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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
Talisman

Talisman
Monday, 22 March 2010
Odeion
20:00
The Department of Music cordially invites you to a concert by the American a capella group, Talisman. Talisman is a coed group of singers from the Stanford University in California (USA). This group of singers is dedicated to the sharing of stories through music. They aim to explore and perform cultural music and strive to give voice to a vast collection of human stories through song. They also strive not only to perform music for itself, but to use it as a means to grow as individuals and to share their experiences with their audience. The group was established by Joe Pigato in 1990 and celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Their initial aim was to bring culturally substantive music to the Stanford community. They concentrated on the African and African-American diaspora but have since broadened their horizons by engaging with musical traditions from all over the world. The group is mainly an a capella group, but also uses drums and dancing in their music.

Talisman has already performed at the White House and at the 1996 Olympic Games, Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl as well as with the artist, Seal. In 1997 they won the ICCA competition (International Championship of Collegiate A Capella). To date Talisman has released 8 albums - 7 full length albums as well as a ten-year anniversary compilation called Shine.

They have returned to South Africa numerous times in the past years and have build relationships with many organizations in Johannesburg and Cape Town such as the Amy Biehl Foundation. The group was requested to sing for former president, Nelson Mandela, during his first visit to Stanford University. On their return to South Africa to perform in, amongst others, Johannesburg, they will also visit Bloemfontein for a performance in the Odeion.

Concert goers are kindly requested to enter the building from the southern side (via the Departmental offices) due to construction work in the Odeion foyer area.

Admission:
Free, contact Ninette Pretorius (tel. 051 – 401 2504) for enquiries.
 

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