Marina Abramović returns to Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall on 24 April to co-devise a new production of Eric Satie’s Vexations, co-devised and performed by Igor Levit, with set design by David Amar and lighting design by Urs Schoenebaum. It’s commissioned by the Southbank Centre.

Vexations is one of classical music’s simplest, yet arduous and demanding works. The one-page score includes an instruction to repeat it 840 times, which translates to between 16 and 20 hours of continuous playing. Often considered impossible to play in full, Vexations has inspired musicians from the late 20^th century onwards, including John Cage, who rediscovered the score in the 1960s. Satie wrote on the score: ​‘In order to play the motif 840 times in succession, it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, and in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities.’

This is the first time the work is being performed live and continuously by one pianist. In Abramović’s words: ​‘What the audience is going to experience and to see is a unique event. They will witness silence, endurance, immobility and contemplation, where time ceases to exist. Igor interprets Vexations with endless repetition, yet constant variation. My role is to prepare the public for this unique experience.’