All-Stars and Chorus pro Musica

Anthracite Fields by Julia Wolfe is a concert-length work for chorus and amplified instrumental ensemble that honors the people who worked in, and were shaped by, Pennsylvania’s anthracite coal region. Wolfe, a co-founder of Bang on a Can, built the piece from extensive research: oral-history interviews, local archives, historical documents, and the everyday language of the miners and their families. The result is part oratorio, part documentary, and part rock concert.
The work unfolds in five movements, each looking at a different facet of coal-country life, from the dangers and dignity of work underground to the child laborers known as “breaker boys,” who spent their days picking slate from coal. Wolfe sets these voices for chorus with propulsive, driving rhythms, shimmering harmonies, and stretches of striking stillness. The ensemble’s electric guitar, piano, percussion, cello, and winds supply a pulse that is as much contemporary club as concert hall.
The piece won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Music, and the jury praised it as a powerful tribute to the industrial laborers of the region. Performed by Chorus pro Musica alongside the Bang on a Can All-Stars, the ensemble that has long championed Wolfe’s music, this production brings the full force of a large chorus and a hard-driving band to a story about labor, memory, and community that continues to resonate today.
Audiences should expect an immersive, emotionally charged evening that is accessible to newcomers and rewarding for seasoned concertgoers. No familiarity with contemporary music is required.