Blistering virtuosity from another dimension. Legendary saxophonist Marshall Allen and keyboardist Farid Barron - both from the cosmic Sun Ra Arkestra - join for a duo of sonic exchanges, at the very edge of possibility. Critics have described Marshall as one of the most distinctive and original saxophonists of the postwar era. Pianist Farid Barron…
Blistering virtuosity from another dimension. Legendary saxophonist Marshall Allen and keyboardist Farid Barron - both from the cosmic Sun Ra Arkestra - join for a duo of sonic exchanges, at the very edge of possibility. Critics have described Marshall as one of the most distinctive and original saxophonists of the postwar era. Pianist Farid Barron…
We invited ten of the most interesting performers - five musicians and five dancers - and paired them up with someone they've never performed with - on a Blind Date. We played match maker - and we were careful to take risks. What will happen? We don't exactly know, but Blind Date is here to…
Something between dance, music and theater, More Mouvements für Lachenmann is French choreographer Xavier Le Roy's poetic and fascinating version of a contemporary music concert from the point of view of someone obsessed with movement. This dance for eight extraordinary virtuoso musicians, including members of the Austrian new music ensemble Klangforum Wien, breaks down the…
When we think of documentary films, we probably call to mind certain familiar forms, such as archival footage of World War II battles or British-accented narration of natural scenes. But conceived in the broadest terms, the documentary is an extremely diverse cinematic genre with at least as much room for artistic experimentation as the fictional…
American composer Michael Gordon's new piece, Timber, is an evening-length tour de force. Scored for six graduated wooden Simantras — Greek liturgical percussion instruments used by French composer Iannis Xenakis — the work brings the physicality, endurance and technique of percussion performance to a new level. In this new work, Gordon shapes the music in…
Difficult to summarize, yet unified in ethos and affect, this evening features three solo projects - Diamond Terrifier (Sam Hillmer of the Zs's), Partrick Higgins (in an extensive reworking of JS Bach's music), and Wait (a solo electronics project by Robert J). Also on the evening is a new quartetFemme Tops featuring Alex Hampshire, Rick…
This workshop will introduce participants to mobile field recording in an urban park setting. We will listen to and record the sounds of traffic, the recycling center, park visitors on foot/bicycle/ rollerblade/skateboard/ segway/stroller, aircraft, and watercraft. Non human-made sounds that may also be encountered include birds, the wind, insects, squirrels, rats, feral dogs, and water…
Listen Here Now investigates how listening, recording and mapping can transform our sense of place, time and physical relationship to a given location in the neighborhood of Pt. Breeze/Grays Ferry. This workshop involves listening, recording and mapping sound. Through focused listening, the participant becomes more aware of their environment as they discover their surrounding in…
Bernard Parmegiani (b. 1927): "De natura sonorum" (1975) Suite in twelve movements Digital artist Peter Price will perform live projected visuals to accompany the digital playback. The concert will be preceded by a brief introductory talk by Thomas Patteson. ABOUT THE EVENT Building on the acoustic investigations of his teacher Pierre Schaeffer, the founder of…
CHRIS HEENAN & JONAS KOCHER (accordian) BHOB RAINEY (solo electronics) ABOUT THE EVENT Bowerbird commences the fall season with a concert featuring first rate music from local and distant sources. This is a rare chance to see the duo of Berlin-based American contrabass clarinetist Chris Heenan and Swiss accordianist Jonas Kocher (who are in…
An industrious and inventive mind, Cage explored new ways to notate music including graphs, transparencies, text, and even start charts. When combined with his use of chance and an ear for the unusual these innovations fueled new frontiers in performance practice and the development of bold new sounds. This evening two young virtuosos, recent Pew…
Virtuoso pianist Margaret Leng Tan, who began her association with Cage in 1981, performs an eclectic and far ranging program of Cage’s music for piano, prepared piano, and toy piano to live projected videos.Compositions include Works of Calder, Music for Marcel Duchamp, Cage’s score painting Chess Pieces, and Music for Piano no. 2, which will…
Pianist Margaret Leng Tan returns for a performance of one of John Cages most important works, Sonatas and Interludes. Rhythmic and driving, Sonatas and Interludes is a collection of twenty pieces - sixteen sonatas and four more freely structured interludes - composed for prepared piano, a Cagean innovation that uses screws, bolts, pieces of rubber…
Composed in 1951, Music of Changes was Cages first instrumental composition entirely derived from chance procedures. Cage applied a book of the I Ching, a recent gift from a young Christian Wolff, to various parameters in the music: tempi, dynamics, sounds and silences, durations and superimpositions. The resulting music is one of pointed extremes and…
Cage often referred to his silent piece as his most important work, but does this piece overshadow his other artistic contributions, and most importantly, his craft as a composer? A series of talks and artistic responses explore the complex and interwoven ideas of 433 (1952) and beyond. Part of the Cage: Beyond Silence festival. http://cagebeyondsilence.com/
One of the ideas central to Cages philosophy was asking us to consider the way we listen to and perceive music. Monumental in its duration, this performance of Cages Organ2 / ASLSP challenges the traditional parameters of a concert and asks us to choose our own path to engage with the music. Presented by organist…
Taking advantage of the unique character of each instrument, members of Philadelphias venerable Network for New Music perform solos from Cage's Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1958 - 59), offering a broad sampling instrumental timbres and compositional styles. These works will be performed in tandem with the choreographed movements of the Merce Cunningham dancers on…
