On Silence: Hommage to John Cage

Fri 02 Mar, 2012, 8pm

“On Silence,” marks the centennial of John Cage’s birth. The program consists of 13 new compositions, each 4’33” long, referencing Cage’s infamous 1952 opus of the same name in which a pianist sits at the instrument for the assigned duration occasionally turning score pages and performing nothing. Through this composition, Cage invited the sounds of the environment to enter the repertoire of the staged music. The original version will be included in the program. Thirteen young and up-and-coming composers from the US, Europe, South America and Japan were asked to reflect on what Cage means in their creative life. They were commissioned to compose a work of the same duration drawing sources from the following instrumentation: grand piano, computer sound and video, hardware technologies of choice, everyday objects and musical toys.

This program was curated by Juraj Kojs, and will include commissioned compositions by Christopher Cerrone, Natacha Diels, Katarzyna Glowicka, Andrew Greenwald, Adrian Knight, Juraj Kojs, Jessie Marino, Paula Matthusen, Chikashi Miyama, Spencer Topel, Chester Udell, Jorge Variego and Henry Vega.

Chamber Music Month is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.