CAGEFEST on the campus of Wake Forest University has been a six-week-long celebration of the life and artistic contributions of American maverick, composer, poet, artist, John Cage who would have been 100 this year.
Cage's life and art were greatly influenced by his devotion to Zen Buddhism, and CAGEFEST concludes this week with a lecture by longtime New York Times art critic and practicing Buddhist Kay Larson. She’s written a fascinating book, 15-years in the making, titled Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists. On Tuesday night, November 13, at 5:15pm in the Welcome Center Auditorium on the WFU campus, Kay will give a lecture titled “Cage and Zen: The Koan of Silence”.
CAGEFST concludes Wednesday night, November 14, with a complete performance of John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano, by pianist, and CAGEFEST director Louie Goldstein. The performance begins at 10:00pm in the Choral Rehearsal Room, in Scales Fine Arts Center, room M208 on the WFU campus.
Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists is available on Penguin Press. Author Kay Larson recently spoke with David Ford from her home in New York. For Cage, appreciating negative space, and silence was life-affirming, but to do so meant, as he put it “...getting one’s mind and desires out of the way”.
