Mauricio Kagel is not your ordinary composer. To begin with, he’s never been all that enamored of classical music’s grand traditions and more-than-occasional pomposities. And yet, as a dedicated modernist, he belongs to a school of composition which tends to be populated with the genre’s most humorless specimens. So how does Kagel deal with being a part of an industry he frequently finds to be far too enamored of its own genius? By using his much-respected musical talents to poke fun, of course. Kagel invented the concept of “instrumental theater” back in the 1960s, and has used it to great effect: in one of his works, the conductor of a small chamber ensemble is instructed to fake a heart attack and “die” on stage.