New Music Forum 2025: An Open Cage

The 2025 New Music Forum Festival (11–26 November) is dedicated to one of the most influential composers of the twentieth century—John Cage (1912–1992). Curated by Društvo UHO, the festival aims to provide a comprehensive exploration of this profoundly multifaceted and pioneering American figure, whose significance has yet to receive a fully realised and cohesive presentation in Slovenia. Through a series of concert evenings and complementary events, this edition of the Forum illuminates the diverse layers and periods of Cage’s creative output, situating them in dialogue with his close circle of collaborators, as well as with key precedents and influences.
 

In co-production with Cankarjev Dom, three festival events will take place in the Klub CD: a concert titled Instrumental Theatre, inspired by Cage’s approach to musical performance as theatrical enactment; Let’s Experiment!, featuring performers under the artistic direction of Simone Heilgendorff recreating excerpts from distinctive and, in many respects, boundary-pushing scores; and a dedicated evening comprising a series of lectures on Cage and contemporary art, culminating in the presentation of the Slovenian translation of Cage’s seminal book Silence, staged as a performance in the spirit of Cage’s own practice.