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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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Lukas Vondracek piano recital

Tuesday, 26 March 2013 

Odeion

19:30

Lukas Vondracek won the 12th UNISA International Piano Competition held in February 2012. 

Born in Opava (Czech Republic) in 1986, his musical ability was spotted at the age of two by his parents, both professional pianists.  He gave his first concert at the age of four and now, at the age of 24, he has visited 27 different countries giving in excess of 1000 concerts.  His first international tour was at the age of ten (1997), when he performed at various festivals in the UK and the USA.  In the intervening years he gave many recital and concerto performances throughout his home country as well as abroad.  He studied at the Vienna Hochschule with Prof. Peter Barcaba, at the Academy of Music in Katowice (Poland) with Prof. Andrzej Jasinsky, and at Ostrava University with Prof. Rudolf Bernatik. 

He is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma at the New England Conservatory (Boston).  He performed debut recitals at La Cite (Paris), the Palais des Beaux Arts (Brussels), the Auditorio Nacional (Madrid), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) and the Tonhalle (Zurich).  Vladimir Ashkenazy was the conductor when Lukas made his debut with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in May 2002 with concerts in Prague and Italy. 

Since then he has appeared frequently with orchestras, including a major US tour and concerts in Cologne, Lucerne, Vienna, Bad Kissingen, and Birmingham's Symphony Hall.  During the 2008/2009 season he made his recital debut in Istanbul. Performances in Germany, Switzerland, Canada, the United States, Nigeria, Venezuela and Great Britain were among the highlights of the 2010/2011 season. 2011/2012 engagements included concerts with the Orchestre National de Belgique, Orquestra Sinfonica Portuguesa, London Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Washington's National Symphony Orchestra.  In 2001 he was awarded the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Award for the most exceptional young artist in Europe.  During the 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (2009) he was awarded The Raymond E. Buck Jury Discretionary Award.  In 2010 he won 1st prize at the 10th Hilton Head International Piano Competition.

Programme:

J. Brahms – Piano Pieces Op. 118

A. Scriabin – Piano Sonata No. 4, Op. 30

S. Rachmaninov – Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42

F. Chopin – Two Nocturnes (tba)

B. Martinu – Three Czech Dances

Admission:

R130 (adults), R90 (pensioners), R50 (students and learners)

Tickets available at Computicket.

Enquiries:   

Ninette Pretorius (tel. 051 401 2504)

OSM MasterR Class Series 2013 (#4)

Lukas Vondracek will present piano master classes on 27 March (9:00 – 13:00) on the Odeion stage.

Admission: R50 per person

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