Lecture

John Cage, who taught at The New School, made music history with his notion of “chance” in composition. Two generations have followed, and many composers have created their own brands of new music inspired by Cage’s idea of indeterminacy. The late composer/conductor Earle Brown, alone and in collaboration with visual artists like Alexander Calder and Robert Rauschenberg, developed his “open form.” More recently, Joshua Fried, composer/percussionist, has employed electronics for his unique concept of “created-on-the-spot” aleatory performance. In the spirit of the late Earle Brown, who was to have joined us for this series, Joshua Fried and another composer to be announced come to The New School for musically illustrated conversations about their work and their predecessors.