New York, New York

Hong Kong, China

Langeais, France

Auckland, New Zealand

Montréal, Québec

New York, New York Hong Kong, China Langeais, France Auckland, New Zealand Montréal, Québec

Unsilent Night is an original composition by Phil Kline, written specifically to be heard outdoors in the month of December. It takes the form of a street promenade in which the audience becomes the performer. Each participant gets one of four tracks of music in the form of a cassette, CD, or Mp3. Together all four tracks comprise Unsilent Night. The fact that the participants play different "parts" simultaneously helps create the special sound of the piece. Participants carry boomboxes, or anything that amplifies music, and simultaneously start playing the music. They then walk a carefully chosen route through their city’s streets, creating a unique mobile sound sculpture which is different from every listener's perspective.

It all started in winter 1992, when Phil had an idea for a public artwork in the form of a holiday caroling party.  He composed a multi-track electronic piece that was 45 minutes long (the length of one side of a cassette tape), invited a few dozen 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 before: an evanescence filling the air, reverberating off the buildings and city streets as the crowd walked a pre-determined route. Phil says: “In effect, we became a city-block-long stereo system.”

The piece was so popular that it became an annual tradition, and then an international phenomenon, spreading across the USA and to other countries worldwide. Since 1992, it has been presented in 173 cities and five continents, drawing thousands of participants.

32 Years, 173 Cities, 5 Continents

Expand any section to see where Unsilent Night has previously been hosted!

  • Albuquerque, NM
    Amesbury, MA
    Ann Arbor, MI
    Arcata, CA
    Asbury Park, NJ
    Asheville, NC
    Athens, GA
    Atlanta, GA
    Austin, TX
    Baltimore, MD
    Berkeley, CA
    Boston, MA
    Boulder, CO
    Bowling Green, OH
    Breckenridge, CA
    Buffalo, NY
    Carson City, NV
    Charleston, SC
    Charleston, WV
    Charlotte, NC
    Charlottesville, VA
    Chicago, IL
    Cincinnati, OH
    Claremont, NH
    Cleveland, OH

    Colorado Springs, CO
    Columbia, MD
    Dallas, TX
    Delaware, OH
    Denver, CO
    Detroit, MI
    Dickinson, ND
    East Lansing, MI

    Fargo, ND
    Flagstaff, AZ

    Florence, AL
    Fort Worth, TX
    Gettysburg, PA
    Granville, OH

    Green Bay, WI

    Greenfield, MA
    Greenville, SC
    Harrisburg, PA
    Houston, TX
    Hudson, NY
    Indianapolis, IN
    Iowa City, IA
    Jackson, MS
    Johnson City, TN
    Joshua Tree, CA
    Kalamazoo, MI
    Kansas City, MO
    Kennett Square, PA
    Kenosha, WI

    Kent, OH
    Kettering, OH
    Kingston, NY
    Kirksville, MS
    Knoxville, TN

    Lancaster, NY
    Lenox, MA
    Lexington, KY
    Little Rock, AK
    Longmont, CO
    Long Beach, CA
    Los Angeles, CA
    Louisville, KY
    Lubbock, TX

    Madison, WI

    Malden, MA

    Manassas, VA
    McAllen, TX
    Memphis, TN
    Miami, FL
    Milledgeville, GA
    Milwaukee, WI

    Minneapolis, MN
    Missoula, MT
    Mobile, AL
    Montclair, NJ
    Monticello, MN
    Mount Pleasant, MI
    Morehead, KY
    Mount Pleasant, MI
    Nacogdoches, TX
    Nashville, TN
    Nevada City CA
    New Haven, CT
    New York, NY
    Newnan, GA
    Norfolk, VA
    North Adams, MA
    Oberlin, OH
    Oklahoma City, OK
    Omi, NY
    Orange, CA
    Orlando, FL

    Philadelphia, PA

    Port Angeles, WA
    Port Jefferson, NY
    Portland, OR
    Providence, RI
    Raleigh, NC

    Reno, NV
    Richmond, VA
    Sacramento, CA
    Salt Lake City, UT
    San Diego, CA
    San Francisco, CA
    San Marcos, TX
    San Jose, CA
    Santa Barbara, CA
    Santa Cruz, CA
    Santa Fe, NM
    Santa Monica, CA
    Santa Rosa, CA
    Seattle, WA
    Silver Spring, MD
    Sitka, AK
    Springfield, IL
    St. George, UT
    Syracuse, NY
    Tacoma, WA
    Tallahassee, FL
    The Bronx, NY
    Tours, France
    Traverse City, MI
    Tucson, AZ
    Tuscaloosa, AL
    Washington, DC
    West Point, GA
    Williamston, MA
    Wilmington, DE
    Whitesburg, KY
    Winchester, VA

  • Banff, Alberta
    Beaverlodge, Alberta
    Beaverton, Ontario
    Cambridge, Ontario
    Edmonton, Alberta
    Fredericton, New Brunswick
    Montréal, Québec
    North Battleford, Saskatchewan
    Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

    Sherwood Park, Alberta
    St. John, New Brunswick
    St. Albert, Alberta
    Toronto, Ontario

    Vancouver, British Columbia
    Whitehorse, Yukon

  • Berlin, Germany
    Birmingham, United Kingdom

    Oxford, UK
    Brussels, Belgium
    Derry, Ireland
    Frankfurt, Germany
    Hamburg, Germany
    Huddersfield, United Kingdom
    Langeais, France
    London, United Kingdom
    Middlesbrough, United Kingdom
    Neuvy-Le-Roi, Franc

    Stokesley, North Yorkshire, England

  • Auckland, New Zealand
    Brisbane, Australia
    Hong Kong, China
    Johannesburg, South Africa
    Melbourne, Australia
    Porirua, New Zealand
    Sydney, Australia
    Tokyo, Japan

    Wellington, New Zealand

START YOUR OWN UNSILENT NIGHT