Thursday, May 14, 2009

Cornelius Cardew Choir

The Art, Music & Recreation Center is pleased to welcome the Cornelius Cardew Choir in performance in the Koret Auditorium at 2:00 PM on Sunday, May 17, 2009. They will perform a program that includes works by Pauline Oliveros, Sam Richards, Sarah Rose Stiles and others. This performance is free and open to the public.

The Cornelius Cardew Choir sings at the intersection of experimental music and inclusive community. Their stated goal is to "turn thought into sonic action"; they use music collaboration as a space for dialogue and learning. Members of the Choir are both professional and amateur, trained and untrained.

The Choir takes its name from the British avant-garde composer Cornelius Cardew (1936-1981). Cardew's work aimed at finding a common ground between aesthetic experimentation and political engagement.

The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (available to San Francisco Public Library card holders through the Oxford Music Online database) has a biographical article on Cornelius Cardew. For those interested in sampling Cardew's music the Library owns the recording We Sing For The Future! (New Albion, p2001). The UbuWeb website also contains many recordings and other information about Cardew.

The Library has the following scores in its collection:

Four Works [Autumn '60 for orchestra; Material, for any ensemble of harmony instruments; Solo with accompaniment; Memories of you for piano solo]. (Universal Edition, 1967).

Scratch Music
. (MIT Press, 1974).

Three Winter Potatoes for piano. (Universal Edition, 1966).

Treatise
[A chance composition for unspecified instrument or instruments]. (Gallery Upstairs Press, 1967).

1 comment:

Unknown said...

We're really looking forward to performing at SF Public on Sunday. We're very happy that English composer Sam Richards, who is coming for the concert, has dedicated his new work, About Time: Voices to the Cardew Choir. You can see more about Sam at his website: samrichards.org.uk-Tom Bickley, Cardew Choir co-founder and director