Dual Portrait of John Cage & Phil Kline ACME: American Contemporary Music Ensemble ACME presents a dual portrait of composers John Cage (1912-1992) and Phil Kline (b. 1953), exploring the similarities of their sonic worlds. The concert will include Cage’s minimalist precursor 'Credo in Us' (1942) as well as one of the last pieces he wrote not entirely based on chance, 'String Quartet in Four Parts'. Composed in 1950, the string quartet is based partly on the Indian view of the seasons of the year in which each is associated with a particular force – creation, preservation, destruction and quiescense. From New York composer Phil Kline, ACME will present his string quartet entitled 'The Blue Room and Other Stories', which premiered at The Kitchen in 2002, as well as his 'Exquisite Corpses', a sextet written for the Bang on a Can All-Stars in 1997. Famous for his annual holiday cult tradition, 'Unsilent Night' (which features many individual parts, recorded on cassette tapes, CDs and Mp3s, and played through a roving swarm of boomboxes carried through city streets), Kline’s recent projects include the full-length choral Mass 'John the Revelator', commissioned by WNYC and premiered at the World Financial Center's Winter Garden, as well as scores for two evening-length dances by Wally Cardona. ACME has been described as a collective of “contemporary-classical renegades” by Time Out New York, and “vital,” “brilliant,” and “electrifying” by The New York Times. The ensemble performs frequently at (Le) Poisson Rouge in the West Village as a regular guest of the Wordless Music Series, has appeared at Carnegie Hall, BAM, Miller Theatre, the Whitney Museum, and this year opened the TriBeCa New Music Festival at the Flea Theater. In addition to performing contemporary classical music, ACME has also collaborated with Craig Wedren (former frontman of the avant-rock band Shudder To Think), Hauschka, and Jóhann Jóhannsson, Grizzly Bear (appearing on their latest album, Veckatimest), and the electronica duo Matmos, among other indie artists. $12/$10 Student tickets available at the door
ACME: Portrait of John Cage & Phil Kline 17Dec09