Topless Cellio - Charlotte Moorman performing John Cage

At Judson Hall, New York, Charlotte Moorman played a composition by John Cage called “26 Minutes, one point, 1,499 seconds for a string player“. Madeline Charlotte Moorman played cello since the age of ten. She received her master’s degree from Julliard in 1957. She was also a notable performance artist, proud of the fact that composer Edgar Varese called her “The Jeanne d’Arc of new music.” Charlotte was a southern belle born in Little Rock, Arkansas on November 18, 1933. (The same year as Yoko). She succumbed to breast cancer at age 57 on November 8, 1991. All those who knew Charlotte spoke of her beauty, her amazing wit, incredible sense of humor, her generosity toward her colleagues and how deadly serious she was about her art. After a brief time as a classical cellist with the American Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte’s life changed completely when she became roommates in New York City with Yoko Ono in the early 1960s. Her first introduction to Avant Garde music was John Cage’s ‘26 Minutes, Seconds f