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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ARNOLD BOSMAN Commemorative Concert 2015

ARNOLD BOSMAN Commemorative Concert

5 February 2015

Odeion

19:30

 

On 5 February 2015 the Odeion School of Music will present the annual special memorial concert in honour of Arnold Bosman, renowned conductor and pianist. The first memorial concert took place in 2010 to commemorate five years since his death in 2005.  Arnold has developed, especially during the last decade of his life, as a diverse and prominent musical figure and as both performer and conductor he made a significant contribution to musical performance and research in Italy.

 

The piano duo, Flying Fingers, with Johan Cromhout and Brigitte Botha will perform the following works:

Saint-Saëns: Variations on a theme by Beethoven in E-flat, Op. 35

Mendelssohn: Allegro Brillante in A major, Op. 92

Bennet: Divertimento for two pianos: A four piece Suite

 

Flying Fingers is regarded as Bloemfontein’s most popular piano duo combination.  This partnership started in 1994 when they were both teaching at the St Michael’s School for Girls.  Over the years, with the support of Prof Japie Human, they made an in depth study on the piano duo repertoire.  Their repertoire currently consists of the most popular and most important compositions in this genre.  Both pianists obtained their MMus degrees (cum laude).at the UFS as well as their Performers’ and Teachers’ Licentiates from UNISA and ABRSM.  Brigitte distinguishes herself in the field of chamber music and accompaniment, while Johan is known in South Africa as a jazz pianist and accompanist of singers for Lieder performances.   Johan has also performed as soloist with the Odeion Sinfonia.

 

As duo they perform and have performed at Old Presidency concerts as well as at the Odeion Chamber Fest concerts.  In 2010 they received the award for the best Free State artists at the Volksblad Arts Festival. In 2011, at the Vryfees, they were nominated for awards in two categories.

 

In 2013 Johan received his PhD degree at the UFS. He has written his thesis on Arnold Bosman.

 

ADMISSION:

Free

 

ENQUIRIES:

Ninette Pretorius (tel. 051 401 2504)

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