A circus of music takes over Booker Hall to honor late composer

On the evening of Thursday, March 21, students, faculty and members of the Richmond community came together to commemorate late American composer John Cage through the presentation of a multifaceted artistic experience.

Joanne Kong, director of accompaniment and coordinator of chamber ensembles, said the event would include a centennial concert in Camp Concert Hall followed by a Musicircus throughout the rest of Booker Hall.

Cage was also the mastermind behind the Musicircus. This carnivalesque music experience places various musicians and artists in the same space and allows them to simultaneously perform or present their individual pieces, Kong said.

Cage, who lived from 1912 to 1992, worked as a composer, artist, poet and theorist to illustrate his broad view of music, encouraging people to find and appreciate the music that exists all around them. His work was frequently interdisciplinary and fused different, sometimes unlikely, artistic expressions, Kong said.

The centennial concert featured some of these types of pieces. In "Living Room Music," for example, four performers sat at a table and used household objects to create music, which plays into Cage's interpretation of music as an omnipresent force, Kong said.

Another piece, titled "4'33"," featured a pianist sitting at the piano, but not actually playing any music. This unusual performance is all about self-awareness, inviting the audience to quiet down, be still and listen to the silence, Kong said.

Brian Jones, a university music instructor who organized the musicircus, said that to honor Cage's 100th birthday, close to 100 performers would participate, including about 20 ensembles of various sizes and numerous individual talents.

Jones has organized annual Musicircuses in the Richmond area for the past ten years. Those events have featured about 25 ensembles that play everything from baroque harp music to Ethiopian rock and roll, Jones said.

The independent yet simultaneous display of performances creates a mind-altering environment that is "completely bewildering, yet awesome," Jones said.

"Musicircus lets you hear what happens when a classical chamber ensemble conflates with the guy using his laptop to DJ techno music," Jones said. "It's a hysterical sensory overload, and that type of spirit in a live setting just doesn't happen very often."

The Musicircus took place throughout the basement, first and second floors of Booker Hall and included performances from the UR Bluegrass Ensemble, The Sirens, UR Glee Club and DJ Matt Purdy.

Contact reporter Katie Conklin at katie.conklin@richmond.edu