More Messiaen in St. Louis
Late-arriving announcements of concerts you should know about. This brief is for Sunday’s A&E section, but you might want to plan further ahead:
Symphony Mondays: 100th Anniversary Celebration of the Birth of Olivier Messiaen
Members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and faculty of Washington University perform Olivier Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time, 8 p.m. Monday, March 3, at the E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall, 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity Avenue. Free and open to the public.
The unique sonic world of Olivier Messiaen is getting a more intense hearing in this year of the composer’s centenary: lucky us. His “Turangalila-Symphonie,” performed by the SLSO at the Touhill and Carnegie Hall, gave us the big-canvas Messiaen; his “Quartet for the End of Time,” written in a prison camp for the five instruments available there, offers his music in miniature.
On Monday night, Silvian Iticovici and Jooyeon Kong, violins, Ken Kulosa, cello, Paul Garritson, clarinet and Seth Carlin, piano, will perform the “Quartet,” in a program that also includes Messiaen’s “Theme and Variations for Violin and Piano” and Aaron Copland’s “Vitebsk Trio.” If you don’t know Messiaen’s chamber music, this is a wonderful opportunity to get acquainted.

