Composer

Australian conductor Simone Young returns to lead the LA Phil in Olivier Messiaen’s epic and gripping symphony. The Washington Post said Young has a “handle on grandeur—how to grow, manage, sustain and tame it,” which is a trait needed for Messiaen’s near 80-minute “more is more” symphony. Inspired by the tragic romance of Tristan and Isolde, Turangalîla-symphonie is an orchestral tour-de-force that is at times carnal, at others mystical, and always leans into transcendent excess. Young weaves together sounds of bird song and imposing pre-colonial Mexican statues, punctuated by massive brass and percussion, the eerie electronic hum of an ondes martenot, and special lighting effects that nod to the composer’s synesthesia—all coming together for Messiaen’s sweeping expression of all-consuming love.

EPSG:4326

Turangalîla

Walt Disney Concert Hall

Leah Amory, violin

Curtis Institute of Music

Passion music - meditation

Church of Holmen

The intimacy of Schubert’s graceful Andantino Varié for piano four-hands sits alongside the grandness of Messiaen’s Interstellar Call for solo horn, inspired by the canyons of Utah. We encounter Luciano Berio, one of the leading voices of the European post-war avant garde, in virtuosic (Psy for solo double bass) and introspective (Wasserklavier for solo piano) moods.

Nightfall: Elgar, Berio, Messiaen, Schubert

Smith Square Hall

Female composers, cultural identities, contemporary music: Junyan Chen's interests are as broad as her talent is impressive. At the 2024 Leeds International Piano Competition, she not only won second prize, but also the Chamber Music Prize and the Alexandra Dariescu Award – a talent worth keeping an eye on! At ProArte, the young artist will search for connections between times and places with a multifaceted program: works by François Couperin will be presented alongside Maurice Ravel's homage to his fellow Baroque composer. Ravel's famous "La valse" and works by Olivier Messiaen reveal further facets of French soundscapes for solo piano. And with Amy Beach's "Variations on Balkan Themes," a transatlantic cultural encounter joins the pattern of connecting lines.

Discover Talent: Junyan Chen / Piano Recital

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

What happens when music breathes, when sound drifts like mist, or lingers like falling rain? For Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu, silence was as meaningful as any note. One of the most important voices of the postwar era, Takemitsu drew deep inspiration from nature, composing music that feels both intimate and expansive, rooted in stillness and mystery. 

In Between Sound and Silence, the London Sinfonietta brings Takemitsu’s world to life. You'll hear his beautiful, meditative works such as - Rain Coming, and And Then I Knew ’Twas Wind - alongside music by composers who inspired him, including Debussy, Messiaen, and Webern. Their influence helped shape Takemitsu’s unique sound: rich in colour, alive with detail, yet always deeply human. 

Toru Takemitsu: Between Sound And Silence

Southbank Centre

Fritz specialises in both contemporary and classical music, applying experiments with electronics and gut strings to a broad repertoire. For this performance in LSO St Luke’s, the programme explores the complex tension between doubt and faith, from Schumann’s Five Pieces in Folk Style, through a movement from Messiaen’s startling Quatour pour le fin du temps, to more contemporary works, such as Mikołaj Majkusiak’s Rhythms of Doubt, and a brand new ECHO commission by Jennifer Walshe.

ECHO Rising Stars: Valerie Fritz

LSO St Luke's

In this unique world premiere, we hear Laura Bowler’s composition inspired by The White Book by Nobel Prize-winner Han Kang. The work was commissioned by Principal Guest Conductor Barbara Hannigan, who also sings at this performance. With the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and choir.

The White Book

Göteborgs Symfoniker

David Orlowsky is an ace on the clarinet: with him, the clarinet laughs, cries, sings, and laments as if it had a voice of its own. The expressive spectrum he coaxes from his versatile instrument is certainly tremendous. The clarinetist, who makes his debut with the Duisburg Philharmonic with this concerto, is equally at home in classical music and in klezmer music, which he first encountered through his mentor and teacher Giora Feidman. And this specifically Jewish musical tradition plays a central role in Osvaldo Golijov's suspenseful suite "The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind," in which the composer tells a kind of history of Judaism—from its beginnings with Abraham to the present day. Olivier Messiaen's "Hymn" also has a religious reference, in this case to the "Holy Sacrament" of the Eucharist. Although the score was lost in the Second World War, the composer later reconstructed it from memory. In the second half of the concert, Robert Treviño , who courageously stepped in for Eun Sun Kim , who was ill at the Philharmonic's 9th Symphony in December 2022, conducts Jean Sibelius's Symphony No. 2, which evokes its creator's closeness to nature and the vastness of the Finnish landscapes. Also ingenious is the way the composer constructs an entire symphony from a small three-note motif at the beginning – right up to the grandiose finale.

