Max Richter's 8-hour Masterpiece SLEEP Comes to NYC May 4 & 5

After a successful North American debut of the live performance of his 8-hour masterpiece SLEEP, Max Richter brings the "intoxicating" (NPR) performance to New York City for the first time, for two nights of performances on May 4 & 5 at Spring Studios (50 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013). Doors will open at 9:00pm, the concert will begin at 10:30pm. Tickets will be announced on the artist's socials.

This live presentation of SLEEP is made possible by premiere sponsor Beautyrest® and secondary sponsor Philips. Beautyrest mattresses will replace traditional concert seating so attendees can immerse themselves into the eight-hour overnight SLEEP experience.

The landmark work SLEEP was released on Deutsche Grammophon in 2015 to great critical acclaim. The eight-hour long piece is intended to send the listener to sleep; "the music is at times so soft and trance-inducing that you can't help but slip into a relaxed state," commented the Wall Street Journal. Scored for piano, strings, electronics and vocals, it's Richter's "personal lullaby for a frenetic world," he explains, and "a manifesto for a slower pace of existence."

After being performed in Austin at SXSW, Auckland, Berlin, London, Sydney, Madrid, Zürich, Paris and Amsterdam, SLEEP will finally bring the experience to New York City for two nights. Universal Music Group and Brands (UMGB), the brand activation unit of Universal Music Group, brought together top-tier brands to elevate this traditional concert experience.

"One of the most pervasive misconceptions of sleep is that it's simply our bodies 'turning off,'" said Warren Kornblum, interim Chief Marketing Officer, Serta Simmons Bedding. "Together with Max Richter, Beautyrest is celebrating sleep as an active state, when we restore and repair our bodies overnight in order to reach our full potential tomorrow. At Beautyrest we are dedicated to continued innovation and have been researching sleep and developing unparalleled mattress technology for close to 150 years. And we know that only when we achieve optimal sleep can we be our best awake selves."

Following the event, Beautyrest and Universal Music Group will be donating the mattresses and bed accessories to people, organizations and communities in need.

Additional experiential enhancements will come courtesy of Philips, a global leader in health technology with nearly 40 years of deep clinical expertise in sleep. "We're particularly interested in what Max has achieved with SLEEP because it aligns with our latest sleep innovations," says Dr. David White, Chief Scientific Officer at Philips. "Sound and tone interventions during the deepest stage of sleep (called slow-wave sleep) have been shown to enhance slow wave activity, leading to better quality sleep and improved daytime alertness. We're making strides in this area of research to continue the advancement of our sleep solutions."

Max Richter stands as one of the most influential figures on the contemporary music scene, producing ground-breaking work as a recording artist, composer, pianist, and collaborator. He is best known for his genre-defining solo albums including The Blue Notebooks, Memoryhouse, Songs From Before, Infra, Three Worlds: Music from Woolf Works and the eight-hour epic SLEEP. His 2012 record Recomposed By Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons topped the Classical charts in 22 countries.

Richter has written widely for ballet, opera, and film, his recent projects including Three Worlds: Music from Woolf Works for The Royal Ballet Hostiles, directed by Scott Cooper, Miss Sloane, directed by John Madden, Black Mirror's 'Nosedive' directed by Joe Wright and Taboo for Tom Hardy, which earned him an Emmy nomination. His music is also featured in Damon Lindelof's cult HBO series The Leftovers, Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, Ari Folman's Waltz With Bashir and as the opening and end theme in Denis Villeneuve's Oscar-winning film Arrival.

On March 16, 2018, SLEEP was made available in its entirety for the first time on digital streaming partners.

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