New World Symphony Invites Public to Participate in Creation of MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICES Video Installation

This February, the New World Symphony will present Making the Right Choices: A John Cage Centennial Celebration, a spectacular three-day festival dedicated to the music and ideas of John Cage. As part of the festival, NWS will host a new video installation entitled NWS: 4'33", created by New York-based composer, director, performer and recording artist Mikel Rouse; which will consist of video performances contributed by Cage fans.

4'33" is John Cage's most famous-and controversial-work. Composed in 1952 for any instrument (or combination of instruments), the three-movement score instructs the performer NOT to play the instrument for the entire duration of the piece. The work, commonly referred to as "four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence," consists only of the sounds of the performance environment.

To create the video installation NWS: 4'33", Mr. Rouse worked with programmer Austin Lin, The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Illinois eDream Institute. Mr. Rouse is the first Visiting Research Artist of NCSA, an organization that is dedicated to promoting arts that are conceived, created and conveyed through digital technologies.

The public is invited to record and submit their own video, and visit the installation during the festival to see their work in the SunTrust Pavilion at the New World Center. These videos will be included in an online Archive of the event, a lasting tribute to this defining and seminal artist.

For more information, visit www.nws.edu/johncagefest/index.html.

NWS: 4'33" will be on view February 8-10, 2013. Submissions are due February 1, 2013.

HOW:

- Create a video-recording of your own performance, adhering to Cage's original timing for each of this work's three movements: 30", 2'23", and 1'40", keeping the performance as close to 4'33" as possible. (Please do not incorporate any sort of verbal introduction.)

- Upload the video to YouTube. (For instructions: How to Upload to YouTube)

- Once the video is live on YouTube, visit NWS: 4'33" YouTube and click on the "Subscribe" button. The video will be screened and added to the NWS Playlist.

As part its 25th anniversary season under the direction of NWS co-founder and artistic director Michael Tilson Thomas, NWS will offer a special birthday tribute over the weekend of February 8-10, 2013 to John Cage. Making the Right Choices: A John Cage Centennial Celebration will include three spectacular performances of works by Cage featuring a Stellar roster of guest artists, including new-music vocalists Joan La Barbara and Meredith Monk, soprano Jessye Norman, pianist Marc-André Hamelin and dancers from the New World School for the Arts performing choreography by Merce Cunningham. The weekend festival will be rounded out with film screenings, panel discussions and readings.

Dedicated to the artistic, personal and professional development of outstanding instrumentalists, the NWS fellowship program provides intensive post-graduate training and the finest professional preparation through a wide range of experiential performance and instructional activities. Under the artistic direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, the program offers in-depth exposure to traditional and modern repertoire, with the active involvement of leading guest conductors, soloists and coaches. Relationships with these artists are extended through NWS' pioneering experimentation with Distance learning via Internet2. Additionally, Fellows benefit from the innovative and state-of-the-art performance, rehearsal and practice facilities of the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center, the campus of the New World Symphony.

In the hopes of joining NWS, more than 1,500 recent music school and conservatory graduates compete for about 35 available fellowships each year. The fellowships are awarded on a season-to-season basis for up to three seasons, and 87 Fellows participate in the program in any given year. Fellows are selected based on both their ability and their passion for the future of classical music.

Designed by Frank Gehry and opened in January 2011, the New World Center is a unique education, performance, production and creative space with state-of-the-art capabilities, owned and operated by the New World Symphony. A global hub for creative expression and collaboration and a laboratory for the way music is taught, presented and experienced, the new building enables the New World Symphony to continue its role as a leader in integrating technology with music Education and concert presentation. It is used by the New World Symphony for educational activities, musical and related cultural performances and events, rehearsals, Internet2 transmissions, recordings, broadcasts and webcasts. The Venue is also available for third-party uses on a rental basis.

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