Intérprete: Lisa Bielawa

On Thursday evening, not a seat was vacant in Alice Tully Hall for The Holy Visions, the inaugural concert of Lincoln Center Festival’s three-day performance series honoring John Zorn’s impending birthday. The series is just a small installment in Zorn@60, an international celebration of one of New York’s most revered avant-garde composers and musicians, who will turn 60 on 2 September.

John Zorn doesn’t look 60. He looks 35, or whatever age it is where you’re still just about young enough to get away with wearing baggy camouflage pants. “And that’s how it’s done!” he yells through his mic at the end of the first half, over huge applause and cheering from this passionate Barbican audience.

‘There's no such thing as new music, just music’, Bruce Levingston remarked halfway through the 10th anniversary gala concert for the ‘Premiere Commission’ Monday night. After hearing the evening’s performances, it feels impossible to disagree.The two opening piano pieces were like impressions, snapshots of emotions from a particular place or time.