We are Classical

Listen to any one of John Cage’s works for solo prepared piano written in the 1940s and 1950s and you’re transported to curiously unorthodox world. The many different sounds you hear are generated not by a variety of individual instruments, but by one. An adapted piano, played by one person.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the American orchestral repertoire gravitated towards Austro-Germanic traditions, while operatic life followed in the German, French and Italian way. This would soon change. The 20th century in the United States of America was a time of extraordinary artistic developments, brought along by technological achievements.