Marina Abramovic directs pianist Igor Levit in 16-hour marathon Erik Satie performance
Classical pianist Igor Levit takes to a London stage this week for an epic musical endurance test directed by performance artist Marina Abramovic.
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Levit is aiming to be the first person to solo play Vexations, a single sheet of music repeated 840 times, in a public performance expected to last at least 16 hours.
The audience at central London's Queen Elizabeth Hall will witness 'silence, endurance, immobility and contemplation, where time ceases to exist', according to
Abramovic on the venue's website.
Written by Erik Satie in 1893, Vexations' is described as 'one of classical music's most simple, yet arduous and demanding works'.
Pianist Igor Levit. He has live-streamed a solo performance of Eirk Satie's Vexations but will be the first person to do so on a concert stage when he plays it in London this week. Photo: Felix Broede for Sony Classical
Satie's manuscript included a composer's note instructing that it should be repeated 840 times, a feat which generally takes between 16-20 hours of continuous playing.
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During the Covid-19 pandemic, Levit live-streamed a Vexations performance from a Berlin studio.
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