The Northern Illinois University School of Music’s New Music Ensemble, under the direction of Gregory Beyer, will hold its third annual New Music Festival on Tuesday and Wednesday.

This year’s celebration will feature music of would-be centenarian composer John Cage (1912-1992), undoubtedly America’s most widely recognized avant-garde composer and thinker of the 20th century.

The festival also will feature “New Music from Down Under.” This seemingly unrelated juxtaposition is thoroughly logical when one considers that the festival will feature the Queensland, Australia-based new music duo, Clocked Out. Erik Griswold, pianist and composer, and Vanessa Tomlinson, percussionist, are two of today’s most innovative, daring and thought-provoking musicians on the international contemporary music scene.