Years
2019 2018
Quartet For The End Of Time
2018-10-25

Quartet For The End Of Time

By Olivier Messiaen (1908 – 1992)

25 October 2018

Odeion

19:30

“THE IDEA OF THE END OF TIME AS THE END OF PAST AND FUTURE AND THE BEGINNING OF ETERNITY”

Anmari van der Westhuizen and Samson Diamond (members of the renowned Odeion String Quartet), will join with the award-winning soloists Grethe Nöthling and Danrè Strydom to perform one of the 20th century’s most compelling chamber music works, Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. These musicians need no introduction to Bloemfontein audiences.

Composed while he was a prisoner of war, Messiaen's Quartet has continually wowed audiences since its creation. The oppressive conditions within which the work was conceived - set against the backdrop of wartime conditions in Nazi Germany - contribute to the work’s inner narrative. In this unsettling time of global political and social uncertainty, we aim to reframe this work from the past in order to contemplate the present. Music woven together with other art forms elicit and explain a range of emotions where words often fail.

A selection of striking WWII photos will be projected behind the musicians - reflecting the theme and history of the composition.

About the composition
Olivier Messiaen (1908 - 92)
Quatour pour le fin du temps (1940 - 41)

Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time was written in perhaps the most incongruous spot any great score has been composed in: an unheated barrack in Stalag VIII-A, a German prisoner-of-war camp, during the second winter of World War 2. Messiaen wrote this mystical quartet for the instruments available in the camp (clarinet, violin, cello, and piano) in a setting that is arguably among the least conducive for creative work.

The quartet is Messiaen's musical depiction of and rumination on Revelation 10:1-7, which the composer included as a heading to the score:

“I saw a mighty angel descending from heaven, clad in mist, having around his head a rainbow. His face was like the sun, his feet like pillars of fire. He placed his right foot on the sea, his left on the earth, and standing thus on the sea and the earth, he lifted his hand toward heaven and swore by Him who liveth forever and ever, saying: "There shall be time no longer, but at the day of the trumpet of the seventh angel the mystery of God shall be consummated."

ADMISSION

  • R120 (adults)
  • *R80 (pensioners)
  • *R70 (UFS staff)
  • *R50 (students, learners and block bookings of 10+)

Tickets available at Computicket or online at http://online.computicket.com/web/

*Please note that tickets for pensioners, students, learners and UFS staff can only be purchased at a Computicket outlet (Shoprite Checkers) or at the doors since a valid card or ID has to be presented to qualify for the above-mentioned discount.

ENQUIRIES
Ninette Pretorius (tel. 051 401 2504)


Back
Mandie de Villiers-Schutte (soprano) & Waldo Weyer (piano)

Photo: Kobie van Rensburg

Mandie de Villiers-Schutte (soprano) & Waldo Weyer (piano)
Poulenc: The Human Voice (La Voix Humaine)
19 May 2011
Odeion
19:30

Mandie studied at the North-West University under Prof. Werner Nel where she received her B.Mus. and M.Mus. degrees (cum laude). She completed part of her master’s degree studies at the Academy of Music in Oslo (Norway) under the guidance of Svein Bjørkøy and Håkan Hagegård. She was a finalist and semi-finalist in various national competitions and a prize winner in the 2006 South African Student Opera competition. She has received master classes from Maarten Koningsberger, Kobie van Rensburg, Mimi Coertze, Lena Lootens, Roger Vignoles and Lawrence Zazzo. She has performed in various opera productions such as L’elisir d’amore (Gianetta), Rita (Rita), Zauberflöte (Pamina), Le Nozzi di Figaro (Susannah), Hänsel und Gretel (Gretel) and Fledermaus (Adele). She also sang in various oratorios like, the St John’s Passion, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Haydn’s Creation (Schöpfung). Mandie frequently performs at South Africa’s National Arts Festivals. Since 2009 she has been traveling with Cape Town Opera with their production of Showboat to Sweden (Malmö) and France (Paris). In the same year she was invited as guest soloist at the Landestheater Niederbeyern in Passau (Germany) to sing Poppea in Monteverdi’s L’incoronatione di Poppea. In 2011 she was touring to Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Luxemburg with the ensemble Cosi Facciamo - Ensemble für Alte und Neue Musik to sing Ginevra in their production of George Frideric Handel's Ariodante.

Waldo studied B.Mus. at the then Potchefstroom University under Prof. G.W. Koornhof. From 1993 he continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Music (London) where he received his B.Mus. degree in piano performance under Hamish Milne and Patsy Toh as well as his LRAM (with distinction). In 2003 he received his M.Mus. degree (cum laude). As accompanist he has received several positive reviews for performances at the Standard Bank National Arts Festival in Grahamstown and Aardklop from 2000-9 as well as the lieder concert series of Mimi Coertse. In 2005-6 he was the official accompanist for the UNISA national and international Voice Competitions. Waldo received master classes from, amongst others, Helmut Deutsch (Germany), Frank Heneghan (Ireland), Tim Ehlen (USA), Thomas Hecht (NZ), Caroline Oltmanns (USA) and Joseph Banowetz (USA). He has performed as soloist with the Pro Musica Orchestra and COSA (Chamber Orchestra of South Africa). He is since 2000 lecturer in piano and pedagogy at the University of North West.

 
 

Admission:
R120 (adults)
R80 (pensioners, students and learners)
Tickets available at Computicket (at all Shoprite / Checkers shops, Mimosa Mall / Waterfront information desks) and at the doors.

Enquiries:
Ninette Pretorius (tel. 051 - 401 2504)
 

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