The Music Committee of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC) will present two concerts on Sunday March 20, 2011 to celebrate the release of “Music for Merce,” a 10-CD boxed set from New World Records. Live at Roulette in Soho, the concerts, at 5:00pm and 8:30pm, will offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for audiences to witness the remarkable breadth and vitality of the musical community—from John Cage to David Tudor, Takehisa Kosugi, and generations of experimental musicians—that played a critical role in Merce’s life and work.

The evening will feature performances of excerpts of works commissioned for MCDC over the years, as well as works by the current MCDC Music Committee.  Highlights include:
•    John Cage’s Music for Piano 4-19 (1954) and Aria (1958) with Fontana Mix (1958)
•    David Tudor’s Toneburst (1975)
•    Pauline Oliveros’ In Memoriam Nicola Tesla (1969)
•    Christian Wolff’s Or 4 People (1994)
•    David Behrman’s Long Throw (2007)
•    Takehisa Kosugi’s Cycles II (1981)
•    John King’s gliss in sighs (1985)

Alongside the MCDC Music Committee, featured performers include:
•    Gordon Mumma, a major collaborator with the Company in the Sixties and Seventies, who will perform excerpts from his recent piano works
•    Stuart Dempster and Loren Dempster, performing Conches for Cunningham, a piece recalling his repertory piece Underground Overlays (1995)
•    Musicians Fast Forward, John Gibson, George Lewis, Ikue Mori, and Marina Rosenfeld, whose work is featured on “Music for Merce”
•    Past and recent musical collaborators Joan La Barbara, Shelley Burgon, Alvin Curran, Miguel Frasconi, Matana Roberts, Stephan Moore, and Jesse Stiles.

Noted music scholar Amy C. Beal, whose essay accompanies the boxed set, and David Vaughan, archivist for the Cunningham Dance Foundation, will also speak during the evening about Merce’s influence on and relationship to new music. Many works will be accompanied by video clips of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company by the filmmaker Charles Atlaswho collaborated with Cunningham on numerous “filmdances” – a genre in which original performance work is created directly for the camera – and documentaries of MCDC in performance.

Detailed program information follows below.

“Music for Merce” boxed sets will be available for purchase, and the featured artists will be available to sign CDs following each concert.

Performance and Ticket Information
Tickets for each concert are $25 ($15 Students, Seniors, Under 30s)
Admission for both 5:00pm and 8:30pm shows $40 ($25 Students, Seniors, Under 30s)

RSVP by phone at (212) 219-8242

Roulette 20 Greene Street New York, NY 10013
212-291-8242
www.roulette.org

Program A at 5pm
John Cage, Music for Piano 4-19 (1953), performed by Christian Wolff [Music for the dance Suite for Five (1956)]

Pauline Oliveros, In Memorian Nicola Tesla (1969) [Music for the dance Canfield (1969)]

Event for Set #1 – Shelley Burgon, Fast Forward, George Lewis, Matana Roberts

Jon Gibson, Down the Road (2011)

****David Vaughan, Archivist, MCDC, will speak****

John King, gliss in sighs (1985) [Music for the dance Native Green (1985)] Gordon Mumma, 4 short piano pieces (1975-2007)

Christian Wolff, Or 4 People (1994), performed by Christian Wolff, Takehisa Kosugi, David Behrman and John King

Program B at 8:30pm
Event for Set #2 – Alvin Curran, Miguel Frasconi, Ikue Mori, Marina Rosenfeld

Takehisa Kosugi, Cycles II [Music for the dance Gallopade (1981)]

David Tudor, Untitled 1975/1994, performed by Takehisa Kosugi [Music for the dance Sounddance (1975)]

****Amy Beal, writer who wrote the liner notes for the 10-CD box set booklet will speak ****

Annea Lockwood, Jitterbug (2007), performed by Takehisa Kosugi, David Behrman and John King [Music for the dance EyeSpace (2007)]

Stewart Dempster, Conches for Cunningham (2011), performed with Loren Dempster

David Behrman, Long Throw (2007), performed by Takehisa Kosugi, David Behrman, John King [Music for the dance EyeSpace (2007)]

John Cage, Aria (1958) with Fontana Mix (1958), Joan La Barbara singing Aria; Christian Wolff, Takehisa Kosugi, David Behrman, John King, Stephan Moore and Jesse Stiles performingFontana Mix [Music for the dance XOVER (2007)]