Music for the End of the World (VIDEO)

However we feel about what happened Tuesday, we all could use some decompression right about now.

What’s better than music for soothing the savage breast, after all?

There’s a perfect opportunity in Nyack, New York, at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov.13, when TRANSIT, a New Music collective, presents a program that includes a rare — for this 21st Century-oriented group — performance of Olivier Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time” at GraceMusic.

TRANSIT describes itself this way:

A New Music collective based in NYC, TRANSIT takes a comprehensive twenty-first century approach to new and experimental music by performing, commissioning, and recording the music of emerging composers, while also fostering strengthened relationships between living composers and the general public through TRANSIT-produced concert series and special initiatives.

TRANSIT’s members include a resident composer (Daniel Wohl) and five performers who are amongst the most vibrant young players in the NYC New Music scene. Its core ensemble consists of a mixed chamber

instrumentation: violin (Andie Springer), cello (Evelyn Farny), clarinet (Sara Budde), piano (David Friend), and percussion (Joe Bergen), and

often incorporates electronics, non-traditional instruments, and multimedia components.

Its members are among the most active and sough-after contemporary players in New York, and can be found performing with pop bands around the city and in ensembles at major venues, including Lincoln Center, playing he works of contemporary masters such as Steve Reich.
The program also includes:

• Albertas Navickas‘ Midsummer Music for clarinet, violin, and piano. The sonic world Navickas creates in this piece is a beautiful and meditative one, and we look forward to playing it in a resonant space.
• David Biedenbender‘s Red Vesper was inspired by the setting sun on the red rock formations of Capitol Reef National Park. Red Vesper is for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, and we feel lucky to have found such a perfect fit for this program.

Here’s a video of the Messiaen done by another, more conventional, ensemble.  TRANSIT rarely performs pieces composed before this millennium, but decided to play for this special Nyack program. TRANSIT will no doubt bring more energy and joy to this amazing piece.

IF YOU GO:

What: TRANSIT Contemporary Music

When: 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13

Where: GraceMusic, 130 First Avenue, Nyack, New York

Tickets: $20, $15 for seniors, $10 for students, free for children under 12. Available online by going HERE or at the door.