Dreams and prayers

CityPalais

Takemitsu - Portsmouth

Guildhall Square

Jason Hardink, Piano

Alice Pratt Brown Hall

The geomungo, a traditional Korean instrument whose name translates to “black crane zither”, embodies an extraordinary and powerful spirit that serves as the focus of Black Dragon, a captivating concerto by Honolulu composer Donald Reid Womack. Experience the world premiere of the version for Western orchestra, performed by the sought-after geomungo virtuoso Yoon Jeong Heo.  Led by Music and Artistic Director Dane Lam, themes of theology and mythology weave together in a spellbinding program including Messiaen's Les Offrandes Oubliées and Brahms' Symphony No. 4.

Brahms and the Black Dragon

Hawaii Theatre

The timeless art of the recital is perpetuated in the hands of present-day masters of the genre.

David Byrd-Marrow & Cory Smythe

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

French soprano Axelle Fanyo makes her Boston debut with a captivating program showcasing the vocal brilliance and emotional depth that have defined her rising career on opera and recital stages. Praised for her extraordinary expressiveness, Fanyo “does not only embody a character, she tells us the story. She clearly cultivates the art of communication, which gives her singing another dimension” (Forum Opéra).

Axelle Fanyo, soprano & Julius Drake, piano

Longy School of Music of Bard College

Quartet for the End of Time (Quatuor pour la fin du temps), is a quartet in eight movements for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano by the French composer Olivier Messiaen. The piece premiered on 15 January 1941, at the Stalag VIIIA prisoner-of-war camp, in Görlitz, Germany, where the composer had been confined since his capture in May 1940. The work’s instrumentation was determined by the instruments and performers at hand.

Regina Musical Club - Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time

Darke Hall

A rare Houston performance from Grammy Award-winning classical vocalist Julia Bullock, admired both for her critically-acclaimed performances at the Metropolitan Opera as well as original, boundary-breaking recitals of astounding intensity. Appearing here with frequent collaborator and virtuosic soloist Conor Hanick, these two luminous musicians shine their collective light one of the vocal masterpieces of the 20th century.

Julia Bullock, soprano; Conor Hanick, piano | Harawi

Wortham Theater Center

One of the most promising singers of her generation, French soprano Axelle Fanyo has been praised by Renée Fleming for her “charismatic, beautiful voice [of] real star quality.” In her PCMS debut program with the “unfailingly eloquent and supportive” pianist Julius Drake (The Telegraph), Fanyo explores the master and apprentice relationship between two pioneering European composers, Arnold Schoenberg and Olivier Messaien, and their American protegés, John Cage and William Bolcom.

Axelle Fanyo, soprano Julius Drake, piano

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

Hungarian composer Márton Illés’ violin concerto Vont-tér is an ethereal, playful work of kaleidoscopic sounds and effects.

London Symphony Orchestra/Robert Treviño

Barbican Centre

Organ music for Mozart's birthday with Hannfried Lucke

Mozarteum Foundation

In the Audience Orchestra, dedicated amateurs rehearse with great enthusiasm and at a very high artistic level under conductor Michael Petermann, the director of the Hamburger Konservatorium. Each year the orchestra gives two performances in the Grand Hall and further concerts in Hamburg districts, in which they play the pieces they’ve been practicing so intensively.

Elbphilharmonie Audience Orchestra

ROCO’s Connections Series continues with Quartet for All Time, a program of emotional resonance. Through a selection of thoughtfully curated works, this concert exhibits music’s power to reflect and uplift in times of grief and remembrance.

Featuring Rebecca Fischer (violin), Alexis Gerlach (cello), Nathan Williams (clarinet), and Audrey Andrist (piano), the evening honors personal and collective memory through music that speaks across generations and traditions, inviting audiences to reflect on the role of music in preserving hope and history.

