Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony celebrate John Cage with a program devoted entirely to his works on May 16 at Davies Symphony Hall. The program is comprised of The Seasons, Cage’s work for the 1947 Merce Cunningham ballet, and Renga, featuring video projections and Academy Award-winning actor Tim Robbins speaking Cage’s Lecture on Nothing.
The Seasons is also featured on concerts May 14 and 15, which pair Cage’s work with Stravinsky’s complete ballet music to Pulcinella—with mezzo-soprano Peabody Southwell, tenor Matthew Newlin, and bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni—and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with violinist Janine Jansen. These are the first San Francisco Symphony performances of The Seasons.