FOG Design+Art

A transcendent and moving experience, Monotone-Silence Symphony was described by the artist as “one unique continuous ‘sound,’ drawn out and deprived of its beginning and of its end, creating a feeling of vertigo and of aspiration outside of time.” The work unfolds over minutes, as a group of musicians and singers holds a single continuous tone for a twenty-minute period, followed by twenty minutes of absolute silence. Klein originally conceived of the work with two friends on a beach in the South of France, around 194748, about the same time that John Cage was working on 4’33”, another innovative musical composition incorporating silence and ambient sound. Klein performed the piece with a small orchestra and chorus in Paris in 1960, although he never realized the work at the full scale he desired before his death two years later at the age of thirty-four.

The gallery is honored to have presented the first performance of the Monotone-Silence Symphony in the United States in conjunction with the exhibition Audible Presence: Lucio Fontana, Yves Klein, Cy Twombly, in New York in 2013. The upcoming performance in San Francisco will mark the third American staging of the symphony, on the heels of its presentation this past September at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Petr Kotik, who conducted the performance at the National Gallery of Art, will also lead the performance at Grace Cathedral.

Monotone-Silence Symphony will be presented free to the public. Seating is limited and reservations for the performance will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis. RSVP here.

PRESS CONTACT

Michelle Finocchi, michelle@michellefinocchi.com, +1 973-452-3283
Andrea Schwan, andrea@andreaschwan.com, + 1 917-371-5023