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"Quartet" new paintings by Barron Storey and
"End of Time" concert by Cellista and the Juxtapositions Chamber Ensemble
On January 15, 1941 French composer Olivier Messiaen premiered his seminal work “Quartet for the End of Time” within the confines of Stalag VIII-A, a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp in Silesian Germany. The ensemble (clarinet, violin, cello, and piano) played upon broken instruments in front of an audience comprised of his fellow prisoners and prison guards in the brutal cold.
On Friday February 5th, 75 years after this premiere performance, Anno Domini Gallery presents a Messiaen-inspired exhibition of new paintings by renown artist Barron Storey entitled “Quartet” and three performances entitled “End of Time” by Cellista (Freya Seeburger) and her Juxtapositions Chamber Ensemble.
“Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time” has always moved me. The composer’s concepts of musical structure have influenced my own music for many years. It was, then, a delightful surprise to hear of Freya Seeburger performing the piece and an amazing example of synchronicity to be invited to accompany the performance with my artwork. The Quartet is not just an admired masterpiece to me, it is my favorite string quartet in classical repertoire, one that consistently brings me to tears. The pure beauty and the profound contrasts, hearing the songs of birds as the composer notated them in the cold forest adjacent to a Nazi concentration camp, the crashing fury of the sixth and seventh movements and the spiritual elevation of the final violin in the eighth, ascending to an eternity beyond time…this is music for the soul, written by a daring, innovative and fearless man of genius, composed and premiered by captive musicians before an audience of prisoners. Come listen!” ~ Barron Storey
This presentation at Anno Domini is a small immerssive theater event building on Cellista’s work in storytelling and interweaves San Jose’s narrative into a piece, showing the immediacy of the Quartet to San Jose’s past, present and future. Performing the Quartet is the Juxtapositions Chamber Ensemble: violinist Ishtar Hernandez, cellist Freya Seeburger (Cellista), clarinetist James Pytko and pianist Naomi Stine.
Artists’ Reception: First Friday, February 5th from 7–11pm.
Barron Storey will be in attendance.
Cellista and the Juxtapositions Chamber Ensemble will perform excerpts from Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time.” Cellista will also present a preview of her concert monologue to be performed in conjunction her February and March concerts.
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Exhibition dates: February 5–April 16, 2016
Admission free & open to the public during gallery hours Tuesday–Friday Noon–7pm, Saturday Noon–5pm.
“End of Time” concert by Cellista and the Juxtapositions Champber Ensemble dates and times:
February 20th, 8pm–9:30pm SOLD OUT
March 12th, 8pm–9:30pm SOLD OUT
March 13th, 2pm–3:30pm SOLD OUT
Tickets: www.artful.ly/theendoftime
For more more information or to inquire about art work acquisition, please email us at rEvolution@galleryAD.com
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Barron Storey
An illustrator, graphic novelist, fine artist and noted educator, Barron Storey has created award-winning artworks for the covers and pages of Time, National Geographic, Saturday Review, and The Sandman: Endless Nights, among many others including the cover of the classic novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1980 edition.) His artworks are held in the collections of the National Air and Space Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. “Quartet” is Storey’s sixth solo exhibition with Anno Domini.
The Juxtapositions Chamber Ensemble
The Juxtapositions Chamber Ensemble is an innovative rotating collective of musicians headed and organized by Cellista (Freya Seeburger). The ensemble was formed with idea of creating a musical entity that reflected the vast diversity of the SF Bay area. Members of the group fall outside the box of traditional classical confines in their ability to perform in an array of genres and in their devotion to creating and performing in inclusive and accessible environments to cultivate a new audience of music lovers.
Members of JCE have a collective history of critically-acclaimed performances both nationally and internationally having collaborated with celebrated performers as diverse as the group’s repertoire, including Beats Antique, Van Dyke Parks, The Awesome Orchestra Collective, West Bay Opera, The Magik*Magik Orchestra, Tanya Donelly, Casey Cresenzo (The Dear Hunter) and many other notable performers.
For this production, the ensemble is comprised of violinist Ishtar Hernandez, clarinetist James Pytko, cellist Cellista (Freya Seeburger) and pianist Naomi Stine.
