Persepolis, Iannis Xenakis; first performance in August 26, 1971, in Shiraz, Iran, for the 2500th anniversary of Iran's founding by Cyrus.

Persepolis is neither a theatrical spectacle, nor a ballet, nor a happening. It is visual symbolism, paralleled and dominated by sound. The sound the music must prevail absolutely. this music corresponds to a rock tablet on which hieroglyph or cuneiform messages are engraved in a compact, hermetic way, delivering their secrets only to those who want and know how to read them. the history of Iran, fragment of the world's history, is thus elliptically and abstractly represented by underground currents of sound. The listener must pay for his penetration into the knowledge of the sign with great effort, pain and the suffering of his own birth.

Fireworks, projectors and natural fire will punctuate the sound and children movements on the mountain. The electro-acoustical music is composed for eight dependent tracks and played over more than 100 loudspeakers spread throughout the ruins.