In the 100th birthday year of the American avant-garde composer John Cage, many cultural institutions are celebrating his deeply influential life's work. But celebrating Cage is a lot more elusive than celebrating, say, Debussy. Composing with open-ended concepts that often didn't even include notes and rests, Cage threw so much responsibility onto the performers and audiences that it's hard to know what to celebrate. The Philadelphia Inquirer's David Patrick Stearns discovers the hidden burdens in Cage's brand of anarchy.
John Cage: Song Books will be performed at the Fidget Spaceat 1714 Mascher Street in Philadelphia on Friday, October 5th at 8 pm.