Saturday, March 14, 2026 at 8:00 PM
UCLA Nimoy Theater, Los Angeles
In the west coast premiere of *Manifestos 6: Ben Patterson*, world-renowned artist Charles Gaines interprets Fluxus artist Benjamin Patterson’s *Variations for Double-Bass* (c. 1962), a score for performance that uses words rather than traditional musical notation. Gaines converts Patterson’s letters into music, following an inventive system Gaines devised in 2004: transcribing letters A through H from the texts into their equivalent musical notes (with the use of the letter “H” representing the code used in early Baroque tradition for B-flat). The resulting composition, to be performed by an ensemble consisting of a string section, double bass, trumpet, trombone, tuba, and percussion, pays homage to Patterson’s legacy while showcasing evolutionary artistic engagement with systems of language, text, notation, and sound. Composer: Charles Gaines Co-Arranger and Music Director: John Eagle