The Stone, led by artistic director John Zorn, serves as a home and community for experimental and avant-garde artists at the College of Performing Arts’ Glassbox Theater.
A composer, arranger, producer, and saxophonist, Zorn has worked in a variety of genres and has stood at the vanguard of experimental music throughout his career. In 2005, he established The Stone, an intimate
space presenting performances by a wide range of creative musicians. The Stone has served as the venue for nearly 8,000 performances since 2005, attracting wide acclaim and a loyal audience.
In 2012, Zorn began presenting The Stone Workshops at The New School, in which artists who have performed at The Stone offer half-day educational residencies to students. Zorn’s partnership with the university deepened in February 2018, when he moved
The Stone to the Glass Box Theater at the College of Performing Arts. Through this collaboration, The Stone has secured wide-ranging support from a university with a long tradition in avant-garde and experimental performance.
“The Stone is and always will be a safe home for the mavericks, misfits, and visionaries of the musical world and is dedicated to presenting their cutting-edge music exactly as they envision it, without compromise,” says Zorn.
The Stone provides opportunities for College of Performing Arts students to attend performances and open rehearsals and to contribute production support through an elective practicum. Students in the Master of Music Performer-Composer program work closely
with Stone artists in The Stone Labs, the program’s flagship course.
The Stone partnership ensures that a generation of students can study directly with these experimental artists, making the College of Performing Arts a place where today’s leading musicians and the next generation of performers work together and carry
forward a tradition of courageous exploration.