The Cage Project

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A mesmerising spectacle for ears and eyes.

Imagine a grand piano, exploded, spinning in a ballet of fragments… Then imagine Cédric Tiberghien playing John Cage’s iconic Sonatas and Interludes beneath Matthias Schack-Arnott’s slowly whirling sculpture.

2025 Concert Season

Australian percussionist, composer and sound artist Matthias Schack-Arnott collaborates with acclaimed French pianist Cédric Tiberghien on John Cage’s magnum opus, his  Sonatas and Interludes  of 1948. Schack-Arnott is known for his unique approach to sound: he creates sculptural musical worlds that are beautifully lit and dramatically staged. Here he brings his distinct voice to John Cage’s classic work for prepared piano, augmenting it with a massive kinetic sound sculpture that floats above the piano, dancing in synchronicity.

A pioneer in the development of percussion, Cage initiated the prepared piano as a means of giving the instrument a greater percussive quality. More than 70 years after its composition, the work is reimagined as a three-dimensional sculptural world, with Tiberghien’s exquisite playing at its heart.

The Cage Project’s premiere at the 2023 Adelaide and Perth Festivals was hailed as a triumph, described in Limelight as ‘engagingly playful, richly emotional and deeply meditative ‘. Now Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney get to experience its magic.

"The space that Schack-Arnott carves out creates rare room for its audience within the abstruse of the avant-garde."

— Limelight

"Tiberghien gave a still, immaculately nuanced performance of the Sonatas and Interludes"

— Sydney Morning Herald

"Pin-drop moments interspersed between the tribal lilt and caper of crazy dance measures, frenzied yet always controlled."

— The West Australian

PAUL KILDEA and MATTHIAS SCHACK-ARNOTT original concept
MATTHIAS SCHACK-ARNOTT sculptural design & musical treatment
CÉDRIC TIBERGHIEN pianist & musical treatment
KEITH TUCKER technical design & management, lighting design
NICK ROUX system design & robotics
MICHAELA COVENTRY (SAGE ARTS) producer

Presented in association with Carriageworks and Sydney Festival

JOHN CAGE Sonatas and Interludes

The Cage Project was co-commissioned by Musica Viva Australia, Perth Festival, Adelaide Festival, and the Naomi Milgrom Foundation. Musica Viva Australia is grateful to Ensemble Partners Ian Dickson AM & Reg Holloway and the Nelson Meers Foundation and Melbourne Recital Centre.

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