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Piano Marathon At St Luke’s

Posted on August 22, 2016 by russsellhill

Local musicians are planning a 21 hour marathon piano concert to raise funds for the Steinway grand piano in St Luke’s Church, Queens Park.

Vexations poster

Thirty-five professional and amateur pianists will play the entire 840 repetitions of Erik Satie’s Vexations in a concert starting at 7.30pm, 26 August and and continuing without a break until 4.30pm the next day. See full programme here: Satie Programme.

The performance will be accompanied by a live ‘tweetalong’ from the @TheVexator account, and the performers are seeking sponsorship via a crowdfunding page www.crowdfunding.justgiving.com/piano-restoration.

“Our beloved Steinway is going to piano hospital for a few months, and the bill will come to £10,000,” says event organiser Adam Swayne, who will be among the performers.

“The old piano is a great asset to the church, but it needs a complete overhaul – repairing splits in the soundboard, replacing felts, re-stringing the piano, regulating the keys, action, dampers and pedal mechanism etc.”

Satie composed this atmospheric and mesmeric piece in 1893 following a difficult break-up with his girlfriend, and it wasn’t performed in its entirety until 1963 in a concert organised by notorious experimentalist John Cage. Find out more in this excellent piece in the New Yorker magazine.

The Facebook event page for Vexations includes an ‘inspiring message’ from international piano star Jonathan Plowright.

Full details of the lineup for the concert (with timings): http://adamswayne.com/vexations/

Local TV news story on the piano restoration: http://thelatest.co.uk/brighton/2016/07/20/meet-brighton-musicians-instrumental-saving-key-part-piano-history/

Twitter Account for the event (there will be a live tweetalong throughout the 21 hour performance): @TheVexator

Adam Swayne-1

Pianist Adam Swayne

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