What is a Musicircus? The Musicircus is essentially a theatrical multimedia event that features performances of various Cage compositions and readings of his poetry and lectures (sometimes simultaneously) at specific times and durations determined by chance.

More about John Cage:

Cage was an iconoclastic figure at the center of the American avant-garde during the mid-20th century. An artist of extremes, Cage at once championed the liberation of all sounds (including noise) in his manifesto “The Future of Music: Credo” (1940) and through his compositions for percussion, prepared piano and magnetic tape. He later embraced silence, composing his famous Silence: 4’33” in 1952. In addition to his exploration of noise and silence, Cage began using chance techniques in the early-1950s to create such works as the Music of Changes (1951). For a time he abandoned notation altogether during the 1960s to write “indeterminate” works, works in which the outcome was unknown and thus uncontrolled by the composer. Described by critics as both a genius and a trickster, Cage’s 1961 book Silence solidified his reputation as a countercultural figure on par with Alan Ginsberg, Marshal McLuhan and Ken Kesey. Dedicating himself to poetry during the 1970s, Cage wrote hundred of mesostics, a poetic variation he invented based on the acrostic:
All Justices
have Opinions
tHeme of
cNn news

roCket
fAils
stoppinG
N. KorEan party

An important visual artist, Cage, from the late-1970s until the end of his life, created a large number of evocative prints at Crown Point Press in San Francisco. A popular lecturer, especially on college campuses during the 1960s, Cage presented the prestigious Charles Norton Lectures at Harvard (1988-89), an event more akin to an epic poetry performance than a lecture. He passed away of a stroke in 1992, in New York City.

Kristy Clement’s duet, Cautiously Approaching, featuring an original score composed by Davison Robie and Nickolas Hartgrove, portrays two timid individuals who support and push each other in their exploration toward bravery and accomplishment.

Chun Jou Tsai describes her work Manniquins, as a mysterious poem. They are beautiful. They are ideal. They only wake up after hours. Playing and having fun, something different happens tonight…..

Hannah Barna’s piece, Untitled, focuses on the nature of love and begins with eleven metronomes creating the music onstage, where each dancer has an individual tempo and pitch.

Tickets are $5 for general admission and may be purchased at Mather Dance Center prior to each performance. Early arrival is suggested because seating fills quickly.

Bell will perform, along with Carissa Bellando, in Les Espaces du Sommeil choreographed by New York based choreographer and Artistic Director of Labyrinth Dance Theater Sasha Spielvogel. Set to Witold Lutoslawski’s score written to a Robert Desnos poem that is sung by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, the dance follows the story of a woman who enters a man’s imagination as both his nemesis and savior as she leads him off to sleep.

Untitled Chopin Solo, is choreographed and danced by Bell and set to a Chopin piano score.

Drifting Snowflakes is a solo choreographed and performed by Xu set to music by Arvo Pärt. It portrays a woman whose memories of her loved one are stirred by falling snow in winter.

Ms. Xu’s other solo, Entangled, set to music by Krzysztof Penderecki, will be danced by Chun-Jou Tsai. With a cage-like environment represented by a suspended tire, it explores emotional states related to being bound and the desire for freedom, both physical and emotional.

Every living thing in the forest has a rhythm of life and in Enchanted Roots, Xu’s group piece, dancers become roots, rivers and birds in the forest. The piece is a portrayal of a primitive time, when man and nature were one, living in the mysterious land of Yun Nan.

Reservations may be made by calling the box office at 216-368-5246. Tickets are $10 for General, $7 for Seniors and CWRU Faculty and Staff and $5 for students with a current student ID card.

Theater at Case Western Reserve University concludes the 2011-2012 drama series with Love’s Labours Lost, by William Shakespeare. Performances are April 13, 14, 19, 20 and 21 at 8 p.m., with Sunday matinees on April 15 and 22 at 2:30 p.m. Eldred Theater is located at 2070 Adelbert Rd., on the Case Quad behind Millis Science Center.

