Other Minds and Sarah Cahill are curating this festival to a man who was the inspiration and example for many other American “maverick” composers, including Henry Cowell, Carl Ruggles, John Cage, and Lou Harrison. Here's a composer who was an author, artist, and astrologer as well. Not quite a Renaissance man, more of a West Coast man, Dane Rhudyar was originally Parisian (born Daniel Chennevière in 1895). When he got into Theosophy and the occult, via Zen Buddhism, it was only a matter of time before he made his way to San Francisco. By the late 1960s he had become attracted by New Age ideas, of course. He's definitely an original, someone whose music will open your ears — and not in a trivial way. At both concerts, a selection of his art, writings, and letters will be on display, and the composer's widow and his biographer will both appear in a preconcert discussion.