John Cage's "Empty Words" (1974)

JOHN CAGE'S EMPTY WORDS
Bard College, Spiegeltent
Saturday, June 30, 2012, 7 pm - Sunday, July 1, 2012, 8 am
Tickets: $55, inclusive

Bard College's Fisher Center, New Albion Records, and the John Cage Trust present JOHN CAGE'S EMPTY WORDS (1974), a 12-hour, overnight event during which we'll collectively experience a rare recorded performance by John Cage of his marathon text drawn from the Journals of Henry David Thoreau. Empty Words is one of Cage's most sustained and elaborate moves toward the "demilitarization" of language, in four parts: Part I omits sentences, Part II omits phrases, and Part III omits words. Part IV, which omits syllables, leaves us nothing but a virtual lullaby of letters and sounds.

The Overnight Program*:

7 pm Settling In/Meet and Greet
8:29 pm Part I
10:59 pm Intermission
11:29 pm Part II
1:59 am Intermission
2:29 am Part III
4:49 am Intermission
5:29 am Part IV

*A simple macrobiotic meal with be served at intervals throughout the night, to Cage's specifications. Dusk & Dawn Music provided by Josh Quillen of So Percussion, in a program of works scored for amplified plant materials, water, conch shells, and burning pine cones.

Please visit Bard College's website for complete details, giving special attention to "Before You Buy" and "What To Bring." Tickets to this event are extremely limited and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis only through the Fisher Center box office, (845) 758-7948.

Laura Kuhn