John Cage's Indeterminacy:  A Classic by America’s Most Influential Avant-Garde Composer

Room: Languages & Literature, 1st Floor

In 1959, composer John Cage created a performance work consisting of 90 stories, each to be read within a minute, with some read quickly, others slowly. At the same time—from another room—pianist David Tudor would perform some of the piano sections from Cage’s Concert for Piano and Orchestra along with excerpts from Cage’s electronic tape piece Fontana Mix. Enjoy a short talk on the work, along with 15 of the stories played from a delightful archival recording. 

Jeffrey Lependorf serves as Executive Director of the John Cage Trust. As well a composer of operas and chamber music, he is also a certified master of the shakuhachi (a traditional Japanese flute) and performs on a variety of Asian bamboo flutes. He has performed and heard his music performed across the United States, Europe, and Japan. His music has in fact literally been performed around the globe: a recording of his "Night Pond" for solo shakuhachi launched into space when the shuttle Atlantis took off on May 15, 1997 and remained for a year aboard the Russian space station Mir. His “Masterpieces of Western Music” audio course can be found at audible.com, and selected recordings can be found on various online platforms.