ROCO Connections: Quartet for All Time

Texas Southern University

Debussy’s impressionistic symphonic tone poems, La mer and Ibéria, take center stage in this all-French–Iberian-peninsula program. Mezzo-soprano Angela Brower is the soloist for Berlioz’s cantata Cléopâtre, on the first of her two weeks with the TSO, and Maestro Gomez introduces the music of Olivier Messiaen with the grief-stricken Le tombeau resplendissant.

Debussy’s La mer

Linda Ronstadt Music Hall

Barbara Hannigan takes us on an emotional journey filled with birdsong and star-crossed lovers. Joining her with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra is friend Bertrand Chamayou, performing Ravel’s hopeful and jazz-inspired Piano Concerto.

Meeting of Masters: Ravel & Messiaen

From the profound sense of wonder in awe of the unfathomable beauty of the rocky landscapes in Utah/North America, all the way up to the overarching panoply of the stars – thus one might imagine the energy field inhabited by Olivier Messiaen as he wrote this masterpiece of compositional architecture and sound in colourful splendour. From the depths of the canyons, through the stars, and into paradise.

Elbphilharmonie: From the Gorges to the Stars

Deep gorges, large rock pyramids in intense colors, vast forests and a breathtakingly wide starry sky: In his sound-painting work »Des canyons aux étoiles« (»From the Canyons to the Stars«), Olivier Messiaen invites you on a journey through the impressive national parks of the US state of Utah, which he once visited himself.

Klangforum Wien / Ingo Metzmacher

Barbara Hannigan and pianist Bertrand Chamayou have garnered acclaim in the US and Europe for their chamber music programme. Hear John Zorn’s dazzling song cycle Jumalattaret, paired with music by Messiaen and Scriabin.

Hannigan sings John Zorn

Austrian cellist Valerie Fritz loves the extraordinary, the unusual. Even at the beginning of her studies at the Mozarteum Salzburg, she knew that a classical career with the standard repertoire was out of the question for her. Her self-confidence has already taken the young artist far: she has been nominated by the Elbphilharmonie, among others, and is a "Rising Star" in the European Concert Hall Organization (ECHO) season. With accordionist Goran Stevanovich, she explores the spatial, acoustic, and interpersonal aspects of the concert setting with music from Bach to the present day.

Valerie Fritz, Violoncello

Sternschluchten

Wiener Konzerthaus

The always-evolving Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble features musicians from the legendary Met Orchestra in a variety of unique programs. Together, along with special guest artists from the Metropolitan Opera and beyond, they explore a boundless world of chamber music, adapting to fit the instrumental needs of any piece—from all-time classics to hard-to-find hidden gems and standout works by many of today’s significant composers. Star soprano Erin Morley joins as soloist in this program of works by Mozart, Schubert, and Messiaen.

The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble 2026 Concert 3

Carnegie Hall

'La Nativité du Seigneur' – The Nativity of the Lord – is a large organ work by Olivier Messiaen, which describes the prophecies of Jesus' birth and death and the events surrounding Christmas itself and the Epiphany.

Concert - La Nativité du Seigneur

Church of Our Lady Copenhagen

Jonas Olsson, Norrlandsoperan's own pianist, returns with Olivier Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus – a piano work that is considered one of the most significant of the 20th century. A piano concert in the spirit of Christmas with music to immerse yourself in and be overwhelmed by.

Twenty Reflections on the Child Jesus

Norrlandsoperan

In this colourful programme, we encounter the pairing of the conductor Simon Rattle and mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená. In Debussy’s Nocturnes we find traces of his inspiration from nocturnal paintings of rivers. Messiaen’s Poèmes pour Mi plays with surrealistic, spiritual, and romantic colours. Gustav Mahler does not hold anything back, either—his Fourth Symphony includes a vocal part.

Czech Philharmonic • Magdalena Kožená

Rudolfinum

There is no better way to start Advent Sunday than with a varied, atmospheric organ concert: Christian Schmitt, renowned concert organist with a professorship at the Rotterdam Conservatory, invites you to a matinee with a program that presents the "queen of instruments" from the most beautiful romanticism to a piece exclusively for the pedals (i.e. played with the feet!).

Christian Schmitt, organ

Hear OSL members play one of the most extraordinary works of the 20th century. Composed in a German prisoner-of-war camp during the brutal winter of 1940-41, Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time was written for the instruments available—clarinet, violin, cello, and piano—and first performed by fellow prisoners before an audience of 400 inmates and guards.

Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time

The DiMenna Center for Classical Music

Winner of the 2024 Musical Fund Society Career Advancement Award, Anika Kildegaard is quickly distinguishing herself as one of the most promising American vocalists specializing in new music and concert repertoire. Fresh off her Carnegie Hall and Boston Symphony Orchestra debuts, this frequent member of the award winning vocal ensemble The Crossing debuts with PCMS in a recital that highlights selections from three song cycles that grapple with the intensity of love and loss in the human experience.

Anika Kildegaard, soprano Daniel Schreiner, piano

 Benjamin Franklin Hall

To shed light on religion, we have invited military chaplain Michael Hemmingsen of the Church of Isaiah, who gives his perspective on life.

Religion

Østerbro Koncertforening

Joined by the phenomenal soprano Lucy Crowe, we journey across centuries and styles. From Handel and Haydn’s bright elegance to the vivid, kaleidoscopic textures of Messiaen, and from Berg’s exquisite The Nightingale to Gershwin’s jazz-tinged lyricism, come for an inspiring and beautiful range of music. Soar through centuries of music with one of the country’s most exciting orchestras and finest of singers.

Fantasia Orchestra with Lucy Crowe: Birdsong

Juno Award winner, UNESCO Ambassador, and alumnus of The Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School, Jan Lisiecki plays Preludes by Chopin, Bach, Messiaen, and Rachmaninov.

Jan Lisiecki, piano

The Royal Conservatory of Music

KONTRAST - Looking on Darkness

The Royal Danish Academy of Music

Discover the sublime in Messiaen’s transcendent L’Ascension. Stefan Jackiw takes on Berg’s moving Violin Concerto, an homage to innocence lost, while Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration provides a powerful exploration of life’s ultimate journey. Music Director Jun Märkl conducts this concert of reflective depth and stirring melodies.  

Transformations of Spirit: Jackiw plays Berg

Hilbert Circle Theatre

Two deeply religious composers open up the concert season of the Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg in the Meistersingerhalle. Olivier Messiaen hoped to use his first large, suggestive orchestral work Les Offrandes oubliées to turn the colours of church windows into sound. Anton Bruckner was no less spiritual in his own goals for his music. In his 7th Symphony, which marked his breakthrough as a great symphonic composer, he most clearly describes humanity's ascent from hardship and the joys of life toward divine light.

Bruck­ner – Mes­sia­en

Meistersingerhalle

Liebestod , literally "death of love," refers to the famous finale of Richard Wagner's opera Tristan and Isolde . In this tragic scene, Isolde dies before Tristan's lifeless body. The term more broadly evokes the radical idea of ​​love made perfect by death.

Songs of love and death

Lille Opera

Sensational young pianist Martin James Bartlett takes on the thunderous opening chords of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 as the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra launches their brand-new season at Hill Auditorium. Plus, Music Director Earl Lee leads the A2SO in works by Ravel in honor of the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1

University of Michigan

Michael Schønwandt conducts the Southern Jutland Symphony Orchestra in our unofficial, recurring season opening: Rued Langgaard Festival – an evening that, as usual, explores Langgaard's most visionary works.

The whole thing begins evocatively with Messiaen's motet O Sacrum Convivium! and then features Langgaard's concert piece The Star in the East, which is heavenly music with soprano Louise McClelland as soloist. This is followed by Symphony No. 6, - a dramatic main work with strong ties to the opera Antichrist, which the orchestra has previously performed with great success. After the interval, Ludolf Nielsen's nature-depicting Skovvandring will be performed, and the concert will conclude with Langgaard's choral work Fra Dybet, performed by a united choir of young, talented singers. Michael Schønwandt has been one of Denmark's leading conductors for almost 50 years. Chief conductor and music director of the Royal Danish Orchestra. Theatre and Orchestra 2000-2013, chief conductor of the Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester 1992-98, 1st guest conductor of the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra 1889-2000, chief conductor of the Opera and Orchestra in Montpellier 2015-23 are just some of the orchestras he has been associated with over time.

Rued Langgaard Festival

Ribe Cathedral

The in-demand conductor Karina Canellakis returns after making her Edinburgh International Festival debut in the 2023 Closing Concert. She leads this monumental programme with the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and the BBC SSO, characterised by thrilling sounds and ideas of love, divine or human.