ABOUT THE PLAY
One of Shakespeare’s early comedies, Love’s Labours Lost is filled with gorgeous poetry, witty repartee, and all kinds of fertile foolery.  The King of Navarre and his Lords swear oaths of simplicity and chastity to further their pursuit of pure knowledge.  But enter the Princess of France and her lovely ladies, and all oaths are scattered to the wind. Cupid reigns and love is the ultimate prize.  In Eldred’s production, all this foolery takes place in 1925 in Art Nouveau France.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
With a fresh interpretation, director Beth McGhee asks the audience to “Imagine a frothy meringue of witty repartee and love poetry between two wafers of bittersweet chocolate pretension and pathos, and you have the recipe for Love’s Labours Lost.”  McGhee describes the updated visual elements of the Shakespeare classic as “a confection, set in the lush atmosphere of Art Nouveau France.”

The undergraduate ensemble cast is directed by Beth McGhee, associate professor for the department of theater at CWRU. The design team for the production includes scenic design by Jill Davis, lighting design by Cameron Caley Michalak, costume design by Angelina Herin and sound design by Jacob Derzon.

General admission is $10, with discounted prices of $7 for adults over 60 and Case personnel, and $5 for students. For ticket reservations or information, call the box office for the department of theater at 216-368-6262.

Clement’s solo The Tragic Romance of Music and Dance incorporates piano music composed and performed by Alex Cooke and represents a romantic duo searching for harmony and finding tension when differences interfere.

 Clement’s septet, Creatures of Habit, follows a young female who wants to be part of the popular crowd or “high society,” but realizes the behaviors she must adopt do not wear well.  She sheds the lifestyle to move on to one that is more healthy and happy.  The dance is set to a sound score designed by Ms. Clement.

 Pseudovector, a duet performed by Clement and Carissa Bellando is choreographed by Andre Megerdichian and features the music ‘Unaccompanied Suite in D Minor’ by J.S. Bach. The dance portrays a physical reflection of the gravitational attraction between individuals and the possible reversal of energy as the ‘Self’, reflected through another, becomes a magnetic field.

Stoneking’s duet, The Way of Man, is set to music by Arvo Pärt and shows how the human spirit can overcome obstacles in life, how other individuals influence the journey, and ultimately how each individual must choose their own path.

Stoneking chose to set her solo, Beloved, to excerpts from Biblical Text and a song by Misty Edwards.  Stoneking speaks the text which includes reflections on the truth, power and sacred gift of love while she dances her choreography.

Metamorphosis, a sextet choreographed by Stoneking set to a score by the same name composed by Gernot Wolfgang, a dilemma in which pure intentions are overcome by the darkness that infects one’s innermost being, drawing them towards evil and compelling them to commit aggressive and manipulative deeds.

Reservations may be made by calling the box office at 216-368-5246.  Tickets are $10 for General, $7 for Seniors and CWRU Faculty and Staff and $5 for students with a current student ID card.

After a standing-room-only performance of Mozart’s Requiem, Case Concert Choir, Church of the Covenant Choir, and Case/University Circle Symphony orchestra join forces once again for an evening of 19th and 20th Century musical masterpieces. This year, Transformations, will expand to two evening performances in Church of the Covenant’s newly renovated sanctuary. Combined choirs and orchestra present Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Toward the Unknown Region, conducted by Dr. Matthew L. Garrett which uses text from Walt Whitman’s major work, Leaves of Grass. Church of the Covenant Music Director and Organist, Dr. Jonathan Moyer, joins Case/University Circle Symphony Orchestra for Camille Saint-Saëns’ historical masterpiece Symphony No. 3 (Organ Symphony) in C Minor, op. 78 conducted by Dr. Kathleen A. Horvath. The concert performance will also include Behold! I Build An House by Lukas Foss and Never, Weather-beaten Sail by Charles Hubert H. Parry.

