Bridwell Library & Perkins Sacred Music Program Present
A FESTIVAL OF FORM
John Cage & the Infinite Human
March 7-9, 2022
RSVP
An avant-garde festival of music, sound, silence, art, and books
at Bridwell Library and Perkins Chapel
Featuring
A 16-hour performance of Cage’s Organ2/ASLSP
“As Slow as Possible”
Lecture and music by composer, music critic,
and Cage scholar Kyle Gann
and viewing of Bridwell’s current exhibits
SYMBIOSIS OF SCRIPT, FONT, AND FORM:
A SELECTION OF ARTISTS’ BOOKS
&
Theology and Art of the Score
Free and open to the public
March 7-9, 2022 on the SMU campus
For registration details go to the
View the Program for the Festival of Form
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
DAY 1: Monday, March 7, 2022 (RSVP)
Welcome to A Festival of Form at Bridwell Library, Blue Room
5:00PM Light Refreshments
5:30PM Introductory Remarks: Dean Sam Holland (SMU Meadows School of the Arts) and Dean Holly Jeffcoat (SMU Libraries)
5:45PM Lecture: “Infinite Sound, Infinite Human: How Form in Arts, Theology, and Music Strengthen our Understanding of the World” by Anthony Elia
6:15PM Panel Discussion on John Cage and his Legacy by SMU Meadows Music Faculty
6:35PM A Sonic Welcome to A Festival of Form with Dr. Courtney Brown (“John Cage & the Dinosaur”)
DAY 2: Tuesday, March 8, 2022 (RSVP)
6:00AM-10:00PM Performance in Perkins Chapel of Organ2/ASLSP ~ “As Slow as Possible” – Christopher Anderson, Marcell Steuernagel & Ruth West
View Live-Stream Performance
*This work will be performed continuously and will be open to the public beginning at 6AM. As it is comprised of both long intervals of sustained notes on the organ and short stretches of silence, visitors may enter the chapel and experience the sound (or its absence) within the space over those 16-hours. Student assistants will meet visitors at the entrance of the chapel and guide them to seats inside. We offer and recommend the use of blindfolds (which you may keep), in order to allow visitors to focus on the sound of the space only, but this is not required for entrance.
DAY 3: Wednesday, March 9, 2022
1:00PM Custer and Sitting Bull, opera by Kyle Gann. (RSVP) Film screening in Perkins Chapel with Q&A with Mr. Gann to follow
2:30–3:45PM (RSVP) Lecture: “John Cage in Dallas and Beyond” by Kyle Gann Bridwell Library, Blue Room
3:45–4:00PM Break
4:00–4:30PM Interlude: Microtonal works on altered electronic piano in Bridwell Library, Blue Room (Anna Bulkina, piano)
4:30–5:00PM Lecture on Nothing by John Cage (Introductory Comments by Kyle Gann). Performed by SMU Music students in Bridwell Library, Blue Room
5:00PM Reception & Exhibition Viewing at Bridwell Library
6:00PM (RSVP) Concert in Perkins Chapel ~ Cage’s World of Musical Form: Ancestors, Cage, and Gann
CAGE & HIS MUSICAL WORLD
A Concert of 20th & 21st Century Works
Perkins Chapel, March 9, 2022 ~ 6PM
Introductory Video Montage
PART I: Ancestors
Arnold Schoenberg, Sechs kleine klavierstücke, 1913
Leo Ornstein, Suicide in an Airplane, 1918-19
Igor Stravinsky, Rag-Dance-Music, 1919
Henry Cowell, Three Irish Legends, 1922
George Antheil, Piano Sonata No. 2 “The Airplane,” 1923
Lazare Lévy, Berceuse, 1955
Short Break
PART II: John Cage
Three Pieces for Two Flutes, 1935
In a Landscape for Piano, 1948
4’33”, 1952
Dream for Vibraphone, 1948
INTERMEZZO: George Brecht, Drip Music, 1959
Part III: Kyle Gann
Siren for Five Flutes, 1978
Summer Serenade for Organ, 2014
Olana for Vibraphone, 2007
Kierkegaard, Walking for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, 2007