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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)


Back
Free State Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bernhard Gueller

Soloist             :           Ockie Vermeulen (organ)

Dates               :           Thursday 13 August

Venue             :           Odeion

Time                :           19:30

 

Music lovers will get the opportunity to listen to two of the most famous works for organ and orchestra during the next concert of the Free State Symphony Orchestra. The Pretoria based organist Ockie Vermeulen will be the soloist in Albinoni’s famous Adagio in G minor as well as Poulenc’s Organ Concerto in G minor. Also on the programme are Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 and Arvo Pärt’s Fratres. The internationally acclaimed conductor Bernhard Gueller will be on the podium. This concert is made possible by a grants from the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) and the Rupert Foundation.

 

Albinoni’s Adagio has been used in several film soundtracks, including Gallipoli and Rollerball and it was also performed at the funeral of Lady Diana, Princess of Wales. Fratres, in its many reincarnations has also appeared soundtracks, most notably There Will Be Blood, starring Daniel Day-Lewis.

 

Ockie Vermeulen is an active concert organist and music arranger. In 2011 he was invited to perform in Monaco where he played for as service which was attended by Prince Albert and Princess Charlene and also gave a solo recital. His debut CD, Highland Cathedral has been met with critical acclaim and has been topping the South African charts for 50 consecutive weeks. In November 2010 he released his second CD Arena on which he collaborated with musicians such as Christa Steyn, Wessel van Wyk, Charl du Plessis and Helen Vosloo.

 

For the last 13 years music director of Symphony Nova Scotia in Halifax, Canada, Bernhard Gueller continues to enthral audiences with his profound and exciting interpretations. Well known to audiences internationally for the passion, mastery and drama he brings to the concert hall podium, Gueller is also acclaimed for his “profound interpretations”, the “stunning responses he gets from musicians” and the excitement he elicits. He is loved by musicians, critics and audience for his musical purity and continually garners praise for the fresh approach he brings to the podium. This is maestro Gueller’s third visit to Bloemfontein and the Free State Symphony Orchestra.

 

Tickets for the concert in the Odeion are available from Computicket outlets or book online at www.computicket.com.

 

Admission:

R130 (adults)

R100 (pensioners)

R50 (students/learners/group bookings of 10+)

 

Enquiries:

Ella Kotze (FSSO), tel. (051) 401-2342 (office hours)

www.fsso.org.za

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