The Cage Project

The Cage Project description

Described by Arnold Schoenberg as “an inventor – of genius” rather than a composer, John Cage has long been recognised for his innovative contributions to music. In this interpretation of Cage’s magnum opus, his Sonatas and Interludes of 1948, two artists bring their own sense of invention to create a thrilling new audience experience.

Matthias Schack-Arnott is an Australian percussionist, composer and artist known for his unique approach to sound: he creates expansive sculptural musical worlds that are beautifully lit and dramatically staged. Cédric Tiberghien is an acclaimed French classical pianist known for his versatility and openness to new concert formats. In The Cage Project, Schack-Arnott brings his own particular genius to Cage’s classic work for prepared piano, augmenting it with a massive kinetic sound sculpture that floats above the piano as Tiberghien plays, ringing and chiming in synchronicity.

Cage initiated the prepared piano as a means of giving the instrument a greater percussive quality, lending each key its own characteristic timbre. More than 70 years after its composition, Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes is reimagined as a three-dimensional sculptural world and performative event from the mind of Schack-Arnott and with Tiberghien’s exquisite playing at its heart.

PROGRAM
Cage: Sonatas and Interludes