CANCELLED–Revelation | Radius Ensemble | ensemble-in-residence

This event is cancelled. Follow Longy’s update on our coronavirus response.

EPSTEIN – Abîme des oiseaux for wind quintet (world premiere)
MESSIAEN – Quatuor pour la fin du Temps

At 6 p.m. on January 15, 1941, Olivier Messiaen premiered his Quatuor pour la fin du Temps (Quartet for the End of Time) in Stalag VIII A, a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp. The composer played the piano part that night, and the other members of the unusual ensemble were fellow professional musicians and captives. Rising above the horrors of war, the work meditates on goodness, love, and transcending the bounds of earthly time. The world premiere of Boston composer Marti Epstein’s Abîme des oiseaux (Abyss of Birds) for wind quintet responds to, and takes its title from, a movement of Messiaen’s masterpiece. Marti Epstein will be be present for the performance.