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Villa Medici, in partnership with the Nuova Consonanza Festival, offers a day-long tribute to Erik Satie, one of the most singular and influential composers of the 20th century. To mark the centenary of his death, the artist is honored with a series of performances, projections and installations based around his work Les Vexations (1893), an emblematic piece in his repertoire, as well as reflections on his lasting impact on music and art.
For this event, pianists Carlo Benedetti and Isenarda De Napoli will take turns all day for 12 hours to play the piece, in which 16 bars are repeated 840 times. The pianists will play on a twentieth-century Pleyel “Debussy” piano, part of Villa Medici’s instrumental heritage, which has just been restored.
Visitors are invited to stroll through the various areas of the Villa Medici, where they can let themselves be enchanted by the piano performance, while discovering readings and projections that will punctuate the day.
Erik Satie
Erik Satie (1866-1925) was a French composer known for his unique, unclassifiable style. Satie was known for his experimental works, notably the
Throughout his career, Satie blended humor, parody and mysticism in his music, and was one of the precursors of Minimalism, with works based on repetition and simple structures. He also composed ballets such as
His style, both simple and complex, had a profound influence on 20th-century music, in particular the minimalist, avant-garde and surrealist movements.
The Vexations
Composed in 1893, Les Vexations is one of Erik Satie’s most enigmatic and avant-garde works, a veritable masterpiece of repetition and the exploration of musical time.
The work consists of a single motif, a short musical phrase to be repeated a precise number of times: 840. This choice of extreme repetition is reminiscent of the techniques that would later characterize twentieth-century minimalist music.
Les Vexations represents a challenge for the performers, who must repeat the same musical sequence for several hours, transforming the performance into a kind of sonic meditation. Satie calls the work an “ordeal” or “vexation”, suggesting an almost ascetic experience of constraint and disruption, where repetition becomes a reflection on the perception of time. It’s a work that invites attentive listening and the questioning of musical conventions, prefiguring artistic movements that would emerge long after Satie’s death.
Program for the day
10am to 10pm - Grand Salon: Erik Satie's Vexations and readings
Continuous all day from 10am to 10pm
Les Vexations, a work composed of just 16 bars repeated 840 times, will be performed by pianists Carlo Benedetti and Isenarda De Napoli, who will take turns throughout the day.
In parallel, there will be continuous readings of texts from Erik Satie’s Quaderni di un mammifero (Carnets d’un mammifère), translated into Italian by Ornella Volta and published in 1980 by Adelphi. These writings offer a personal and poetic insight into Satie’s thinking, far removed from the musical conventions of his time.
10 a.m. to 10 p.m. - Salon des Pensionnaires: Imaginary conversations with Erik Satie
Continuous all day from 10am to 10pm
In parallel with the performance, Villa Medici invites visitors to explore Erik Satie’s poetic universe through an immersive installation, the Chambre d’Echos, in the Salon des Pensionnaires. This project, created in partnership with the Bibliothèque publique d’information du Centre Pompidou, offers imaginary dialogues with the composer, a selection of pieces and compositions influenced by Satie’s work, which will be placed in dialogue with contemporary artists. Visitors can discover Satie’s lasting influence on 21st-century music.
10 a.m. to 10 p.m. - Salon de Musique: Screenings
Continuous all day from 10am to 10pm
In the Salon de Musique, projections will extend the sound experience with a visual dimension. Among the films on offer are René Clair’s Entr’acte (1924), a work of Dada cinema, and Juruna Mallon and Luca Parente’s Satan Satie (2016), an intimate, contemporary portrait of the composer.
Satan Satie (2016) explores the voids and silences that characterize Satie’s music, through mental associations and juxtapositions between urban landscapes and formal musical exploration. A cinematic tribute to Erik Satie.
6pm - Salle de Cinéma: Conference
Presentation of Ornella Volta’s posthumous book, Erik Satie en notes et en mots (Presses du Réel, 2025). This conference will provide an opportunity to discover the latest work on the composer, a comprehensive 625-page biography.
With the participation of :- Jean-Pierre Armengaud – Pianist, musicologist
- Matteo Celli Volta – Architect, son of Ornella Volta
- Tiziana Gazzini – Writer, journalist
- Marcello Panni – Composer, conductor
8pm - Salle de Cinéma: Special screening
Sisters with Transistors by Lisa Rovner (86′) (2020) – Screening in the presence of director Lisa Rovner, followed by a conversation with Vittoria Bonifati, director of Villa Lontana.
This documentary spotlights pioneering female electronic musicians such as Clara Rockmore, Delia Derbyshire, Éliane Radigue, and Suzanne Ciani, and explores how they redefined the music of the XXᵉ century by freeing themselves from traditional instruments. Their work resonates with that of Satie, precursor of modern music and minimalism.
> Find out moreThis screening requires a reservation (free of charge)
Practical information
Thursday, December 11
10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
French & Italian
Free (reservation coming soon)
Free admission all day on presentation of ticket
In partnership with
Sisters With Transistors
11.12.2025
