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New Work Network present ‘Song Books’ by John Cage

Andy Whall: Bouldering, creativity and a haptic approach to landscape, DIY 9:2012

8pm
£6 advance booking / £7 on the door

New Work Network presents John Cage's ‘Song Books’ performed by ex-Scratch Orchestra members alongside a younger generation of performers and composers.

Fresh from their sell-out concert at Cafe Oto, the group perform one of Cage’s most ambitious works, comprising over 48 vocal scores and 42 other instructions for 'theatre' (Fluxus-like 'actions'), individually programmed by each performer to start within an agreed period of time. The scores are diverse and cover almost every approach to experimenting with notation that Cage used: from conventional music to the most abstract.

The piece raises the question of the place of visual performance within experimental music and attempts to bring the Scratch Orchestra experience into a critical collision with a John Cage composition.

Performers include: Renate Biruls, George Chambers, Linn D, Carole Finer, Sharon Gal, Lucie Galand, Penny Homer, Eve Libertine, Robbie Lockwood, Geri McEwan, Carmel Morrissey, Michael Parsons, Stefan Szczelkun, Sarah Walker, Ali Warner and Portia Winters.

“Cage’s music is definitely art and yet, in this case at least, the closer it comes to life the better it works as art.”

Ben Harper, Boring Like A Drill. 12 March 2012 (Café Oto review)

#SongBooks and #JohnCage on Twitter

 

Date and time

20 October 2012

Please note
This is now a past event.

Venue

Toynbee Studios
28 Commercial Street
London, E1 6AB
Tel: 020 7247 5102
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