Birmingham Contemporary Music Group proposes to commission American composer David Lang to create an original hour long piece for several thousand people, entitled The Shouting Olympiad. The piece will not be in any specific language but will invite people to shout together, not out or rage or unhappiness but out of joyfulness. Participants will be drawn from diverse communities across the West Midlands and beyond. David Lang will teach his piece to around 60 musicians from the region who will then teach the music to groups from those countries participating in the London 2012 Games. After rigorous coaching, the members of The Shouting Olympiad will convene in the West Midlands in 2011 to create a celebratory performance in a sporting stadium. 

David Lang won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Music for The Little Match Girl Passion, commissioned by Carnegie Hall for the vocal ensemble Theatre of Voices. One of America's most performed composers, David is based in New York and has a long-standing relationship with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. He wrote My Evil Twin for BCMG in 1992 and The Passing Measures for BCMG and bass clarinet player Marty Ehrlich in 1998. Recent works include Writing on Water for the London Sinfonietta, with libretto and visuals by filmmaker Peter Greenaway; The Difficulty of Crossing a Field - a fully staged opera for the Kronos Quartet; and Loud Love Songs, a concerto for the percussionist Evelyn Glennie. David Lang is a co-artistic director, along with composers Julia Wolfe and Michael Gordon, of New York's Bang on a Can Festival. The Bang on a Can All-Stars have toured the UK on a number of occasions to great acclaim, and have played in Birmingham promoted by BCMG.