Hugh Livingston, a cellist based at the University of California at San Diego, is one of those traditionally trained, well-traveled young musicians who’ve taken up the cause of contemporary music and art with a vengeance. So it seems only natural that his solo recital should be part of the concert series that complements the Renaissance Society’s Rodney Graham exhibit; both installations in the show by the Vancouver-based conceptual artist “interpolate” famous musical scores. Livingston’s Gnomon, for cello, bass clarinet, and piano, is built on the thickening and thinning of sonic textures, and it provides a framework for improvisation. Livingston, who plays with precision and control even while improvising, will be joined in this piece by frequent collaborators Gene Coleman (clarinet) and Matt Long (piano). The rest of this cutting-edge program features solo works: Morton Feldman’s 1951 Projection 1 and John Cage’s Music for (1) are classics of the American postwar vanguard movement; Toshiro Mayuzumi’s 1965 Bunraku and Atsushi Yoshinaka’s Music for Sightreading #8 offer glimpses into the preoccupations of representatives from two generations of Japan’s underappreciated fringes. Bunraku turns the cello into the samisen that accompanies puppet theater; the score for Music for Sightreading #8 will be sent via fax during the performance. Sunday, 4 PM, Renaissance Society, Cobb Hall, University of Chicago, 5811 S. Ellis; 702-8670.