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Organ in Germany to play one composition until 2640

By AAP Newswire

Aug 6, 2026

Slow music: a crowd listens to a chord change at the John Cage Organ Project Halberstadt. -AP

A small organ in eastern Germany is the headliner of the world's slowest concert. It has been playing the same piece of music by composer John Cage at a glacial pace for nearly 25 years.

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A rare chord change on Wednesday - from seven notes to eight - represented the completion of about four per cent of the 639-year endeavour of the John Cage Organ Project Halberstadt.

It was a historic moment inside the medieval Burchardi Church, in Halberstadt that reflected the past, present and future of the project, as well as those who are following its very slow progression.

"As fast as our world is developing, I think it's a wonderful place to be and to come to yourself and just to be touched by this 'being there,'" said Anneli Borgmann, chairwoman of the project's board of trustees.

While the project commenced in 2000, the performance began September 5, 2001 - Cage's 89th birthday - with a silent pause that lasted until February 5, 2003.

The composition - called ORGANÂ²/ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible) - is scheduled to finish on September 4, 2640.

An electric-powered blower system sends wind into the organ to create a continuous sound. A chord change, done manually, means the sound of the organ pipes changes either because new sounds are added or existing sounds end.

More than 150 people squeezed inside the Burchardi Church on Wednesday to witness what was the piece's 17th chord change, with dozens more watching a livestream outside.

For three minutes, the crowd listened to the "old" chord with its seven pipes. Then, an eighth pipe was slotted into the small organ, bringing with it a new sound that reverberated throughout the church.

"It's a very subtle difference," said Jeffrey Lependorf, executive director of the John Cage Trust in New York. "There's a higher sound that's a little more prominent."

Cage, an American avant-garde composer, was born in Los Angeles in 1912 and died in New York in 1992. He was also a renowned music theorist, artist and philosopher whose only direction for this piece was to play it as slowly and as softly as possible. He initially composed it for the piano in 1985 and updated it for the organ in 1987.

The interpretation of the composition in Halberstadt has resulted in the smallest unit being one month long. Other units - as well as silences - can last years.

The next chord change will take place on October 5, 2027.

Inheritable "final tickets" for the September 4, 2640, finale are already being sold for 2640 euros ($A4315).