Composer

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.

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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

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

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

Göteborgs Symfoniker

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

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

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

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

Smith Square Hall

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

Alice Pratt Brown Hall

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.

Juho Pohjonen

Samuel B. & David Rose Building

Karina Canellakis conducts Debussy’s La Mer, which shimmers with a multitude of orchestral textures in its portrayal of the sea. Messiaen’s Les Offrandes oubilées is a profound expression of his devout faith, and Berg’s Violin Concerto — here performed by Veronika Eberle — blends modern compositional techniques with deep emotions. This concert begins with a musical meditation by Saariaho.

Canellakis Conducts Messiaen and La Mer

David Geffen Hall

Experience an evocative exploration of music's response to crisis with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Chamber Music Series at the University of Chicago. This program features two profound works that delve into the depths of human emotion and resilience. Mozart’s Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in A Major, K. 581, stands as a testament to the composer's genius, with its wistful Larghetto movement offering a poignant reflection on beauty and melancholy. Complementing this is Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, a piece composed and premiered under the harrowing conditions of a German prisoner-of-war camp. Scored for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, Messiaen’s work is imbued with spiritual energy, conjuring vivid images of singing birds, rainbows, and angels. The performance promises a rich tapestry of sounds and emotions, brought to life by the exceptional talents of Robert Chen and Qing Hou on violin, Lawrence Neuman on viola, John Sharp on cello, Stephen Williamson on clarinet, and Umi Garrett on piano. This concert offers a profound musical journey through the lens of historical and personal turmoil, showcasing the enduring power of art in times of crisis.

CSO Chamber Music at the University of Chicago

Reynolds Club

Join us for a program of stunning chamber music that celebrates the musical coexistence of dark and light.

CNMAT PRESENTS : Ninth Planet

University of California, Berkeley

This powerhouse ensemble combines three of today’s most luminary chamber musicians: former Johannes Quartet violinist Soovin Kim, former Emerson Quartet cellist Paul Watkins, and pianist Gloria Chien. Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Clarinet Ricardo Morales adds his “utterly natural musical grace” (New York Times) for a performance of Olivier Messiaen’s hauntingly beautiful Quartet for the End of Time.

CKW Trio Ricardo Morales, clarinet

One of the most impressive works by the French composer Olivier Messiaen was written in 1940/41, while he was a prisoner of war in a labor camp near Görlitz: "Quatuor pour la fin du Temps" (Quartet for the End of Time) - a musical meditation on the Apocalypse of John in eight movements. The instrumentation was based on the forces and instruments available in the camp: a clarinet, a violin, a cello and a broken piano played by Messiaen himself. The premiere took place in January 1941 in the camp's theater barracks.

Sound images concert

Synagogue of the Jewish Community of Lübeck

Gabriel Fauré was also swept along by the same current in music history that had gripped Debussy, who was 17 years younger than him - or rather, that he had finally set in motion. Both composed music for Maurice Maeterlinck's symbolist drama "Pelléas et Mélisande", which was celebrated as a cult in the 1890s. Under great time pressure, Fauré entrusted the orchestration of his work, written in 1898, to his student Charles Koechlin. Fauré conducted the premiere in London himself. Of the original 19 parts, only four excerpts were published, which form the suite as we know it today. It is undoubtedly Fauré's most beautiful orchestral work, in an orchestration that he revised again.

Magdalena Kožená, Gergely Madaras – “Pelléas et Mélisande” and “The Moldau”

The Frenchman Olivier Messiaen composed his "Quartet for the End of Time" while he was interned in a prisoner of war camp near Görlitz, where the work was premiered on January 15, 1941. As with so many pieces by the deeply religious Catholic Messiaen, the title of the work refers to the Bible, more specifically the Book of Revelation. The Quatuor is an immediately moving, largely meditative classic of 20th century music that convinces even those who may be skeptical about this type of music.

3rd Chamber Concert: For the End of Time

Domicil Jazzclub

Anton Bruckner and Olivier Messiaen have much in common. The conductor Simone Young and the Concertgebouw Orchestra forge a musical and spiritual bond between Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6 and Messiaen’s L’Ascension.

Bruckner and Messiaen

David Pipe performs Messiaen’s evocative nine-movement cycle telling the story of the birth of Christ. Composed when Messiaen was only in his mid-twenties, this iconic work depicts the shepherds, angels and wise men, before concluding with the dramatic ‘Dieu parmi nous’ toccata.

David Pipe: Messiaen's La Nativite

Huddersfield Town Hall

David Pipe performs Messiaen’s evocative nine-movement cycle telling the story of the birth of Christ.

David Pipe: Messiaen's La Nativité

Bringing Gustav Mahler's "The Song of the Earth" to the stage always leads into the depths of the late romantic aesthetic of the turn of the century. Of course, the basis of the work is poetry - but of a rather dubious nature due to the many translations back and forth from ancient Chinese. And so the six songs, of which the last is by far the most important, are actually to be understood primarily from the perspective of the music and in a sense as Mahler's unofficial ninth symphony. At least that is how he himself suggested it - and also emphasized that "The Song of the Earth" is "probably the most personal ... thing I have done so far." Stuart Skelton and Karen Cargill sing the version for tenor and alto here.

5th Philharmonic Concert

Acclaimed as an "intoxicating, graceful" artist whose "whole being breathes music" (De Telegraaf), Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan partners with the French pianist Bertrand Chamayou for a recital filled with moments of mysticism, meditation, and ecstasy.

Barbara Hannigan & Bertrand Chamayou

National Arts Centre

Monumental mysticism radiates in Olivier Messiaen’s Des canyons aux étoiles... Commissioned to write a work which commemorated the bicentenary of the American Declaration of Independence, the French composer visited the United States looking for inspiration. He found it amongst the National Parks of Utah. The wild canyons of the desert state are a perfect partner for Messiaen’s powerful spirituality. Their colourful rock formations glow throughout this unique work. Messiaen faithfully replicates the songs of birds – God’s musicians, he called them – in virtuosic writing for the orchestra.

From the Canyons to the Stars

The Bridgewater Hall

World-renowned soprano Barbara Hannigan is an “intensely musical, intoxicating, graceful, passionate” artist whose “whole being breathes music” (De Telegraaf, Netherlands). Following a thrilling PCMS recital in 2017, she returns with French pianist Bertrand Chamayou for an adventurous program that includes John Zorn’s highly virtuosic Jumalattaret and Olivier Messiaen’s song cycle Chants de terre et de ciel, exploring the spiritual dimension of marriage and parenthood.

Composer

Olivier Messiaen

Events

Upcoming events

Jan 24 - Jun 20, 2026

Elbphilharmonie Audience Orchestra · Elbphilharmonie

Feb 1, 2026

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

Feb 3, 2026

Axelle Fanyo, soprano & Julius Drake, piano · Celebrity Series of Boston

Feb 5, 2026

David Byrd-Marrow & Cory Smythe · Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Feb 8, 2026

Brahms and the Black Dragon · Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra

Past events

Jan 30, 2026

Julia Bullock, soprano; Conor Hanick, piano | Harawi · Dacamera

Jan 30, 2026

Axelle Fanyo, soprano Julius Drake, piano · Philadelphia Chamber Music Society

About

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