Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center And Asheville Symphony Present THE MUSIC OF CAGE, HARRISON, SCHOENBERG, AND WILLIAMS
Concert celebrates the experimental spirit of Black Mountain College with works for piano, strings, and percussion on October 21.
By: A.A. Cristi Oct. 09, 2025
The Asheville Symphony, in partnership with the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC), will present a special chamber concert, The Music of John Cage, Lou Harrison, Arnold Schoenberg, and Amy Williams, on Tuesday, October 21, 2025, at 7 PM at BMCM+AC (120 College Street, Asheville). Tickets are $15 general admission and $10 for members and students.
The program honors the experimental legacy of Black Mountain College and its historic 1944 Summer Music Institute, which brought together leading modernist composers including Arnold Schoenberg’s contemporaries Edward Steuermann, Ernst Krenek, and Roger Sessions. The evening explores music that redefined 20th-century sound through innovation, collaboration, and bold artistic inquiry.
The concert opens with composer-pianist Amy Williams performing excerpts from John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano—first performed at Black Mountain College in 1948. The Asheville Symphony String Quartet will perform Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 7, an early yet revolutionary work that foreshadowed his twelve-tone compositional style. The evening concludes with the Asheville Symphony Percussion Quartet performing Williams’s Dream Landscape alongside Cage and Lou Harrison’s Double Music, a vibrant percussion piece that embodies mid-century experimental collaboration.
Williams, whose music has been described as “fresh, daring, and incisive” (Fanfare), is known internationally for her genre-defying compositions and performances. As part of the Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo, she has toured extensively across Europe and the Americas, with works appearing on major labels including Albany, Parma, and Centaur.
Founded in 1933, Black Mountain College was a pioneering experiment in liberal arts education that shaped the course of modern art in America. Faculty and students included Josef and Anni Albers, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, R. Buckminster Fuller, Ruth Asawa, and Robert Rauschenberg. Today, BMCM+AC continues the college’s legacy through exhibitions, concerts, and educational programs connecting art, ideas, and community.
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