The fourth of five "Musically Speaking" classes will help celebrate Valentine’s day in a unique way. The session, “What Happened in the Avant Garde,” 2 to 3:30 p.m., Feb. 14 at NET (1800 N. 33rd St.), features the Nebraska Chamber Players delving into music from the 1950s.
The session will showcase how the radical avant garde movement of the 1950s changed the culture and landscape of music forever. The presentation will include information on cultural influencers, including jazz saxophonist and composer Charlie Parker; Austrian expressionist composer Arnold Schoenberg; writers Gertrude Stein and James Joyce; and earlier Dadaist and Surrealist movements.
Participants in the class will also create a rendition of John Cage’s famous “Imaginary Landscape No. 4.” In 1951, Cage conducted an ensemble of 24 players manipulating the knobs and dials of 12 portable radios to perform “Imaginary Landscape No. 4” at Columbia University’s former McMillin Theatre. What the audience heard that night in the hiss and crackle of radio static as the musicians glided between stations was one of the first performances of electronic music.
“Musically Speaking” classes are free and open to the public. The classes are also streamed online at http://olli.unl.edu/musicallyspeaking. The final “Musically Speaking” session to be offered is "Inside the Mind of a Composer" on April 10.
The “Musically Speaking” sessions are presented by NET Radio, the Nebraska Chamber Players and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. The presentations are funded in part by the Nebraska Humanities Council and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment.
Seating for the classes is limited. Register by calling 402-472-6265 or sending email to olli@unl.edu.
Guests should arrive 15 minutes before the start time. For more information, go to http://olli.unl.edu/musicallyspeaking.
More details at: http://go.unl.edu/iju