Young British Pianist Mark Gasser will be attempting what most music critics refer to as “...the pianistic equivalent of climbing Mt Everest”.

He will be giving two very rare performances of Ronald Stevenson’s Passacaglia on DSCH – the longest continuous piece of music (for any instrument) in history consisting of 191 pages of music, with a duration of around an hour and 20 minutes. With the exception of the composer he is the only pianist to have ever performed this work in Australia.

Only three living pianists have performed it and only a handful have ever done so yet almost every music library and concert pianist has a copy.

The piece incorporates music from all five continents and is described by Gasser as “..an epic art for an epic century.” “The Passacaglia is concerned with one man repeatedly speaking to the listener with a single Beethovenian human voice: a Dance, of Freedom, of Love, of the Super-Human inhumanity of War and the Holocaust, of Song, of Life, of Laughter, of Peace, of Fear, of Poetry, of Warning, of History, of Hope, of People and above all of humanity and hope for Humanity as a whole”. says Gasser.

Is it any wonder that the last time it was performed was by Gasser in 2001 at Carnegie Hall in New York as a benefit concert for the Victims’ Families, Fire-fighters, Police Officers, and Rescue Workers of the World Trade Center Disaster a few weeks after the event as a special event of the prestigious UK in NY festival.

"New York was in a state of turmoil last time I played this ... it's something which will always stay with me when I think of this work as it is times like 9/11 which demonstrate the very worst and the very best we can achieve” said Gasser.

Recently relocating from London, Mark resides in Mackay, Queensland and when he’s not touring or featuring as a special guests at concerts across the globe, he teaches at The Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music (CQCM).

Mark is preparing to perform Passacaglia again, to mark the occasion of the opening of a new Stuart and Sons (noted Australian piano builder) recording studio which has state of art broadcasting facility unique for Australia. The Stuart & Sons concert Grand is Gasser’s preferred instrument and CQCM is one of only four institutions in the world to have such an instrument.

Mark will suitably perform the piece on the composer’s birthday of the 9th March at the new studio in Newcastle.

Due to the global nature of the work it is fitting that the performance will be broadcasted as 128 bit sound and pictures live over the internet to a global audience, which will be a first for Australia.

Fortunately for music lovers in Mackay, Mark has agreed to treat audiences in Mackay to this extraordinary performance at 7.30pm on Saturday the 3rd of March. Tickets are available from the box office by calling 4940 7800.