On the centenary of the birth of John Cage, a special evening with four concerts giving a portrait of the most revolutionary composer of ‘900.

After the success of the past production Missa Ockeghem, four Florentine cultural institutions, Fabbrica Europa, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, L’Homme Armé, Tempo Reale and, for the first time, ContempoArtEnsemble, present another exclusive production that wants to celebrate the centenary of the birth of John Cage, American musician, philosopher and composer, icon that has revolutionized the evolution of contemporary music.

Francesco Giomi is the artistic coordinator of the project; producers and performers are ContempoArtEnsemble, L’Homme Armé and Tempo Reale.
4 concerts, in 4 different areas of the Stazione Leopolda, that depict an artistic portrait of John Cage through his music and visual materials taken from the videography of Nam June Paik, father of video art.
Cage & Duchamp, Cage & Voices, Cage Nam & June Paik, Cage & Numbers are the titles of the four moments that illustrate the artistic history, the insights and the meetings of Cage.

I – h 20.00 _CAGE & DUCHAMP
Antoine Alerini, piano
4’33” (1952), for any instrument or combination of instruments
Water Music (1952), for a pianist
Suite for Toy Piano (1948), for toy piano
Music for Marcel Duchamp (1947), for prepared piano

II – h 21.00 _CAGE & VOICES
Monica Benvenuti, voice; L’Homme Armé (Monica Benvenuti,
Mya Fracassini, Giovanni Biswas, Matteo Bellotto);
Tempo Reale Electroacoustic Ensemble (Francesco Canavese,
Riccardo Castagnola, Luigi Mastandrea, Damiano Meacci);
Fabio Lombardo, direction; Francesco Casciaro, live electronics

Four2 (1990), for chorus and electronics
Aria con Fontana Mix (1958), for voice and electronics
Four Solos for Voice (1989), for vocal quartet and electronics
Living room music (1940), for vocal quartet and
electronic quartet

III – h 22.00 _CAGE & NAM JUNE PAIK
Carlo Failli, clarinet; Duccio Ceccanti, violin;
Vittorio Ceccanti, cello; Sergio De Simone,
fender piano; ContempoArtEnsemble; Mauro Ceccanti,
director; Marco Maria Gazzano, audiovisual works curator
Sonata for Clarinet (1933)
Five (1988), for five instruments
Solo for Cello (1957-58)
Six Melodies for Violin and Keyboard (1950)
Seven (1988), for flute, clarinet, percussions, piano,
violin, viola and cello
Videoportraits of John Cage taken from videographies of Nam June Paik
A Tribute to John Cage (1973-1976), Global Groove (1973), Merce
by Merce by Paik (1975-1976 ), Good Morning, Mr. Orwell (1984),
Spring Fall (1986), Proxima. Count down (1992)

IV – h 23.00 _CAGE & NUMBERS
Jonathan Faralli, percussions; Francesco Giomi, live electronics
27’10.554″ (1956), for a percussionist with elettronics
Variation IV (1963), for two performers
4’33 (1952), for any instrument or combination of instruments

sound direction by Tempo Reale
Francesco Casciaro, Francesco Canavese, Damiano Meacci

production: ContempoArtEnsemble, Fabbrica Europa, L’Homme Armé, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tempo Reale
in collaboration with Suona Francese- Institut francais Firenze; Kinema A.C. Roma; Electronic Arts Intermix New York; Università degli Studi Roma Tre/Dipartimento Comunicazione e Spettacolo; Master in management Eventi dello spettacolo di Palazzo Spinelli Firenze; Le Conservatorie de Paris – cnsmdp

artistic coordination: Francesco Giomi

scenography assistant: Manuela Balsimelli

within Fabbrica Europa 2012, 75° Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tempo Reale-Progetto Primavera 2012