Saturday, September 18, 2010 | 6:00 pm
Parliament of Reality | Bard College
Free and open to the public

Contemporaneous presents Unionized Chaos at The Parliament of Reality, new, permanent outdoor installation on the campus of Bard College by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. The artist views the installation as "a place where students, teachers, and visitors can gather to relax, discuss ideas, or have an argument" – or play new music! This will be the first Contemporaneous outdoor performance of what we hope to be many more in the future.

To open the program, Contemporaneous will play eclectic Dutch composer Louis Andriessen's aggressively exciting Workers Union, which he calls a "symphonic movement for any loud sounding group of instruments." Each performer is allowed to make many decisions, including pitch. Andriessen states that "only in the case that every player plays with such an intention that his part is an essential one, the work will succeed; just as in the political work." Following this will be an all-inclusive performance of In C, Terry Riley's quasi-improvisational piece of indeterminate length and instrumentation.

Program:

Louis Andriessen (b. 1939): Workers Union (1975)
Terry Riley (b. 1935): In C (1964)