ARTSaha! Now in session!

ARTSaha! - Omaha's New Music Festival - is now underway! Come see THE FUTURE OF MUSIC NOW!

Festivities kicked off on Friday with the free-form, simultaneous performances in "Mr. Marinetti's Curiosity Cabinet," and continued on Saturday with a rare performance of the original Ballet Mecanique score and film.

Drop by and stay for a while at Monday's 24-hour marathon of John Cage's organ piece ASLSP. Joe Drew and Dolf Kamper will work the pedals of Omaha's First Central Congregational Church from midnight to midnight.

Tuesday night the Iron Composer Omaha finalists will face off as their original compositions are performed before a live audience and panel of judges. Hal France, formerly of Opera Omaha, will emcee the competition. After the prizes are awarded, stay for a concert with an eclectic selection of music from modern composers.

The action moves outdoors on Wednesday with our concert under the stars For Whom the Bells Toll at UNO's Henningson Memorial Campanile. Bring a lawn chair and relax during this performance of unexpected music for carillon.

Thursday we find music in the sounds of everyday life at our Found Sounds and Field Recordings concert. Come and find poetry in the sound of a revving engine, a baby's cry, or the garbled announcement of a subway conductor.

On Friday, ANALOG kicks off UNO's popular Ecoutez concert series with Go Figaro!, a collection of groundbreaking moments in classical music. Centered around a unique take on Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, we'll include highlights from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, and round it out with a little Moondog.

And we go out with a bang - or a sonic boom, perhaps - on Saturday with Cowardly Old World, an audio visual extravaganza in UNO's Mallory Kountze Planetarium. We'll take full advantage of the planetarium's three screens in sharing with you visions of the future along with a program of electronic music, presented through a massive sonic diffusion scheme.

Take a look at the complete festival schedule and more on our website: http://www.artsaha.org/. We'll see you in Omaha!