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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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Lusistrata

Production: Lusistrata
Text: Aristophanes
Adaptation & Translation: P. J van Rensburg
Director: Stephanie Brink
Venue: Wynand Mouton Theatre
Dates and times:
15 – 17 September at 19h30

Bookings: Computicket (Mimosa Mall and Checkers)

Bookings for block bookings of 10 or more people can be done with Thys Heydenrych (072 235 3191)


Lusistrata; The Battle of the Sexes...

This September, the University of the Freestate presents Lusistrata at the Wynand Mouton theatre in Bloemfontein . The text for Aristophanes" age old comedy, has been translated and adapted for the modern theatre by P. J van Rensburg. Thanks to the expert guidance of director Dr. Stephanie Brink, the relatively inexperienced cast of third year drama students can say their performance does justice to a story which has stood the test of time.

The action takes place in the city of Athens, which is completely devoid of men. Every man, and every almost-man, has been called to war, and whilst they are being killed off in the fighting, their wives are left at home to raise babies and amuse themselves. Lusistrata has called together the women of Athens and Sparta to come up with a way to force their husbands to come to a peace agreement. The battle of the sexes ensues, as the women select silky, transparent night dresses and dainty shoes as their weapons of choice, coupled with a strategy which relies more on falling back than attacking...Yes, Lusistrata"s fighting methods are alternative, but regardless, she quickly manages to prove that it is the women who will take care of the war!

Althouth it has been adapted, the play still makes use of a traditional Greek chorus and elements of exaggerated costuming. The production makes use of sexual themes and suggestive wordplay but no physical love scenes or nudity and is suitable for audience members 16 years and older.
Lusistrata opens at the Wynand Mouton Threatre on the 15th of September will be running until the 17th of September. Performances begin at 19:30 and tickets are available via Computicket.

For more information contact:

Marijda Kamper
051 401 2160
 

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