The work of Conlon Nancarrow, experimentalist composer and Lincoln Brigade veteran, will be featured in  an extensive program at UC Berkeley to mark the fact that he was born 100 years ago. Details here, tickets here, highlights below:

Join us for Nancarrow at 100, a three-day centennial celebration honoring the life and work of experimentalist composer Conlon Nancarrow! In panel discussions, special exhibitions, film and more, Cal Performances, Other Minds, and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) explore Nancarrow’s incredible, unexpected, and visionary musical voice. A full schedule of the Nancarrow at 100 Celebration can be found on our website:

Highlights include:

Friday November, 2

5:30 pm, Berkeley Art Museum

Exhibition Opening

BAM/PFA introduces a new sculptural sound installation by sculptor, sound artist, musician and composer Trimpin. On the occasion of the exhibition’s opening, BAM/PFA Chief Curator and Director of Programs and Collections Lucinda Barnes talks with Trimpin about this new installation and Conlon Nancarrow’s legacy. Free and open to the public.

7 pm, Pacific Film Archive

Film Screening

Tickets: $5.50–$9.50

The West Coast premiere of James R. Greeson’s Conlon Nancarrow: Virtuoso of the Player Piano, featuring performances of Nancarrow’s cutting-edge music, a premiere presentation of a recently discovered piece, and interviews with his friends and supporters. The program also includes two short experimental films by Alban Wesly based on Nancarrow’s Studies for Player Piano.

Saturday, November 3

11 am, Hertz Hall

Panel Discussion: The Expanding Universe of Conlon Nancarrow

A panel discussion moderated by Other Minds Executive & Artistic Director Charles Amirkhanian. Free and open to the public.

2 pm, Hertz Hall

Trimpin & Rex Lawson

Tickets: $20

Sculptor, sound artist, musician and composer Trimpin performs Conlon Nancarrow’s Studies 5, 6, 11, 21, 26, 37, and 41c for two pianos; and English pianola virtuoso Rex Lawson performs Percy Grainger’s Molly on the Shore and Shepherd’s Hey, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in E-flat Op. 23 No 6; plus Jean Gremillon’s silent film score Un tour au large—A Voyage on the Open Sea.

8 pm, Hertz Hall

Calder Quartet

Tickets: $30

The “superb” (New York Times) Calder Quartet performs Thomas Adès’ The Four Quarters; Conlon Nancarrow’s String Quartets No. 1 and 3 and Study No. 33 (arr.Usher); and Béla Bartók’s String Quartet No. 5.

Sunday, November 4

12 pm, Hertz Hall

Panel Discussion: Eyeballs Out! How Performers Learned to “Play” Nancarrow

A panel discussion moderated by Other Minds Executive & Artistic Director Charles Amirkhanian. Free and open to the public.

4 pm, Pacific Film Archive

Film Screening

Tickets: $5.50–$9.50

Nancarrow Study No. 3c (2008, Netherlands, 3 mins) by Alban Wesly

Musik fur Tausand Finger – Music for 1000 Fingers (1993, Germany, 45 mins) by Hanne Kaisik and Uli Aumüller

Player Piano Study No. 7 (2007, U.K., 7 mins) by Tal Rosner and Sophie Clements

7 pm, Hertz Hall

Rex Lawson, player piano; Chris Froh, percussion; Graeme Jennings, violin; & piano duo Helena Bugallo and Amy Williams

Tickets: $20

Program to include Igor Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps arranged for player piano (American premiere) and arrangements of Conlon Nancarrow’s selected Studies for the Player Piano.