An outdoor weekend of concerts and sound experiments to hear, see, join in, and mushroom soup, to celebrate the 100th birthday of American modernist composer legend JOHN CAGE.

With a music festival at the KulturGut Poggenhagen, the experimental musicians of the Ensemble Megaphon celebrate the 100th birthday of the composer and lateral thinker John Cage (1912-1992). Under the artistic direction of Lenka Župková, they will perform various works by John Cage for chamber ensemble. They will perform contemporary compositions that playfully rethink John Cage's witty musical concepts.

Every half hour, the artists perform at different locations in the park. The choreographer Mikael Honesseau stages the moving gesamtkunstwerk in which the audience can walk around and rediscover the world of sounds. The spectrum of participating artists ranges from new music to sound art and electroacoustics to performance, dance and video art. In the lecture: "Zen or: the art of listening to the biscuit", musicologist Andreas Hagelüken will tell more about the life, work and way of thinking of John Cage.

For the composition "On the road to Detroit" by percussionist Raymond Kaczinsky, young people from the Hanover region are converting their bicycles into a musical instrument under his direction.

The music is experimental, it is about listening and new sound experiences. Guided concerts, sound installations in the park grounds, a video in the manor house and, last but not least, a lecture by Andreas Hagelüken entitled "Zen or: the art of listening to the biscuit" ensure that the four-hour event is varied and interesting.
Sonntagsblatt // 29.7.2012

Against the backdrop of the impressive manor house, on the terrace and in the extensive park, visitors were offered primarily acoustic experiences during an individual "musical walk" or a guided tour at various stations: Concert, sound and video installations, a "radio experiment" to take part in, lectures as well as performances and mushroom soup according to Cage's recipe - individual elements that at the same time combined to form a four-hour total work of art under the direction of Lenka Župková.
Neustädter Zeitung // 1.8.2012

Contributors

Artistic direction: Lenka Župková
Staging: Mikael Honesseau

Ensemble Megaphon

• Violin: Lenka Župková
• Viola: Magda Helpa
• Violin, recorder: Miako Klein
• Vioncello: Reynard Rott
• Percussion: Raymond Kaczynski
• Soprano: Julia Mihály
• Recorders: Kim Jose Bode
• Accordion: Constantine Raptis
• Flutes: Beatrix Wagner
• Clarinet, bass clarinet: Sebastian Wendt

Dance: Mikael Honesseau
Installations, sound direction: Andre Bartetzki

Radio Orchestra

• Electronics: Andres Jankowski, Thilo Schölpen
• Installation: Peter Issig

Sponsors

Lower Saxony Foundation, Hanover Cultural Region Foundation, Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture, Hanover Region, Hanover Garden Region

Organiser

Blickpunkte e.V. in cooperation with KulturGut Poggenhagen, with the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media (HMTM), Stadtjugendpflege Neustadt / An event in the framework of Musik 21 Niedersachsen