Against the blank white walls of the Yellow House, the Song Company – artists dressed in white – performed a preview of Accidental Plans, a musical journey through the life, work and death of one of the stranger musical personalities of the 20th century, English composer Cornelius Cardew. The ‘kind-of-opera’ was created with guest artist designer and writer Adrian Self.

The story is told by five singers – led by Artistic Director Antony Pitts from the keyboard – through a series of chapters mingling Cardew’s words and works with those of other composers, and it begins with Cardew’s death. The composer was killed in a hit and run incident on the night of December 12, 1981. The driver was never found, prompting speculation – if no real evidence – that Cardew was assassinated because of his political activities.

Baritone Mark Donnelly is Cornelius Cardew, emerging periodically from the ensemble’s sound as soloist and protagonist with a penetrating timbre. The first chapter, Singing for Timelessness (Lament for Cardew), combined fragments of Cardew’s We Sing for the Future with recomposed fragments and words – including a chorus of sliding and clacking rocks –Cardew introducing his life as “an unsolved mystery.”

The Clay, The Kiln, and the...