Jon Gillock will play Messiaen’s Le Banquet Célèste and La Nativité du Seigneur on Tuesday, February 4, 2014 at 8pm.
The Church of the Ascension continues the distinguished series of concerts featuring The Complete Organ Works of Olivier Messiaen, played by Messiaen’s friend and disciple, Jon Gillock. In the first two programs of this cycle, Jon Gillock played the final two masterpieces Messiaen composed. This year, Gillock turns to two of the earliest – and most popular – of all his works. According to Gillock, the Banquet Célèste “is a tender meditation…utter gentleness and love…far away in the heavens,” a piece which “transports us out of our everyday world.”
La Nativité du Seigneur (The Birth of our Savior) depicts “the events and personages of the Christmas story. This suite is probably the best known of all the Messiaen cycles for organ.” Each movement utilizes wonderful French symphonic timbres found on Ascension’s Quoirin organ. The work culminates with Messiaen’s most famous organ piece, the brilliant, dazzling “Dieu parmi nous” (‘God among us’.)
TICKETS AVAILABLE: $35, $25, $15, $10; free for students with Student ID. Tickets can be purchased online at Voices of Ascension or call the box office at (212) 358-7060.
