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THIRD COAST PERCUSSION celebrates JOHN CAGE
with concerts this week in DC and NYC
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This week, the acclaimed Chicago-based percussion ensemble THIRD COAST PERCUSSION hails the centenary of the groundbreaking American artist JOHN CAGE with concerts in Washington DC at The Kennedy Center, and in New York at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA):
REVOLUTION: THE JOHN CAGE CENTURY
Second Construction (1940)
Credo in Us (1942)
Radio Music (1956)
Quartet, movements 1, 2, 3 (1935)
RENGA:CAGE:100 (2012, world premiere)
Third Construction (1941)
TODAY, August 7, 2012 at 6pm
Millennium Stage, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
2700 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20566
FREE Admission, Info: 800-444-1324 or 202-467-4600
Watch live at 6pm, via webcast on the Kennedy Center website right here.
THURSDAY, August 9, 2012, 6:30pm
Sculpture Garden, The Museum of Modern Art, for MoMA Nights
11 West 53 Street New York, NY 10019 212-708-9680
First come, first served entry, with regular MoMA museum admission
In the event of rain, the Sculpture Garden will close, and music will take place either Theater 2 or Theater 3.
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| More about the program, and the Cage/MoMA connection |
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With these concerts, Third Coast Percussion highlights works written in John Cage’s early artistic life; when he met and studied with Arnold Schoenberg and Henry Cowell, worked with Lou Harrison, fell in love with and married Xenia Andreyevna Kashevaroff, and found inspiration in Oskar Fischinger’s dictum that "everything in the world has a spirit that can be released through its sound.”
The new work on the program, RENGA:Cage:100 is a tribute to Cage and his continuing influence on today’s composers and performers. Based on the traditional Japanese poetry practice of renga, in which several poets write a collaborative work (Cage drew on the practice in a number of compositions), RENGA:Cage:100 is comprised of miniature contributions from 100 contemporary composers, presented in an order determined by chance operations, and performed as a seamless work. Contributing composers include Aaron Jay Kernis, Missy Mazzoli, Steven Mackey, Andrew Norman, Corey Dargel, Glenn Kotche, Augusta Read Thomas, Joan La Barbara, Timothy Andres and Mason Bates, among others.
Third Coast Percussion’s August 9 MoMA Nights concert is notable because it was at MoMA, in 1943, that Cage organized and performed a percussion concert for his New York City debut.
“In 1943, John Cage presented a concert at MoMA that was the culmination of the first major period of his creative life, a period when he created some of the most influential and lasting percussion music in the repertoire. With this very much in mind, Third Coast Percussion is honored to bring a concert of Cage's music and a new piece inspired by Cage to this place that has such a deep connection with his legacy,” says TCP member David Skidmore.
The Third Coast Percussion MoMA Nights concert is a major feature of MoMA’s John Cage Day programming. Throughout John Cage Day (August 9) MoMA will honor Cage’s work and contributions to the avant-garde with a series of readings, performances, musical compositions, and personal reflections by poets, writers, musicians, and scholars. Other participants include writer and editor Richard Kostelantez; Joan Retallack, John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Humanities, Bard College; pianist and toy-piano virtuoso Margaret Leng Tan; soprano Catherine Hancock; and poet, editor, and curator Roger van Voorhees.
The Kennedy Center is presenting today's concert as part of its “Performing Arts for Everyone” initiative, which provides performances open to the public and free of charge 365 days a year.
These dates also celebrate the May 2012 release of Third Coast Percussion’s acclaimed debut album on Mode Records: JOHN CAGE: THE PERCUSSION WORKS 2.
Download the complete press release with full details about these concerts here and visit www.otherarts.net for more information about Third Coast Percussion, and other leading artists of the new music scene.
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