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All Things Cage: Laura Kuhn Presents John Cage's "Europera 5" (1991), with Recollection of the Premiere Performance by Yvar Mikashoff (Audio)
Oct 01, 2022
Hosted by Laura Kuhn, Executive Director of the John Cage Trust.
Laura Kuhn presents the first recording of John Cage’s Europera 5, preceded by her reading “Recollections of the Premiere Performance by Yvar Mikhashoff.” This recording of Europera 5 was produced by Brian Brandt and released on the Mode Records label as Mode 36 in 1995, with performers Yvar Mikhashoff, Martha Herr, Gary Burgess, Jan Williams, and Don Metz. Europera 5 is the last and most diminutive of Cage’s operas – preceded by Europeras 1 & 2 (1984-1987) and Europeras 3 & 4 (1991) – and was instigated by pianist Yvar Mikashoff’s desire for a small, more practical and portable, and more easily performed work in the series, which had its premiere in Buffalo at the North American New Musical Festival on April 12, 1991.