I have two public gigs this month. The first is this Sunday, Jan. 12, at 2, when I will appear on a panel at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum called “John Cage and the Contemporary Cultural Landscape,” being presented in connection with an art exhibit on the theme of silence. I appear to be the only musicologist, along with featured artists Xaviera Simmons and Simon Blackmore, and Fluxus curator Jon Hendricks. The Aldrich is at 258 Main Street in Ridgefield, CT.
The more ego-gratifying event will be a performance of my Transcendental Sonnets the following Sunday, Jan. 19, also at 2 PM. Dan Bassin, who graduated from Bard’s master’s conducting program and who now directs the U. of Buffalo orchestra, will conduct the UUCB Choir and members of the Buffalo Philharmonic at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo, 695 Elmwood Avenue. It’s only the second performance with full orchestral accompaniment, the first having been the Indianapolis premiere in 2002. The Transcendentalists having broken off from the Unitarians, I like to think of this as something of a rapprochement.