Tashi -- an ensemble formed in 1973 to perform Olivier Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time" -- will give the final performance in the Ithaca College Concerts yearlong season, "Legends," on Wednesday, April 23. The concert will begin at 8:15 p.m. in Ford Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music.
A pre-concert lecture will be given by assistant professor of music theory Rebecca Jemian at 7:30 p.m. in the Robert A. Iger Lecture Hall (room 2105) in the Whalen Center.
The 2007–08 season has been named "Legends" because it offers concerts by world-renowned performers who have established themselves as popular and enduring figures. The members of Tashi are pianist Peter Serkin, violinist Ida Kavafian, cellist Fred Sherry, and clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, all of whom have enjoyed stellar careers as soloists and chamber musicians.
Tashi has reunited after some 30 years apart to reprise this Messiaen work and others. Charles Wuorinen has "recomposed" medieval works by Josquin des Prez and Thomas Morley specifically for this ensemble. "Quatrain II" by Toru Takemitsu will round out the program.
Individual tickets are on sale at the Clinton House ticket center and at www.ithacaevents.com. (The Ticket Center at Clinton House charges a $1-$2 service fee on all tickets sold through its box offices in order to support its operating costs and the performing arts organizations of Tompkins County.)
Individual ticket prices are:
The featured work, "Quartet for the End of Time" by Olivier Messiaen, was written in 1940 while the composer was in a German prison camp; it was performed by Messiaen and three other prisoners for their 5,000 fellow captives. Its religious mysticism takes as its point of departure a passage in the Book of Revelation about the descent of the seventh angel, at the sound of whose trumpet "there should be time no longer."
Tashi's reunion tour has been garnering rave reviews. The Los Angeles Times wrote: "If the performance was of our time, it also went beyond time. And if the members' stylistic differences are more exaggerated than ever now that each has forged a distinguished solo career, that made the Tashi magic all the more meaningful."
James McQuillen of the Oregonian added, "It is impossible to overstate the importance of [the musicians'] engagement in this music ... Listeners have only the players' passionate dedication and sterling musicianship to connect to a piece."
For more information on Ithaca College Concerts, call 607-274-3717 or visit www.ithaca.edu/music/icc/.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20080417092413967