EIF: Bernstein & Stravinsky

The Usher Hall

The in-demand Karina Canellakis returns after making her International Festival debut in the 2023 Closing Concert. She leads this monumental programme with the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and the BBC SSO, characterised by thrilling sounds and ideas of love, divine or human.

Bernstein & Stravinsky

Usher Hall

A concert of reflection: The titular organist of Notre-Dame de Paris, Olivier Latry, dedicates his organ recital to the memory of parish priest Christian Öhler – a long-time companion of the festival, whose commitment extended far beyond Bad Ischl.

KIRCH'KLANG: Ad memoriam II

Parish Bad Ischl

Singing has always been a priority in the Baltic states, but no other country in Europe has such a rich and diverse choral landscape as Latvia. The State Choir of Latvija, Latvia's largest professional ensemble of its kind, also comes from this environment. With unearthly sound power - from radiant soprano heights to unfathomable bass depths - this impressive ensemble not only causes a sensation in its homeland, but also regularly delights audiences in the world's major music metropolises. The Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra considers itself lucky to be able to welcome the approximately 70 singers from Riga again this season after their visit in the 2023/2024 season. Before its performance in Arnold Schönberg's Gurre-Lieder on July 9 and 10, 2025, the State Choir of Latvija will make an a cappella stopover in the Salvatorkirche. Under the direction of Māris Sirmais, an atmospheric program will be performed, which, starting with the romantic sounds of Anton Bruckner or Edward Elgar, touches on classical modernism and, above all, presents music by contemporary Baltic composers.

special choir concert

Salvatorkirche Duisburg

"From the canyons to the stars... This means rising from the depths of the canyons up to the stars - and even higher up to the resurrected of paradise - to praise God and the abundance of his creations: the beauties of the earth (its rocks, its birdsong), the beauties of the visible sky, the beauties of the spiritual sky," writes Olivier Messiaen in the prologue to the score of "Des Canyons aux étoiles...".

Cambreling – Messiaen »Des canyons aux étoiles…«

Laeiszhalle Hamburg

"This was my first work played by an orchestra and my first contact with a large audience. I was 22 years old at the time," reports Olivier Messiaen. "Les offrandes oubliées" (The Forgotten Offerings) was composed in 1930 and premiered on February 19, 1931 in the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées by the Orchestre des concerts Straram under the direction of its boss and namesake, Walther Straram. The "symphonic meditation" (as the subtitle says) is based on linguistically comprehensible but abstract ideas. The texts were written by Messiaen himself. The themes of the three verses (cross - sin - Eucharist) can be understood as situations of contemplation, descent and rapture and form the three sections of the work.

Sylvain Cambreling, Szymon Nehring, Jane Archibald – Messiaen, Bellini, Chopin

In the popular chamber music series “Workshop.Dialogue.Music”, musicians of the Berliner Philharmoniker introducing themselves and their instruments, and talking in a relaxed atmosphere about the works presented, their interpretation and their approach. Questions and a dialogue with the audience are very welcome! A new feature is that visitors can enjoy a French breakfast from 11:00 onwards, before the concert begins at 11:30. Breakfast is included in the ticket price.

“Workshop.Dialogue.Music” Concert breakfast at the Palais Populaire

PalaisPopulaire

EXPRESS CONCERT: Cassie Pilgrim Plays Bach’s Oboe d’Amore Concerto

University of Minnesota

Shepherd of The Valley Lutheran Church

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts

Soli fan tutti - 7th Concert 24/25

Staatstheater Darmstadt

A musical matinee of superlatives: this fabulously French program was chosen by Jan Vogler together with his high-carat musical friends from France, the violinist Renaud Capuçon, the pianist Hélène Mercier and the principal clarinetist of the Orchestre de Paris, Pascal Moraguès. In 1916, Debussy, who was suffering from illness, completed his originally planned six-part cycle with his third sonata in G minor. 

Capuçon — Vogler — Moraguès — Mercier

Palais im Großen Garten

Musicians of the Concertgebouw Orchestra and Alexander Reeuwijk take you on an excursion through Beethoven’s ‘Pastorale’ and other works.

Close-up: Early birds

The Concertgebouw

»Songs are like small operas into which you can bring many colors,« says Hanna-Elisabeth Müller. Young in years, rich in success, the soprano always devotes particular attention to the programs of her song recitals.

