CAGE SHOCK Announced At Japan Society, December 7

Cage Shock honors the composer's first visit to Japan, curated and directed by Tomomi Adachi, featuring Tania Carolina Chen, Victoria Shen and members of the International Contemporary Ensemble, Thursday, December 7 at 7:30 pm - Pre-Concert Lecture at 6:30 pm.

When the great composer John Cage first toured Japan in 1962, the resulting series of concerts he staged - remembered to this day as setting off the "Cage Shock" - served to draw attention to the rhymes between his works and the sounds of avant-garde and classical Japanese music, cementing Cage as a pivotal artistic figure in the East and reinforcing many of his creative impulses. Cage would continue to visit and perform in Japan multiple times throughout his life. Indeed, as Japan Society's Artistic Director Yoko Shioya boldly posits, "If John Cage had not encountered Japanese culture, there would have been no John Cage!" Indeed, the special relationship between the iconoclastic American composer and the country of Japan was recently featured in a New York Times feature.

The closing program in John Cage's Japan, an original series of Cage-centric programming that has taken place this fall and winter at Japan Society, is a a collaboration curated by composer and performer Tomomi Adachi with experimental sound artists Tania Caroline Chen and Victoria Shen that recreates the essence of Cage's historic visit. Members of the highly-renowned International Contemporary Ensemble will join Chen and Shen in performance, including Kyle Armbrust (viola), Katinka Kleijn (cello), Michael Nicolas (cello) and Mike Lormand (trombone).

Through renditions of Cage's iconic pieces, such as Haiku and 0'00”, Adachi captures the spirit of the great composer's transformative tour. The program also features Toshi Ichiyanagi's Sapporo, which premiered in 1962 and was conducted by John Cage for a studio recording. Ichiyanagi (1933-2022), an esteemed Japanese composer and the first husband of Yoko Ono, developed a close friendship with Cage during his 1950s residency in New York City and played a pivotal role in organizing Cage's inaugural trip to Japan, with visits to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and the city of Sapporo. A lecture on how the pieces in this radical program were received in Japan at the time, led by John Cage scholar Dr. James Pritchett, precedes the concert.

Seats to this live performance are sold out, but live-streaming tickets are available for purchase now for only $20 ($16 for Japan Society members). Viewing links will be delivered to ticket purchasers by email a day prior to the event. Visit japansociety.org/performing-arts for ticket links and more information.