A complete performance of John Cage's 'Song Books' happens Super Bowl Sunday at CalArts. | Image: Mark Bobak
With the Super Bowl dominating this weekend’s activities for many, a group of musicians—current students, alumni and faculty—from The Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts are having their own party on Sunday (Feb. 5): a complete, four-hour performance of the experimental composer John Cage’s Song Books. The event takes over the Main Gallery, the L-Shape Gallery, the Roy O. Disney Music Hall Foyer and surrounding areas from 4 to 8 pm.
The collection of short works, composed by Cage in 1970, includes songs, songs with electronics, directions for a theatrical performance, as well as directions for a theatrical performance with electronics. Sunday’s performances present a rare opportunity to hear the solos performed in their entirety.
“Some of the work that current students are doing is truly groundbreaking in terms of construction of the work and a sort of ‘meta’ realization of the piece,” says Voice Program faculty member Jacqueline Bobak. “One participant will be performing parts of all of the solos.
The Super Book Sunday event is just one of several planned at CalArts and REDCAT during 2012—the centenary of Cage’s birth.
The Long Books: John Cage’s Complete ‘Song Books’
Main Gallery, L-Shape Gallery, Roy O. Disney Music Hall Foyer, CalArts
Sunday, Feb. 5, 4-8 pm
Free
The image above, created by Mark Bobak, depicts the 19th-century American author/philosopher Henry David Thoreau on a New England Patriots’ football helmet. Cage included this image of Thoreau on his Song Books score.