Stephen Hough - New Works and Catalogue

With a singular artistic vision that transcends musical fashions and trends, Stephen Hough is widely regarded as one of the most important and distinctive pianists of his generation. In recognition of his achievements, he was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2001, joining prominent scientists, writers and others who have made unique contributions to contemporary life.

Check out the below catalogue which lists all his works including Sonata for Piano and Other Love Songs which have just had their world premieres at London's Wigmore Hall.




"The most perfect piano playing conceivable"
– The Guardian

"A virtuoso who begins where others leave off"
– Washington Post

Stephen Hough returns to Australia in 2011 for his third tour with Musica Viva.Winner of the 2010 Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist Award, Hough loves heated discussions, bowler hats and finding unlikely connections between contrary composers. He has devised a program which will take audiences on a journey from the familiarity of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata to a work many regard as Liszt’s greatest composition, his Piano Sonata in B minor, and through the twisted paths of two Scriabin sonatas.

Hough will also premiere one of his new works, jointly commissioned by Musica Viva and Wigmore Hall for this tour. The performance will take place at the Conservatorium Theatre, Griffith University, South Bank, Brisbane on 19th October 2011. You can book tickets here

John Cage Centenary in 2012

John Cage turns 100 in 2012 and all manner of events are underway for a worldwide celebration. Check out the specially created website here for breaking news about events in the works – music, poetry, theater, happenings, visual art exhibitions, publications, and more -- and for an ever-expanding calendar of events, to which you're invited to contribute.

John Cage was born on September 5, 1912 in Los Angeles, California and died in New York City on August 12, 1992. He studied liberal arts at Pomona College. Among his composition teachers were Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg. Cage was elected to the American National Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and received innumerable awards and honors both in the United States and in Europe.

He was commissioned by a great many of the most important performing organizations throughout the world, and maintained a very active schedule. It would be extremely difficult to calculate, let alone critically evaluate, the stimulating effect and ramifications that Cage's work has had on 20th century music and art, for it is clear that the musical developments of our time cannot be understood without taking into account his music and ideas. His invention of the prepared piano and his work with percussion instruments led him to imagine and explore many unique and fascinating ways of structuring the temporal dimension of music.

Cage is perhaps best known for his 1952 composition 4′33″, the three movements of which are performed without a single note being played. The content of the composition is meant to be perceived as the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is performed, rather than merely as four minutes and thirty three seconds of silence, and the piece became one of the most controversial compositions of the twentieth century. Another famous creation of Cage's is the prepared piano (a piano with its sound altered by placing various objects in the strings), for which he wrote numerous dance-related works and a few concert pieces, the best known of which is Sonatas and Interludes (1946–48).

He is universally recognized as the initiator and leading figure in the field of indeterminate composition by means of chance operations. Arnold Schoenberg said of Cage that he was an "inventor – of genius".