Hanna-Elisabeth Müller | Daniel Ottensamer | Juliane Ruf

Museum Ludwig

Echoes of Times

Segerstrom Center for the Arts

Dominik Susteck was 13 years old when he discovered the organ. At the same time, he was completely fascinated by the music of Olivier Messiaen, which sparked his interest in contemporary music. Today, Susteck is considered one of the most important new music organists internationally. Nevertheless, he always has to return to his two musical mentors, Bach and Messiaen.

Dominik Susteck

Bulgarian American violinist Bella Hristova has won international acclaim for her “expressive nuance and rich tone” (New York Times) and “impressive power and control” (Washington Post). She has distinguished herself on the world stage as a performing artist with a remarkably diverse repertoire and bold approach to programming. In collaboration with returning pianist, Anna Polonsky, Hristova marks her Newport debut in a varying program which includes stalworth works by Bach, a transcription of a movement from Messiaen’s Quartet for the end of time, Grieg’s thrilling second violin sonata, and folk songs from the childhood of composer Reena Esmail.  

Violinist Bella Hristova performs Bach and Grieg

Newport Classical

Concert Chorale

The University of Texas at Austin

Celebrating Easter: Haydn, Bach, Brahms, Messiaen

Bargemusic

Pianist and composer Mikael Darmanie performs an eclectic program showcasing the musical perspectives that have most influenced his own, from Olivier Messiaen, Robert Schumann and Alexander Scriabin to Erykah Badu. Darmanie says, “At first glance it’s giving music-streaming-app-playlist-on-shuffle vibes, but at its core, it represents the intersection of two disparate systems: the eclecticism of today’s algorithmic based society and the indifference of nature.”

Mikael Darmanie, piano

Kaufman Music Center

Crescendo Concerts combine all of your favorite things about going to a concert, except one thing — they’re not in a concert hall. Spend an afternoon in a beautiful home, socialize with new and old friends, and listen to incredible music in a special and intimate setting.

Njioma Grevious and Jeewon Park

Center for Chamber Music

This season, PCM presents three Musical Interludes concerts inspired by scenes and sounds from the natural world: Water, Night, and Forest.

From the Natural World | Forest

Pasadena Conservatory of Music

A daring and eclectic program indeed!

The first half will feature modernism at its most gleaming and seductive. Mason Bates’ deft blend of orchestra and electronics offers ear-popping pleasure.

Four Redwood Symphony soloists will play Messiaen’s final major work, a veritable menagerie of carefully transcribed bird calls by turns beguiling and raucous.

Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique

Cañada College

The exceptional violinist Janine Jansen has a special relationship with Brahms, whose violin concerto she has performed many, many times. Now she is devoting herself to the composer's violin sonatas with the award-winning pianist Denis Kozhukhin - and is continuing the thread into the 20th century.

Janine Jansen | Denis Kozhukhin

The place: the main camp VIII A near Görlitz. The time: the Second World War. Instruments available: clarinet, piano, violin and cello. Not ideal conditions for musical world literature, but Olivier Messiaen managed to do just that at the turn of the year 1940/41 while he was a German prisoner of war. His quartet is as much an end-time work that explores the depths of human existence as it is a vision of the future that hears the divine in birdsong. 80 years after the liberation of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora concentration camps, Messiaen's music is placed alongside selected texts.

5th Chamber Concert

Theater Nordhausen

Friday 19th subscription - Raquel Lojendio - OSG Choir - José Trigueros

Opera Palace of A Coruña

The Young Artists Concerts offer a platform for young musicians. The series is organized in cooperation with the German Music Council.

Hiraeth. duo51saiten plays Strauss, Schubert, Messiaen and more

NDR Konzerthaus | Kleiner Sendesaal

Gryphon Piano Trio with James Campbell, Clarinet

In celebration of the 100th birthday of Pierre Boulez, conductor Daniel Cohen joins BBC NOW for an evening of 20th Century gems, kicking off with Boulez’s own Livres pour cordes. Unsurpassable beauty and depth run deep in this angular and fragmentary work, which is nothing but lyrical throughout.

Boulez at 100

BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Join us for an enchanting evening of chamber music on Festival Day 3 of the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music series, happening on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, at 7:30 pm in the Leo Rich Theater. This remarkable event promises an unforgettable lineup of classical masterpieces performed by world-renowned musicians.

