Music at St Cuthbert's | Remembrance Concert | Quartet for the End of Time

Few works in the history of classical music have emerged from circumstances as extraordinary as Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time.

Composed in 1940–41 while Messiaen was a prisoner of war in a German camp, the quartet received its first performance in January 1941 before an audience of fellow prisoners and guards, in the bitter cold of a makeshift concert space. Written for the instruments available to him — clarinet, violin, cello and piano — it has become one of the most profound and moving works of the twentieth century.

Inspired by the biblical vision of eternity in the Book of Revelation, Messiaen’s music transcends the suffering and uncertainty of its origins. From passages of extraordinary stillness and tenderness to moments of overwhelming intensity, the quartet offers a deeply personal meditation on time, faith, mortality and the possibility of hope amid unimaginable darkness.

In this special Remembrance Concert, four internationally acclaimed musicians — Yuri Kalnits (violin), Boyan Ivanov (clarinet), Julia Morneweg (cello) and Alexei Grynyuk (piano) — come together to perform this monumental masterpiece in the atmospheric surroundings of St Cuthbert’s Church.

As we approach Remembrance Sunday, this is an opportunity not only to honour those whose lives have been shaped or lost through war, but also to reflect on the extraordinary capacity of music to speak of beauty, humanity and hope in the darkest of times.

An evening of exceptional music-making and profound reflection, in one of Earl’s Court’s most beautiful landmarks.