Opening Concert: Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time

Free Admission
Unheard-of Ensemble kicks off their annual Collaborative Composition Initiative workshop performing Olivier Messiaen’s monumental Quartet for the End of Time. Written in 1941 while Messiaen was a prisoner of war, the Quartet tells the story of the book of Revelation while meditating on his faith and the eternal. The story of the Quartet’s composition is one of resilience, persistence, and friendship between Messiaen, clarinetist Henri Akoka, violinist Jean le Boulaire, and cellist Étienne Pasquier. 

Unheard-of also performs the Midwest premiere of CCI Composition Faculty Liliya Ugay’s After the End of Time. The work written in 2020 is a modern homage to Messiaen. It responds to the feelings surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the fear and uncertainty, detachment and unity, and hope.