ULYSSES Journeys offer young composers and performers the opportunity to take part in courses,  workshops and residencies, but also to have concrete working experiences, through commissions and concerts.

At Time of Music 2023, the course John Cage: Song Books, with Joan La Barbara is welcoming three ULYSSES-endorsed performers,  Kalle Hakosalo, Julia Andersson and Elena Perales, as part of their ULYSSES journeys.

John Cage: Song Books is a performance-based course for singers, instrumentalists, actors, composers, and those working with electronics. Song Books (composed in 1970) is a large-scale theater-work consisting of 90 “Solos”. The Solos are put together  in collaboration by the performers, who will choose which solos to perform and will map them over an agreed-upon duration timeline. The cycle includes songs, songs with electronics, directions for theatrical performance, and directions for a theatrical performance with electronics.

In addition to conventional musical notation, aspects of interpreting graphic scoring will be covered during the course, as well as text-based instructions, entrance and exit movements and stage directions. Cage indicated specific “Solos” to be altered electronically, which poses a challenge for real-time processing at specific microphone stations. The class will culminate in a public performance of John Cage’s Song Books.

DATES: 4 – 7 July 2023

Read more here.

Joan La Barbara / Photo: Donna Svennevik