Performance #1
Wine & Cheese Reception: 6:30 - 7:30PM
Concert: 7:30PM - 8:30PM
Performance #2
Wine & Cheese Reception: 8:30 - 9:30PM
Concert: 9:30PM - 10:30PM
An anointed rockstar of modern repertoire, Adam Tendler also happens to be a longstanding collaborator with DoC. For his latest subterranean foray, he’ll treat us to the emotional and percussive ringing of John Cage’s rarely-heard complete Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano - celebrating the 75th anniversary of this piece and what would have been the composer's 111th birthday on September 5th (aptly planned, thank you very much!). Cage’s exultant exploration carries listeners through a series of emotions: the Heroic, the Erotic, the Wondrous, the Comic, Sorrow, Fear, Anger, and the Odious, before finally leading us to Tranquility. Tendler performs this musical pilgrimage on an extravagantly prepared piano, tricked-out with nuts, bolts, screws – even an eraser – in order to create an utterly singular sound world that vibrates with the visceral themes of the work.
You've never heard a piano sound like this before, and Adam Tendler is the perfect guide to take us through the emotional spectrum of Cage's avant-garde masterwork...
Sonatas I–IV – Interlude 1 – Sonatas V–VIII
Interludes 2, 3
Sonatas IX–XII – Interlude 4 – Sonatas XIII–XVI
Adam Tendler is a recipient of the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists and the 2022 Yvar Mikhashoff Prize. He has been called "currently the hottest pianist on the American contemporary classical scene" (Minneapolis Star Tribune), a "remarkable and insightful musician" (LA Times), and a "relentlessly adventurous pianist" (Washington Post) "joyfully rocking out at his keyboard" (New York Times). A pioneer of DIY culture in classical music, at age 23 Tendler performed solo recitals in all fifty states in a grassroots tour that was later the subject of his acclaimed coming-out memoir, 88x50. He has gone on to become one of classical music's most celebrated artists, commissioning major works from composers as diverse as Christian Wolff and Devonté Hynes, and recently appearing as soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and as soloist on the main-stages of Carnegie Hall, the Barbican Centre, and BAM. An expert in the music of John Cage, Tendler has worked closely with the John Cage Trust and Cage's publisher, Edition Peters, and performed the composer's work internationally. He has also extensively performed the music of Julius Eastman and is featured on Wild Up's latest album of the composer's works, If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich. Other recent releases include Liszt's Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses on the Steinway Label, Robert Palmer: Piano Music on New World Records, as well as his second book, tidepools. For his latest Inheritances project, Tendler commissioned 16 new piano works using the entire inheritance left to him by his father from composers including Laurie Anderson, Nico Muhly and Missy Mazzoli. A New York Times Critic Pick, the program was described as "not only a display of contemporary compositional force, but also a true show…with a sense of true dramatic stakes." Adam Tendler is a Yamaha Artist and serves on the piano faculty of NYU. He is currently Artist-in-Residence at Green-Wood Cemetery.