Punk in Times of War
An evening with the "End Times" Ensemble - a special band formed for one night only to bring you a current take on Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps, as well as works by Nick Vasallo and Brett Austin Eastman.
Featuring:
Naomi STINE – piano
Mia Bella D’AUGELLI – violin
Kyle BEARD – clarinet and bass clarinet
Misha KHALIKULOV – cello
Quatuor pour la fin du temps (1941) by Olivier Messiaen – January 15th will be the 77th anniversary of the premier of Quartet for the End of Time, first performed in a prisoner of war camp in 1941 under Nazi-occupied France. Composed in desperate conditions, we are reminded that one can go against the grain and against authoritarianism, proving that creation is greater than destruction.
When the War Began (2013) by Nick Vasallo – Composed from January 26th to February 15th 2013. The three movements (I. The Enduring Moments Before Disaster, II. Falling from the Sky, III. Into the Storm) all represent events and images that are associated with the horrors of war. I gave myself a simple narrative akin to a movie script and used this as a model for form. For example, in the first movement a small family waits as they hear the impending sound of war as it nears their door. There is nothing they can do to escape the terror. The handful of simple musical ideas and instruments become complex and surprising characters that can exist in reality or imagination. Extended techniques are used to emulate the sounds of electronic music and sound effects.
MISMA (2017) by Brett Austin Eastman – This is a five-movement work inspired by several female artists significant to me, either famous, historical, or known to me personally: Hildegard von Bingen, Solange Knowles, Amber Sermeño, Ara Jo, Etta James, Kathleen Hanna, and Naomi Stine. I have quoted them within the piece using a cryptogrammic technique Messiaen created and referred to as “the language of the angels.”