The Great Learning

A rare chance to hear a seminal nine-hour piece from Britain’s great experimental pioneer Cornelius Cardew (1936-81) over two evenings. Composed in seven large-scale paragraphs, ‘The Great Learning’ is based on the teachings of Confucius and calls for a large number of trained and untrained musicians, both singing and using conventional and unconventional instruments. The performance is led by original members of Cardew’s Scratch Orchestra: John Tilbury, Dave Smith and Michael Parsons.