Please join us for a special performance of Composer John Cage’s work, “Ryōanji”. Based on Cage’s 1962 visit to the Ryōan-ji Zen temple in Kyoto, the composition is “a garden of sounds” based on tracings of Ryōan-ji’s rock garden, revealing “a still photograph of mobile circumstances.”
Ryōan-ji means Temple of the Dragon at Peace. The dry garden (kare sansui) is a UNESCO World Heritage site, featuring stones with mossy surrounds resembling islands in a setting of raked gravel. It dates to the 15th or 16th c. C.E. The temple itself belongs to a branch of the Rinzai school of Zen, and among other things is the burial place of several emperors. The stone garden is accessible to viewing from the veranda of the Abbot’s quarters.
Musician and Assistant Professor of Music at Southwestern University, Dr. Michael Martinez will be joined by members of the AZC sangha to offer this unique performance. The piece will last around 30 minutes and be followed by a sangha Q & A with Dr. Martinez and Rev. Choro Antonaccio.
