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)


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Quintessence In Concert

25 April 2019

Odeion

19:30

A unique combination of three international artists in collaboration with two exceptional South African artists!

This ensemble will perform an exciting programme of works by Bozza, Fokkens, Mykietyn, Francaix and Fibich.

Meet the artists:

David Bester (violin)
David Bester teaches violin at Nelson Mandela University (Port Elizabeth). As soloist, he has performed with the Stellenbosch Camerata, the KZNPO, GPO and the ECPO. After obtaining his BMus and MMus (both cum laude) in music performance from Stellenbosch University under Suzanne Martens, he furthered his studies in Belgium. David has received masterclasses from acclaimed violinists Pavel Vernikov, Ivry Gitlis, Barnabás Kelemen, Ilya Gringolts, Priya Mtichell, Daniel Rowland, and Jan Repko. He has also had the opportunity to work closely alongside musicians such as Pinchas Zukerman, Benjamin Schmid, Joshua Bell, and Leila Josefowicz. David won the string category of the ATKV Muziq competition. He has also been the recipient of the Mabel Quick Bursary (2014), Hans Endler Prize (2012-2014), SAMRO Bursary (2011 and 2013), Graham Beck Bursary (2010), and the Stellenbosch University Merit Bursary (2011-2015).

Piotr Thieu Quang (clarinet)
Piotr Thieu Quang started his clarinet education at the age of nine in Jerzy Czyran’s class. Since 2016 he has been studying with Prof Miroslaw Pokrzywinski (Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, Warsaw). He is a laureate of many clarinet and chamber competitions such as the 17th Academic Clarinet Competition in Wloszakowice (2018 – 2nd prize and three special awards), 8th West Pomeranian Clarinet Festival in Szczecin (2018 – 3rd prize), International Clarinet Competition in Warsaw (2016 – 1st prize: clarinet quartet category), 11th Clarinet Festival in Piotrków Trybunalski (2015 – 3rd prize in solo category, 1st prize in chamber ensembles category). He participated in several solo and chamber masterclasses conducted by Florent Héau, Jean Marc Fessard, Karel Dohnal, Karl Leister, Antonio Saiote, Jacob Shaw, Marcin Zdunik and Aleksander Debicz. He has performed in concert halls such as the Royal Castle (Warsaw), the Philharmonic Hall (Warsaw) and the Krzysztof Penderecki European Center for Music (Luslawice).

Dariusz Dinh Thieu Quang (French horn)
Dariusz is a Polish French horn player and student at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music (Warsaw). He has already performed with the Teatr Wielki Opera Narodowa (Warsaw), the Poznan Philharmonic, Rzeszów Philharmonic, Pomeranian and Gdansk Philharmonic, as well as the Nospr and Czestochowska Philharmonic. He has performed in countries including Germany, Switzerland, Lithuania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Malta and Vietnam. He is a laureate of national and international competitions, including: 2nd prize at the 4th Polish Horns’ Competition Edwin Gonik, Lódz (Poland) 2015, 2nd prize (1st not awarded) at the 7th International Wind Instruments Competition, Wroclaw (Poland) 2013, 1st prize at the 5th Polish Competition of Brass Instruments Ludwika Lutak, Krakwo (Poland, 2013), Distinction at the 3rd National French Horns’ Competition Edwin Golnik, Lódz (Poland, 2012).

Anmari van der Westhuizen (cello)
Anmari van der Westhuizen graduated from the University of Stellenbosch (BMusHons), from the Mozarteum, Salzburg (Grosses Diplom), and from the Hochschule für Musik (Cologne) with Maria Kliegel (Konzertexamen). In 2013 Anmari received her PhD from the University of Pretoria. She has won prestigious competitions including the ATKV Forte Competition, the SABC Competition and the Oude Meester Competition. Anmari has performed in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Faroe Islands, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, USA, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Joanna Wicherek (piano)
Joanna Wicherek studied piano, chamber music, historical keyboard and organ in Warsaw (Frederic Chopin Music University), Freiburg (Musikhochschule Freiburg) and Vienna (Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst). Her recordings include a CD with the Early Music on the soundtrack to the film, Violated Letters (2010). She has been awarded several prizes including the Standard Bank Ovation Award at the National Arts Festival, Grand Prix at the Competition of the 20th and 21st centuries for young performers (Warsaw) and the International Competition of Contemporary Chamber Music (Krakow)

PROGRAMME

  • Eugène Bozza: En Fôret
  • Rob Fokkens: Mammals of Southern Africa
  • Pawel Mykietyn: Although Daedalus Reached…
  • Jean Francaix: Theme and Variations
  • Zdenek Fibich: Quintet Op. 42

ADMISSION

  • R150 (adults)
  • *R80 (pensioners)
  • *R80 (UFS staff)
  • *R60 (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)

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