Ten Years Later: Happy Birthday John Cage

It’s no secret among my friends that I have an enormous admiration for John Cage, the prolific American composer whose vast body of work encompasses a wide range of sounds and sonic concepts. But before you start chuckling at those 4’33” jokes and memes (some of which are admittedly pretty funny), let me remind you that there’s more to Cage’s music than just silence.

One of my favorite Cage albums is In a Landscape, performed by the talented Boston pianist Steven Drury. This collection of gentle and approachable pieces opened a new window for me into the subtler aspects of Cage’s music. I was so enamored with this record that I ended up gifting it to at least 20 friends over the years. Even non-musician loved ones found it to be the perfect background music for studying, meditating, or sleeping.

Stephen Drury performing In a Landscape

My appreciation for Cage’s music eventually led me to explore the works of other avant-garde composers like Pauline Oliveros, LaMonte Young, and Cornelius Cardew. And in 2011, as the centenary of Cage’s birth approached, my friends and I decided to celebrate it with a five-hour concert in Austin, Texas.

The performance would feature a wide variety of performers from the region, with the collaborative ensembles Line Upon Line Percussion, Austin Chamber Music Center, New Music Co-op, and Texas Choral Consort serving as the primary organizers. ACMC director Michelle Schumann and I are longtime friends, and her previous John Cage birthday party concerts made her a must-have for the project (not to mention her monster piano chops). With TCC (which I directed) having wrapped a large-scale Cornelius Cardew effort with LuL and NMCO the previous year, it felt as if it were simply a next logical step toward the numerous new music projects the three would jointly create in the coming decade.

At first, the project faced opposition from some members of my own ensemble, who felt that our group should stick to more traditional forms of classical music (with even board members staging an all-out boycott of the event). But the lack of support ultimately worked in our favor, as we were able to recruit more musicians from the community who shared our passion for experimental and boundary-pushing music. And on the day of the concert, we brought together an incredible lineup of musicians, dancers, and artists to honor John Cage’s legacy.

The concert turned out to be a huge success, not just for the music but also for our ensemble. TCC received its first award from the Austin Critics Table, the local music press was at long last awakened to the group’s existence, and the highly influential organization New Music USA took notice of our efforts. As a result, our organization grew and expanded, attracting more diverse and talented musicians and packing some of the region’s largest stages with up to 200 performers engaged in adventurous music-making.

Looking back to that day nearly ten years ago, I feel honored to have played a part in celebrating the music of John Cage and helping my ensemble achieve a vital benchmark in its journey. And on this special occasion, I want to wish a very happy birthday to the late, great John Cage!