The evening will commence with Claude Debussy's "Rhapsody for Saxophone," featuring the exceptional talents of Bernadette Harvey on piano and Steven Banks on saxophone. This will be followed by Johannes Brahms' "Piano Quartet in C Minor, Op. 60," brought to life by the Sitkovetsky Trio with Alexander Sitkovetsky on violin, Wu Qian on piano, Isang Enders on cello, and Masumi Per Rostad on viola.

The program will also include Olivier Messiaen's "Thème et Variations 1932," a captivating piece performed by Martin Beaver on violin and Bernadette Harvey on piano. The evening will conclude with Ludwig van Beethoven's "String Quartet No. 8 in E Minor, Op. 59, No. 2," presented by the Miró Quartet, featuring Daniel Ching and William Fedkenheuer on violins, John Largess on viola, and Joshua Gindele on cello.

Tickets are available for both in-person attendance and online streaming, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to experience this magnificent showcase of chamber music. Whether you're a long-time classical music enthusiast or new to the genre, Festival Day 3 of the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music is an event not to be missed.

Festival Day 3

Tucson Convention Center

Gentle drizzling, vigorous splashing, thunderous drumming – rain comes in many guises. Hanns Eisler’s 1941 film score Fourteen Ways to Describe Rain was one of his best chamber music works. Today, in the face of accelerating climate change, weather patterns take on a whole new urgency. Inspired by Eisler, Gregor Mayrhofer explores these phenomena in his composition Tipping Points. Fourteen ways to describe climate change, a commissioned work which will be premiered as part of our Biennale, explores pivotal moments for our climate. The physicist and science journalist Harald Lesch will host this dialogue concert.

“Tipping Points. Fourteen ways to describe climate change”

Berliner Philharmonie

How do composers convey their spirituality and identity through their  music? Join Parlando on a mystical journey through heritage and time.  The program includes Bryce Dessner’s fleet-footed Aheym, Ralph Vaughan Williams’s spellbinding Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, and Olivier Messaien’s transcendent Trois petites ligurgies de la présence divine.

Mystic Chords

Join us for an unforgettable evening of chamber music at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, featuring the acclaimed pianist Juho Pohjonen. This special event, part of the Art of the Recital series, will take place on Thursday, February 20, 2025, at 7:30 pm in the intimate setting of the Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Studio at CMS.

The program promises a journey through the evolution of piano music, starting with the world premiere of Jyrki Linjama's "Prélude oublié for Piano" (2024), followed by masterpieces from Alexander Scriabin, Franz Liszt, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Olivier Messiaen. Highlights include Scriabin's "Sonata No. 6 for Piano, Op. 62" and "Sonata No. 7 for Piano, Op. 64, White Mass," Liszt's "Après une Lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata for Piano," Beethoven's "Sonata for Piano, Op. 27, No. 1, Quasi una fantasia," and Messiaen's "Le baiser de l’Enfant-Jésus from Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus for Piano."

Juho Pohjonen, celebrated for his "impeccable technique" (Washington Post) and "elegant musicianship" (New York Times), brings his expertise and passion for Scandinavian music to the forefront, offering a showcase of works by Finnish composers alongside the classics. An alum of CMS’s Bowers Program, Pohjonen enjoys an ongoing association with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, making this performance a homecoming of sorts.

The event will last approximately 2 hours, including an intermission, allowing audiences to fully immerse themselves in the beauty and complexity of the music. The Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Studio at CMS, located in the Rose Building at 165 West 65th Street, New York, NY 10023, provides the perfect acoustics and ambiance for this musical exploration.

Tickets are not yet on sale but be sure to mark your calendars and stay tuned for the opportunity to secure your seats for this must-attend event. Whether you're a long-time classical music enthusiast or new to the chamber music scene, this recital promises to be a memorable part of the 2025 season at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Composer

Olivier Messiaen

Events

Upcoming events

Jan 24 - Jun 20, 2026

Elbphilharmonie Audience Orchestra · Elbphilharmonie

Apr 19, 2026

Quartet for the End of Time · Redlands Symphony

Apr 23, 2026

Messiaen's Turangalîla · Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Apr 30, 2026

Berkeley Ensemble with Libby Burgess, piano · Sinfonia Smith Square

May 7, 2026

Songs of Love with the DR Vocal Ensemble · DR Vocal Ensemble

Past events

10 - 12 Apr, 2026

Turangalîla · Los Angeles Philharmonic

Apr 7, 2026

Leah Amory, violin · Curtis Institute of Music

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