Classical pianist Igor Levit takes to a London stage this week for an epic musical endurance test directed by performance artist Marina Abramovic.
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 Londonโs Queen Elizabeth Hall will witness โsilence, endurance, immobility and contemplation, where time ceases to existโ, according to Abramovic on the venueโs website.
Written by Erik Satie in 1893, Vexationsโ is described as โone of classical musicโs most simple, yet arduous and demanding worksโ.
Satieโs manuscript included a composerโs note instructing that it should be repeated 840 times, a feat which generally takes between 16-20 hours of continuous playing.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Levit live-streamed a Vexations performance from a Berlin studio.