This organ will play one composition until 2640. It's redefining how slowly music can be played

HALBERSTADT, Germany (AP) — A small organ in eastern Germany is the headliner of the world's slowest concert. It has been playing the same piece of music by composer John Cage at a glacial pace for nearly 25 years.

A rare chord change on Wednesday — from seven notes to eight once an A4 pipe was added — represented the completion of about 4% of the 639-year endeavor of the John Cage Organ Project Halberstadt.

While the project commenced in 2000, the performance began Sept. 5, 2001 — Cage's 89th birthday — with a silent pause that lasted until Feb. 5, 2003, when the first chords could actually be heard inside the medieval Burchardi Church in Halberstadt, Germany.

The “ORGAN²/ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible)” composition is scheduled to finish on Sept. 4, 2640.

An electric-powered blower system sends wind into the organ to create a continuous sound. A chord change, done manually, means that the sound of the organ pipes changes either because new sounds are added or existing sounds end.

On Tuesday, Jeffrey Lependorf, executive director of the John Cage Trust in New York, said he was looking forward to comparing the difference between the sounds before and after Wednesday's chord change.

“You feel it through your whole body,” he told The Associated Press. “It resonates in this incredible way.”

Cage, an American avant-garde composer, was born in Los Angeles in 1912 and died in New York in 1992. He was also a renowned music theorist, artist and philosopher whose only direction for this piece was to play it as slowly and as softly as possible.

The interpretation of the composition in Halberstadt has resulted in the smallest unit being one month long. Other units — as well as silences — can last years.

The project has transformed the Burchardi Church, which was left largely in ruins before money was raised for a new roof and other fixes to make the piece a reality. The sound there envelopes visitors throughout the church and gives them new experiences to hear as they move through the empty space.

“I think it really is the organ playing the church and not the other way around,” Lependorf said. “You move two inches in any direction and it sounds not subtly different — very different.”

The piece will last 639 years, from 2001 to 2640. The time frame was chosen to be a tribute to a historic organ in Halberstadt that dates back to 1361, or 639 years before the project was initiated in 2000, according to Anneli Borgmann, chairwoman of the John Cage Organ Project Halberstadt's board of trustees.

The time frame allows the project's stewards and visitors to contemplate not only Cage's legacy but their own as guardians of the organ and its sounds. They also wonder what the world will look like by the end of the piece — will the church still be standing? Will the city of Halberstadt, which has already lived through two world wars, survive climate change?

The organ, at least, is built to last.

Organ builder Johannes Hüfken said the pipes he's crafted for this will last at least another 500 years.

“This John Cage project is a good example of thinking ahead for the next generation — thinking outside the box, beyond the completely normal and traditional,” he said.

Wednesday's event marked the piece's 17th chord change. The next is set for Oct. 5, 2027, when the overall sound will be reduced by releasing the E4 pipe.

Inheritable “final tickets” for the Sept. 4, 2640 event are already being sold for 2,640 euros ($3,045).

Markus Schreiber contributed to this report.

The score music "ORGAN/ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible)" of the John Cage Organ Project displayed near the Buchardi Church in Halberstadt, Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

A new pipe for the John Cage Organ Project Halberstadt is placed in front of the organ prior to a chord change of the organ inside the medieval Burchardi Church in Halberstadt, Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Kay Lautenbach of the board of the John Cage Organ Project Halberstadt of the prepares a new pipe prior to a chord change of the organ inside the medieval Burchardi Church in Halberstadt, Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

The organ, center, of the John Cage Organ Project Halberstadt is illuminated prior to a chord change of the organ inside the medieval Burchardi Church in Halberstadt, Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

The organ, center, of the John Cage Organ Project Halberstadt is illuminated prior to a chord change of the organ inside the medieval Burchardi Church in Halberstadt, Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

FILE - The organ of the John Cage organ project is illuminated prior to a 'sound change' at the Buchardi Church in Halberstadt, Germany, Sept. 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

Organ builder Johannes Huefken works on organ pipe for the John Cage organ project at his work shop in Halberstadt, Germany, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Curator Anneli Borgmann, chairwoman of the John Cage Organ Project Halberstadt's board of trustees, lifts a new pipe for a test at the John Cage organ project inside the Buchardi Church in Halberstadt, Germany, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Organ builder Johannes Huefken adjusts a new pipe for a test at the John Cage organ project inside the Buchardi Church in Halberstadt, Germany, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

FILE - The organ of the John Cage organ project is illuminated prior to a 'sound change' at the Buchardi Church in Halberstadt, Germany, Sept. 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are climbing in the early going on Wall Street, while oil prices ticked higher. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% Wednesday, adding to the record it set a day earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 381 points, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.4%. The Walt Disney Co. rose after reporting results that beat analysts’ forecasts, helped by “Toy Story 5.” SpaceX sank after increasing its spending on artificial intelligence. European and Asian markets were higher. Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market. The price of Brent crude rose 1% to just over $80 a barrel.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock futures edged higher Wednesday morning, helped by strong corporate earnings reports and hopes for a deal setting the stage for talks that might eventually end the fighting in Iran.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 0.3%, while S&P 500 futures added 0.4%. Nasdaq futures gained 0.2%.

The Walt Disney Co. reported on Wednesday that a $1 billion box office haul from “Toy Story 5,” as well as strong results at its U.S. theme parks, helped drive up profits in the quarter ended in June. The stock gained 3.4% in the premarket.

Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill rose 1.8% in the premarket, a day after sinking nearly 10%. The restaurant chain said Tuesday it removed jalapeños from some of its restaurants after determining the peppers could potentially be tied to a salmonella outbreak public health officials are investigating.

Offsetting those gains were losses for SpaceX, which shed more than 10%. Late Tuesday SpaceX reported a smaller loss than Wall Street expected along with a surge in revenue in its first quarterly report as a public company. Capital expenditures reached $18.4 billion, with the vast majority of that spending going toward AI. That spending reached nearly $16 billion.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could come as early as Wednesday, as Iran and Oman inched toward an agreement on the critical waterway that could ease pressure on the global economy.

Still, oil prices resumed their ascent. Brent crude, the international standard, reversed early losses, gaining 1.15% to $80.28 per barrel early Wednesday. On Tuesday, it sank 5.3% as hopes rose for progress toward a full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Oil prices swung between $72 and $102 through July on uncertainty about when calm in the Middle East would allow oil tankers to freely exit the Persian Gulf again to deliver crude around the world.

Benchmarks jumped more than 3% in Tokyo and Seoul as shares in computer chipmakers and other AI-related companies advanced.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 3.7% with chipmaker Kioxia surging 4.2% while chip testing equipment maker Advantest soared 8.8%.

The Kospi in Seoul shot up 3.8%, led by a 5.8% gain for memory chipmaker SK Hynix. Tech giant Samsung Electronics advanced 2.5%.

“Clearly today the market is rallying on the back of AI stocks. You look across the other sectors, there’s a bit of activity here and there, but really the focus has been back on semiconductors, technology and AI,” said Neil Newman, head of strategy for Astris Advisory Japan.

Elsewhere in the region, the Shanghai Composite index picked up 1.5% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.3%.

In European trading, Germany’s DAX rose 0.2% while the CAC 40 in Paris edged less than 0.1% higher. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.02%

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 shot up 1.8%, topping its prior all-time high set in June. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.7% to its own record set the day before, while the Nasdaq composite jumped 2.6%.

Associated Press writer Mayuko Ono in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Specialist Dilip Patel works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, July 30, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader passes by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics Co. stock price at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders pass by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)