Thirty-four Tucson musicians playing guitar, bass, keyboards, mandolin, trumpet, flute, cello and ukulele performed Erik Satie's 1893 one-minute work "Vexations" over and over and over again for 16 hours on Dec. 2.
No one was able to repeat the piece the 840 times that the French composer had called for, but bassoonist Jessica Campbell clocked in the most repetitions — 232 — and all of the artists managed to meet and exceed their personal goals for the number of times in a row they would play the piece.
By the end of the first ever Tucson "Vexations Marathon," hosted by the alt-classical group ChamberLab, the musicians collectively had raised $16,731.85 for the ACLU of Arizona.
That was nearly $7,000 more than organizer and ChamberLab founder Chris Black had hoped for. Weeks before the event, when just 18 musicians had signed on with pledges from donors for each one-minute performance, Black set the group's goal at $10,000.
This is the first time Black, who started the DIY alt-classical composing group in 2010, has organized a benefit concert. He decided to give the proceeds to the ACLU in response to the controversial policies of the Trump administration.
"I've been wanting to do something for a while now," he said in a written release. "t's important to work with what you have, and what I have is a concert series full of wonderful people. I couldn't have asked for better. We did it!"
The ACLU of Arizona focuses on immigrant rights, LGBTQ equality, sentencing reform, and education equity issues. It recently opened a Tucson office with staff attorney Billy Peard.
