CALLING ALL PIANISTS!

The 24 Hours of Le Mans meets Dadaism in music!

Staunton Music Festival needs 28 pianists to perform Satie's all-day Vexations on Saturday August 15 during the Summer Festival. Will you be one of them?!?

HOW TO AUDITION:

1) Click here to view/download the sheet music. You might also watch the YouTube clip below.

2) Make an audio or video recording of you playing two cycles of Satie's Vexations. The recording should last about 3 minutes. For an explanation of what is a "cycle" of this piece, please see the video and explanation below...

3) Send your recording to admin@stauntonmusicfestival.org.
If you are posting directly online, please do not use password protected services or sites; YouTube will work best.

4) If chosen, you will select a 45 minute slot on August 15th during which you will perform 30 cycles of Vexations.

This is NOT a paid gig. We are looking for pianists interested to help make this rare piece possible in Staunton. However, we can offer you TWO COMP TICKETS to any SMF performance and a FREE SMF "Rethink Classical" T-shirt.

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Erik Satie: Vexations for solo piano (1893)

TO BE PERFORMED AUGUST 15, 2026

EASTHAM CENTER OF STUART HALL SCHOOL

WHAT IS A CYCLE OF VEXATIONS?

Satie's score for Vexations involves three components: the bass theme, phrase 1, and phrase 2. A complete cycle involves (a) playing the theme followed by (b) phrase 1, then (c) the theme again followed by (d) phrase 2. One cycle takes about 90 seconds to perform.

Note: this video actually contains two complete cycles.

Satie asks for 840 (!) cycles to be played without stopping. Each pianist in our performance will perform 30 cycles, lasting about 40-45 minutes, before the next pianist arrives to take over.