The Rise of COBRA

Tom Hall appropriately opened the Maryland Morning segment about the Contemporary Museum’s next Mobtown Modern concert “All in the Game”, with an Olympic tie in…

“The Olympics aren’t the only games that are catching our attention these days, what you’re hearing – it’s just a game, at least it’s a game if you’re John Zorn…”

I saw him read that line three times last week during an interview with Contemporary Museum executive director Irene Hofmann and Mobtown Modern curator Brian Sacawa. As an intern at Himmelrich PR, it was the first radio show I’d seen as it was being recorded.

This unique, educational experience is a perfect illustration of how an institution can successfully reinforce its message. Irene did a great job explaining the relationship between the museum and the series – making new art, new ideas, and in this case new music, accessible to a broad audience.

Mobtown Modern will present composer John Zorn’s infamous “game piece” COBRA tomorrow at the Metro Gallery, in a performance that lacks any musical notation. Instead a referee holds up cue cards to guide musicians through the performance (which Brian actually brought into the studio and held up as he talked about the piece).

Check out the segment on Maryland Morning’s website.

Samantha Winer