Four Systems is a landmark "open-form" graphic score composed by Earle Brown on the afternoon of January 20, 1954. It was created as a spontaneous birthday present for pianist David Tudor while Brown and John Cage were backstage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music during...

The Unique Structure of Robert Ashley’s Television Opera Robert Ashley's Perfect Lives employs a deliberately unconventional narrative structure that significantly departs from traditional opera and from typical linear storytelling. The narrative follows an...

John Cage's Radio Music, composed in 1956, is intended to be performed as a solo or ensemble piece for 1 to 8 performers, each using one radio. The piece has a specified duration of exactly six minutes. Radio Music was composed during a period when Cage heavily used...

Contemporary artists have explored and reimagined 0′00″ in new contexts.Composed in 1962, 0′00″—also known as 4′33″ No. 2—is seen as a major turning point in Cage’s work. It represents a clear break from his earlier style and marks the beginning of a new direction in...