ABOUT THE EVENT
Arcana joins forces with the Prometheus Chamber Ensemble to perform two politically charged works of modern music. Dutch composer Louis Andriessen's 1975 composition Workers Union is notated as a single part that can be played by any kind of instruments, melodic or percussive. Noisy, hypnotic, and powerfully dramatic, Workers Union is a parable for political organizing: in the composer's words, "Only if every player plays with the intention that their part is essential will the work succeed."
While Andriessen's work is based on the theme of solidarity--"Musicians of the world, unite!"-- John Cage's nearly contemporary Apartment House 1776, composed for the American Bicentennial, celebrates the composer's anarchist belief in a decentralized society with a "plurality of centers." In the original version, four soloists sing songs representing the religious traditions of the time of the American Revolution (Protestant, Sephardic, African American, and Native American), accompanied by snippets of instrumental music of the time that Cage modified via chance operations. This toned-down interpretation will feature a number of Cage's arrangements alternating with solo performances of some of the songs.
THE PROGRAM
Georg Phillip Telemann: Les Nations
Louis Andriessen: Workers Union
John Cage: Harmonies from Apartment House 1776
More Information >>> http://www.bowerbird.org/newsite/events/170224/