'It is trance-like' Pianist stages 16-hour marathon performance

'It is trance-like'

- Kate McCusker

Given that he was about to start playing the same piano piece 840 times, for no less than 16 unbroken hours, you could have forgiven Igor Levit for appearing panicked as he walked on stage at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, yesterday morning.

But the German pianist, who was beginning a marathon concert in which he would play Erik Satie's Vexations to hundreds of punters for hours on end, simply arranged his sheet music, gave a little laugh as if at the absurdity of what he had signed up for, and began to play.

About 150 people had paid to stay for the duration of the marathon performance - a collaboration between Levit and the Serbian artist Marina Abramović - which is thought to have been the first time the piece has been played in its entirety by the same person, live in the UK. Others opted to pop in for hourlong sessions throughout the day and into the evening, with the last slot beginning at 11pm and lasting until the bitter end.