This December, composer Phil Kline’s participatory sound-sculpture UNSILENT NIGHT—a beloved holiday tradition and a landmark in avant-garde public sound art—parades through more than 30 cities across the United States, Canada, and Europe. Streets, parks, and sidewalks will come alive with “a shimmering sound-wall of bells and chimes that is dreamlike to wander through in the December nip” (The Village Voice).
Kline debuted his piece with a few friends on the streets of Greenwich Village in December 1992. It quickly grew by word of mouth and has since been presented annually by municipalities, universities, museums, music ensembles, wineries, libraries, and unaffiliated groups of friends in over 173 cities on five continents.
The composition is simple to present, and beautiful not just for what The New York Times calls its “nebula of phosphorescent sound,” but for the sense of community it fosters. Each person carries just one part of the four-track electronic score, but collectively the group creates the emotionally enveloping experience.
“Kline’s score, like toy chimes floating on the cold air, brings magic to the long, dark winter nights.”
— THE NEW YORK POST
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
unsilentnight.com/participate
FREE as always
Unsilent Night has been presented in 173+ cities across five continents since its debut more than 30 years ago on the streets of Greenwich Village — all by word of mouth
2024 LIST OF PARTICIPATING CITIES IN THE BERKSHIRE ON STAGE AREA
(Schedule updated daily at www.unsilentnight.com/schedule)
(click on city name for details)
North Adams, MA: December 12 at 6 pm
presented by North Berkshire Friends of Unsilent Night
5:30 p.m. – Gather at: North Adams Public Library 74 Church Street, North Adams
6 p.m. – Depart for walk
7 p.m. – Walk ends at Studio 9 at Porches Inn, 18 Veazie St.
Bring: Warm clothes, comfortable shoes, a way to play music, a flashlight, lantern or deck yourself with festive lights, your friends and family.
Accessibility: Participants with limited mobility or other accessibility concerns are encouraged to participate as able and to contact organizers to discuss specific accommodations.
FREE
New York, NY: December 15 at 6 pm
presented by Phil Kline
Meet in Washington Square Park by the arch at 5:45pm
Composer Phil Kline will lead a massive chorus of boomboxes from the West Village to the East Village in this annual holiday presentation of UNSILENT NIGHT. People gather at the arch in Washington Square Park, and less than an hour and mile later, end up in Tompkins Square Park.
Phil will hand out a limited number of vintage boomboxes from his collection. The public is strongly encouraged to bring their own boomboxes or sound-blasters (cell phone with bluetooth is recommended) and to pre-download the track. Find out more about how to participate and download the tracks here.
Kingston, NY: December 20 at 6 pm
presented by Kevin Muth
Visit Kevin Muth‘s Instagram for details and updates!
Kinderhook, NY: December 28 at Midnight
presented by Chelsea Faulkner
Details coming soon!
ABOUT “UNSILENT NIGHT”
Unsilent Night is an original composition by Phil Kline, written specifically to be heard outdoors in the month of December, always as a free event. It takes the form of a promenade in which the audience becomes the performer (each participant gets one of four tracks of music that they play simultaneously), walking a carefully chosen route through a city’s streets.
It started in winter 1992, when Phil had an idea for a public artwork in the form of a holiday caroling party. He composed a four-track electronic piece that was 45 minutes long (the length of one side of a cassette tape), invited some friends who gathered in Greenwich Village, gave each person a boombox with one of four tapes in it, and instructed everyone to hit PLAY at the same time. What followed was a sound unlike anything they had ever heard: an evanescence filled the air, reverberating off buildings and streets as the crowd walked a pre-determined route, creating a mobile sound sculpture different from every listener’s perspective. “In effect, we became a city-block-long stereo system,” says Phil. The piece was so popular that it became an annual tradition, and then an international phenomenon.
Phil Kline originally designed the piece to incorporate the unreliability, playback delay, and quavering tones of cassette tapes. “Today most people use digital audio players, so I make the audio available in that format as well—but there’s something about the twinkling, hallucinatory effect of a warbling cassette tape that I enjoy,” he says.
The studio recording of UNSILENT NIGHT, which layers all the tracks, is available on Bang on a Can’s Cantaloupe Music label.
ABOUT PHIL KLINE
From vast boombox symphonies to chamber music and song cycles, Phil Kline’s work has been hailed for its originality, beauty, and subversive subtext. Raised in the suburbs of Akron, Ohio, Phil came to New York City to study poetry with Kenneth Koch and David Shapiro at Columbia. Shortly after graduation, he moved to the East Village, cofounded the rock band the Del-Byzanteens with Jim Jarmusch, Jamie Nares, and Lucy Sante, collaborated with Nan Goldin on the soundtrack to The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, and played guitar in the notorious Glenn Branca Ensemble.
Many of his early compositions evolved from performance art and used large numbers of boomboxes, such as Bachman’s Warbler and the outdoor Christmas cult classic Unsilent Night, which is now an annual holiday tradition celebrated around the world. Other notable works include Exquisite Corpses, written for the Bang on a Can All-Stars; the politically-infused Zippo Songs and Rumsfeld Songs;John the Revelator, a setting of the Latin Mass written for early music specialists Lionheart; and the Sinatra-inspired song cycle Out Cold, written for Theo Bleckmann and premiered at BAM’s Next Wave Festival. Phil is currently immersed in songs and music theater, including his third song cycle for Bleckmann, Florida Man; an immersive theater work about Nikola Tesla in collaboration with filmmaker Jim Jarmusch; and a new song cycle for soprano Nicoletta Berry with Yarn/Wire, commissioned by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (world premiere February 23, 2025).
His music is available on the Cantaloupe, Starkland, Innova, and CRI labels.