Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time

Olivier Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time) was written and first performed by the composer and three of his fellow prisoners in the Stalag VIII-A concentration camp at Görlitz. The work is both a hymn to resilience and hope, a metaphysical vision (the title refers to the Revelation of John and the phrase "there should be time no longer") and one of the milestones of musical modernism.

This unique concert combines Messiaen's musical creation with the recitation of texts by the composer, selected and edited by Lenia Safiropoulou, as well as passages from the Book of Revelation, translated into Modern Greek by Orfeas Apergis. A sensual yet spiritual experience that highlights both the timelessness of Messiaen's masterpiece and the power of the human being through music and speech.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Iro Seira

She graduated from the Hellenic Conservatory of Music & Arts (violin class of Stelios Kafantaris) with first prize and special distinction. She continued her studies in France, with scholarships from the State Scholarships Foundation, Onassis Stegi and the French Government. She studied under Maryvone Le Dizès and Roland Daugareil at the Superior Conservatories of Boulogne and Bordeaux, graduated with the highest distinctions and awards and was an assistant professor at the Conservatoire of Boulogne. She worked with the National Orchestras of Metz, Nancy, Bayonne, the Bordeaux Symphony and Opera and the Camerata Friends of Music Orchestra as a principal, until 2000. Since 2001, she has been first and second violin of the Greek National Opera Orchestra. She was a member of the World Youth Orchestra. She has recorded for French, Belgian, Dutch and Greek Radios. She was a founding member of the Skalkottas Ensemble and has performed as a soloist with the Bordeaux Youth Orchestra, the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation National Symphony Orchestra, Camerata and the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra. She graduated from the School of Philosophy of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

Spyros Tzekos

He took his first clarinet lessons at the Mantzaros Philharmonic Society under Nikolaos Dolianitis and continued at the Philippos Nakas Conservatory in the class of Stathis Kiosoglou. With scholarships from the State Scholarship Foundation and the Friends of Music Association, he studied in the class of Ronald van Spentonk at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Mons, Belgium; in the class of Walter Beckens at the Fontys School of Arts in the Netherlands; and in the course "Contemporary Music through Non-Western Techniques" at the Amsterdam Conservatory. He has collaborated with the most important orchestras, wind bands, cultural organisations and festivals in the country and is a founding member of two important Greek music ensembles, the ARTéfacts ensemble and the Ventus wind ensemble, with which he gives numerous concerts in Athens and in cities in Greece and abroad. Since 2007, he has been the principal clarinettist of the National Opera Orchestra and a clarinet teacher at the Acropolis Arts Centre Conservatory.

Alexis Bove

Born in Paris in 1987. He holds a bachelor's (2014) and a master's degree (2016) in cello from the Royal Conservatoire of the Hague in the Netherlands, where he studied with Michel Strauss and Jan-Ype Nota. He is a member of the Ensemble Mir and the Rotterdam Chamber Music Society, based in the Netherlands. He has collaborated on chamber music projects with internationally renowned musicians such as Juliette Hurel, Patrick Ayrton, Hed Yaron Mayersohn, Cecilia Ziano, Roman Spitzer, Ying Lai Green, Julien Hervé, Ensemble Hélios, Joséphine Olech, Quirine Scheffer, etc. He has also collaborated with orchestras such as Orchestre National de Lille, Opéra National de Lyon, Asko|Schönberg, Dutch jazz & pop orchestra Metropole Orkest, and was also a member of the Ensemble Naïri. Since 2021, he has permanently settled in Greece and collaborates regularly with the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation National Symphony Orchestra and the Greek National Opera. In addition, since 2022, he has been a member of the French ensemble Miroirs Étendus under the direction of Fiona Monbet.

Sofia Tamvakopoulou

She studied at the National Conservatory of Athens where she received her piano diploma with Manolis Kokkalis while also completing harmony, counterpoint and fugue courses. She continued her piano studies in Athens and Paris with Elena Mouzala, Alain Lefèvre and Bruno Rigutto. She is a graduate of the Department of Music Studies of the University of Athens. As a soloist, she has performed in Greece and abroad. She started collaborating with the Greek National Opera in 2006; in 2015, she became head of music coaching and, in 2017, artistic advisor of casting. She has collaborated with many significant Greek and international conductors. In 2018 she collaborated with the internationally renowned conductor Constantinos Carydis and the Vienna Philharmonic for the production of The Magic Flute at the Salzburg Festival, where she was responsible for the music coaching of the production, as well as performing continuo during the performances. In 2023, she collaborated again with Constantinos Carydis and the Oslo Philharmonic in Norway.