Under the title East:West – Cage:Otte, Culturgest presents the center piece of the festival Hans Otte : Sound of Sounds. In a specially prepared concert hall, piano masterpieces by John Cage (1912-1992) and Hans Otte (1926-2007) will enter into a spatial sound dialogue between two pianos.In this academic conference, legendary pianist Margaret Leng Tan joins Joana Gama and Ingo Ahmels, curators of the festival Hans Otte: Sound of Sounds, for a reflection on the unique and distinctive paths taken by Hans Otte and John Cage.

MARGARET LENG TAN
Margaret Leng Tan is one of the most highly regarded performers of American Experimental Music. Tan, whose work spans theater, choreography, and performance, has been hailed as the “diva of avant-garde pianism” by The New Yorker. She is known as a prominent interpreter of John Cage, her mentor for eleven years.

JOANA GAMA
Joana Gama is a Portuguese pianist and researcher who is involved in multiple projects, both solo and in collaborations in the areas of cinema, dance, theatre, photography and music. In October 2020, in a concert at Culturgest, she premiered, in Portugal, the piano cycle “The Book of Sounds” by Hans Otte.

INGO AHMELS
Ingo Ahmels works as a musician (pianist, composer, playwright, curator, researcher and music producer, lecturer and teacher), as well as a visual artist, translator and documentarist. Ahmels has published or released CDs, books, specialized articles and reviews, radio programs, films, and artists’ catalogs.