A special concert organized by Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino on the occasion of the exhibition Rothko a Firenze.

On Saturday, March 21, 2026, at the Sala Orchestra of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi presents Rothko Chapel, a work for soprano, alto, choir, viola, celesta, and percussion composed in 1972 by the American composer Morton Feldman—one of the most intense and conceptually significant musical works of the second half of the twentieth century.

Presented in collaboration with the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the concert is organized in conjunction with the exhibition Rothko a Firenze (Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, March 14 – August 23, 2026) and forms part of Palazzo Strozzi’s Fuorimostra program, offering a profound dialogue between sound, space, and silence, in close resonance with the work of Mark Rothko.

“I wanted to create a musical environment that would have the same kind of presence as Rothko’s painting: not descriptive, not narrative, but purely perceptual.” With these words, Morton Feldman described his composition, conceived for the Rothko Chapel, an octagonal interfaith chapel in Houston, Texas, housing fourteen monumental paintings by Rothko. Feldman wrote the piece as a kind of sonic response to painting, highlighting their shared deep interest in the spiritual potential of abstraction.

If Rothko used color to dissolve spatial and temporal boundaries, Feldman pursued a similar goal through sound. Both sought to suspend linear time, creating the conditions for a contemplative and introspective experience. For the composer, the arrangement of the paintings within the chapel produced “an uninterrupted continuity.” It is on this principle that he structured the music as a sequence of contrasting sections, perfectly fused together in a delicate interplay between sound and silence.

The concert will take place in the Sala Orchestra of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, a space not normally accessible to the public. For this occasion, it will be transformed into a highly evocative setting, recalling the atmosphere of the Rothko Chapel in Houston and creating an immersive experience in which the audience becomes an active presence—surrounded, enveloped, and embedded within Feldman’s sonic world. The musicians, choir, and soloists will define the octagonal space in which the audience is seated, arranged informally around the conductor at the center of the octagon. Just as Rothko’s canvases surround visitors in the Houston chapel, fulfilling Feldman’s intent, the music will envelop the audience from all sides—an invitation to become part of the performance through one’s own presence and to experience an immersive environment recreated for the occasion.

Rothko Chapel by Morton Feldman will be performed on Saturday, March 21, 2026, in three performances (4:00 p.m., 5:30 p.m., and 7:00 p.m.). Tickets may be purchased through the sales channels of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (online and at the theatre’s box office, open Monday to Friday from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.).

The initiative is promoted and organized by Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
Partner: Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella.
With thanks to: Kira A. Princess of Prussia Foundation.