Thirteen Harmonies

Thirteen Harmonies is a partial arrangement of John Cage's music, which had incorporated the concept of chance, derived from the ”I-Ching,” the classic Chinese book of divination. This performance is a part of the "Locating the Sacred Festival."

In 1976, John Cage—who would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year—composed Apartment 1776, a commemorative work for the nation’s bicentennial. Cage’s music had long incorporated the concept of chance, derived from the ”I-Ching,” the classic Chinese book of divination, to determine elements of his compositions. Cage collected a group of works composed around 1776, and filtered these works through chance operations, removing essential features of the work until what remained was still audible but obscured, leaving calm, meditative impressions in their place. The result is a work that is at once nostalgic for an earlier time as well as surprisingly contemporary in its presentation. Thirteen Harmonies is a partial arrangement of this work completed in 1985 for violin and piano. It is performed here by Fung Chern Hwei on violin and Jenny Lin on piano.

Presented by Greenwich House Music School.

Two years in the making, the Locating the Sacred Festival, a project of the Asian American Arts Alliance, has brought together hundreds of artists, arts workers and cultural activists to create twenty-five events in churches, museums, cultural centers, botanical gardens and theaters across all five boroughs of New York City, exploring the meaning of the word “sacred” and its relevance in their communities.

From an inflatable Buddha on the East River to a flash mob in Washington Square Park, the festival showcases Asian American artists as agents of change, demonstrating the power of art to unleash imagination and break down barriers. Festival Producing Partners include New York University, the Rubin Museum of Art, Queens Botanical Gardens, Poetry Society of America, Church Center for the United Nations and several others. In the wake of the shootings at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin and as the eleventh anniversary of 9/11 approaches, New Yorkers are reminded that opportunities for greater cultural understanding are never more important. The Asian American community is the fastest growing cultural group in New York, now 13% of the population (one million people), with heritages spanning the Middle East to the Pacific Islands. The festival aims to provide a platform for all New Yorkers to engage deeply with each other on questions of fundamental values and to be inspired to imagine moving towards together as a society.