Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Winter Festival: Messiaen's 'Quartet for the End of Time'

• Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet
• Wu Qian, piano
• Alexander Sitkovetsky, violin
• Mihai Marica, cello

"I saw a mighty angel descend from heaven, clad in mist." So begins Olivier Messiaen's introduction to this work, composed and premiered in a prisoner of war camp, which transcends its medium to become one of music's most powerful, life- changing experiences. Johannes Brahms in his most introspective mood, and Igor Stravinsky nodding to the Classical style, lead to Messiaen's mesmerizing, mystical depiction of the apocalypse, amid bird calls, the sound of seven trumpets, and a final, hypnotic affirmation of immortality.

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About Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS)

http://www.chambermusicsociety.org/

About Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet

http://www.fiterstein.com/

About Wu Qian, piano

Winner of a 2016 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, as well as classical music's bright young star award for 2007 by The Independent, pianist Wu Qian has maintained a busy international career for over a decade. She has appeared as soloist in many international venues including the Wigmore, Royal Festival, and Bridgewater halls in the UK, City Hall in Hong Kong, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. As a soloist she has appeared with the Konzerthaus Orchester in Berlin, the Brussels Philharmonic, the London Mozart Players, I Virtuosi Italiani, the European Union Chamber Orchestra, and the Munich Symphoniker. She won first prize in the Trio di Trieste Duo Competition and the Kommerzbank Piano Trio competition in Frankfurt, and has received numerous other awards. Appearances this season include performances in the UK, Germany, USA, Korea, Australia, Spain, and The Netherlands and collaborations with Alexander Sitkovetsky, Leticia Moreno, Cho-Liang Lin, Clive Greensmith, and Wu Han. Her debut recording of Schumann, Liszt, and Alexander Prior was met with universal critical acclaim. She is a founding member of the Sitkovetsky Piano Trio with which, in addition to performing in major concert halls and series around the world, she has released two recordings on the BIS label and also a disc of Brahms and Schubert on the Wigmore Live Label. Wu Qian an alum of The Bowers Program.

About Alexander Sitkovetsky, violin

Violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky was born in Moscow into a family with a well-established musical tradition. His concerto debut came at the age of eight and in the same year he moved to the UK to study at the Menuhin School. In the 2022-23 season, he debuted at Vienna's Musikverein with the Tonkünstler Orchester, made return visits to Anima Musicae Budapest and Russian Philharmonic Novosibirsk and appeared with the Sitkovetsky Trio at festivals throughout Spain, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, and Germany. Recent concerto performances include appearances with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Moscow and St Petersburg Symphony Orchestras, Orquesta Filarmónica de Bolivia, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Philharmonia Orchestra. He directs and performs as a soloist regularly with chamber orchestras, including the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, London Mozart Players, New York Chamber Players, Camerata Zurich, and most recently with the Romanian Sinfonietta. He is a founding member of the Sitkovetsky Trio, which regularly performs throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The trio's fourth disc for BIS Records, Ravel’s Piano Trio and Saint-Saëns's Second Trio, was released to great critical acclaim in July 2021. Sitkovetsky is an alum of Chamber Music at Lincoln Center's Bowers Program and plays the 1679 'Parera' Antonio Stradivari violin, kindly loaned to him through the Beare’s International Violin Society by a generous sponsor.

About Mihai Marica, cello

https://www.mihaimarica.com/