[2] Bang on a Can is perhaps best known for its Marathon Concerts,[3] during which an eclectic mix of pieces are performed in succession over the course of many hours while audience members, who are encouraged to maintain a "jeans-and-tee-shirt informality," are welcome to come and go as they please.
For the twentieth anniversary of their Marathon Concerts, Bang on a Can presented twenty-six hours of uninterrupted music at the World Financial Center Winter Garden Atrium in New York City.
Among Bang on a Can's early events were performances by John Cage, premieres of Glenn Branca’s epic symphonies for massed electric guitars, and fully staged operas by Harry Partch, featuring the composer's original instruments.
In 2002, Bang on a Can began the yearly Summer Institute of Music,[4] a program at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) for young composers and performers.
The ensemble's premiere performance was in 2009 at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival, and featured new commissioned works by Tyondai Braxton (of experimental rock group Battles), Goran Bregovic, and Stew and Heidi Rodewald, alongside arrangements of songs by Björk, Meshuggah, Charles Mingus, Conlon Nancarrow, and Frank Zappa.