A long-lost work by John Cage, an influential and sometimes controversial U.S. composer, will have its North American premiere in Vancouver Friday evening.

Cage wrote Dance Music for Elfrid Ide in 1940 or 1941, but the composition wasn't rediscovered until recently.

On Friday at midnight, Vancouver's The Fringe Group percussion quartet will perform it at the Vancouver Art Gallery's all-night arts event called Fuse.

Fringe Group member Jonathan Bernard told CBC News he learned of the work at a festival of Cage's work held by the Vancouver music society last October.

Bernard found himself talking to the New York holders of rights to Cage's work and they told him of the score, discovered after Cage's death in 1992.

"I just came out and asked them if we could do the Canadian premiere here in Vancouver," he said.

"Later we found out that ironically no American group had dibs on the U.S. premiere, which is fascinating to me because John Cage was one of America's finest composers and one of the most influential composers of the 20th century."

Cage wrote experimental pieces for percussion, piano and orchestra and is best known for a 1952 composition which is performed without playing a single note.

He pioneered non-standard use of instruments and his romantic partner Merce Cunningham often choreographed dance to go with the works.

Dance Music for Elfrid Ide was performed for the first time in Budapest last month.

Bernard said The Fringe Group was able to give its own interpretation to the percussion piece.

"One very interesting thing about doing a premiere of any work is that there is no precedent of other performances," he said.

"Here we've had a very interesting time making our own decisions and coming up with our own convincing interpretation of the work."