Symphonic Poem for 100 Delay Pedals

“Symphonic Poem for 100 Delay Pedals” is an eight-hour performance written for a metronome, 100 delay pedals arranged in sequence, and up to 100 performers. The “click” of a single digital metronome is multiplied and repeated by the sequence of delay pedals until it is amplified by a single speaker.

The performance is based on “Poème Symphonique for 100 Metronomes” (1962) by Gyorgy Ligeti, in which one hundred metronomes were wound up, set to different speeds, and allowed to continue ticking until they ran out of energy.

The performance is dependent on public donations and rentals to acquire the full 100 pedals. For this version, despite our best efforts, we only had twenty-eight. That's halfway between a quarter and a third of the right amount though.

Following Ligeti's score, the performance is dedicated to those who donated their pedals:

  • Jonathan Adjemian
  • James Anderson
  • Michael Barry
  • Rob Gordon
  • Luis Hernandez
  • Liz Hysen
  • Alex Lukashevsky
  • Matt McDonough
  • Owen Pallett
  • Kevin Parnell
  • Ian Russell
  • Matt Smith

Pedals were also rented from Long & McQuade and Capsule Music.