Thirty Pieces for Five Orchestras

The finale to the Cage weekend will be a spectacular performance of Thirty Pieces for Five Orchestras. For this occasion conservatory students will join Asko|Schönberg to form an extended ensemble of 82 musicians. They will be divided in five orchestras, offering an optimal spatial experience of the music by spreading themselves over the foyer and foyer decks of the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ. Five conductors will lead the five orchestras. They have an important creative role, as Thirty Pieces for Five Orchestras is the first work in which Cage used so-called time brackets. This means the composition has a flexible time structure within margins, so that each performance of the piece will sound completely different, in spite of it being one and the same composition.