Both performances will include a pre-concert lecture by Susan McClary, CWRU professor of music history. The lectures will begin at 6:45 in the main sanctuary of the Church of the Covenant on March 2 and 3, 2012.

Free parking will be available both performance nights at the Church of the Covenant and the Ford Road parking garage.

Advance ticket purchases can be made at the Church of the Covenant located at 11205 Euclid Avenue – Cleveland, OH 44106 and the CWRU music department, located on the second floor of Haydn Hall at 11118 Bellflower Road on the CWRU campus.

Theater at Case Western Reserve University presents one more week of performances of Top Girls by Caryl Churchill. The second week of shows run February 23, 24 and 25 at 8 p.m., with a Sunday matinee on February26 at 2:30 p.m. Eldred Theater is located at 2070 Adelbert Rd., on the Case Quad behind Millis Science Center.

Set in Thatcherite Britain, this play is the story of Marlene, a strong, successful career woman who finds herself doubting her past choices. Churchill’s ground-breaking play explores the struggles that women have had since entering the industrial age workforce: can you have a career and a family?

The eight-member undergraduate ensemble cast is directed by Catherine Albers, professor for the department of theater at CWRU. The design team for the production includes scenic design by Jill Davis, lighting design by Joseph Burke, costume design by Angelina Herin and sound design by Jason Kuster.

General admission is $10, with discounted prices of $7 for adults over 60 and Case personnel, and $5 for students. For ticket reservations or information, call the box office for the department of theater and dance at 216-368-6262.

The Department of Music continues an excellent season of concerts with a weekend full of music.

On Friday the 18th the Case/University Circle Symphony Orchestra will present an evening of Beethoven and Weber. The concert will start at 7:30 in Harkness Chapel.

On Saturday, November 19 at 8 p.m the Early Music singers and Collegium Musicum will present: Lux Perpetua:400 Years of Victoria’s Music. Case Early Music Singers and the Case Collegium Musicum will combine for a performance of music from Spain in the late Renaissance. Music for voices and ensembles of winds and strings commemorate the 400th anniversary of the death of the great composer Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611).

The Case/CIM Baroque Orchestra will present From the Piccolo to the Double Bass: Highs and Lows in the 18th Century on Sunday, November, 20 at 7:30 p.m. in Harkness Chapel. The concert will feature John Romey and Sean Casey, Bass; Mackenzie Danner, piccolo; Katrina King, flute. The concert will also highlight Dominic Favia in Torelli’s Concerto in D for Trumpet and Strings and Sian Ricketts, oboe, in Giuseppe Valentini’s Concerto in C for Oboe and Strings.

Based on Carl Sternheim’s classic 1910 German farce, Steve Martin’s adapation tells the story of Theobald Maske, a bourgeois Berliner whose wife’s underpants just don’t seem to be able to stay up. The Underpants is a ribald and hilarious tale of the conflict between prudery and lust that challenges us to examine what’s really important in life.

General admission is $10, with discounted prices of $7 for adults over 60 and Case personnel, and $5 for students. For ticket reservations or information, call the box office for the department of theater and dance at 216-368-6262.

The Case Baroque Ensembles, directed by Julie Andrijeski, and The Case Consort of Viols, directed by Debra Nagy, will present Milk and Honey: Sumptuous music of the 17th century this Sunday, October 30 at 7:30 p.m. in Harkness Chapel.

The title of the program, “Milk and Honey: Sumptuous music of the 17th century” is derived from the text of one song that talks of the milk and honey on the tongue (of a lover). Another song portrays Mary’s madness over the fate of her child, Jesus, and in another an almost erotic love for Jesus. Hence the “sumptuousness.” This program will include voices and instruments from the violin and viol families and will feature Tracy Cowart, Elena Mullins, and Sian Ricketts, sopranos and Christine Wilkinson on baroque violin.

This event is free and open to the public.