This concert is part of the following series:
From the Canyons to the Stars: The Music of Olivier Messiaen
In the 1950s birdsong became central to Messiaen’s music and Oiseaux exotiques is a colourful and energetic portrait of bird-life from both the Americas and Asia, a combination that would not naturally occur. This did not bother Messiaen: all birds come from God and he was more concerned with the fascinating and brilliant permutations of birdsong that this allowed. In the score he reminds the performers, “you should not forget that this work is highly coloured; it contains all the colours of the rainbow”.
Tickets: £38 £29 £23 £18 £14 £11 £8
Find out more about the life and work of Messiaen on our dedicated resources website
Read Esa-Pekka Salonen's biography.
Read Tamara Stefanovich's biography.
In the 1950s birdsong became central to Messiaen’s music and Oiseaux exotiques is a colourful and energetic portrait of bird-life from both the Americas and Asia, a combination that would not naturally occur. This did not bother Messiaen: all birds come from God and he was more concerned with the fascinating and brilliant permutations of birdsong that this allowed. In the score he reminds the performers, “you should not forget that this work is highly coloured; it contains all the colours of the rainbow”.
Tickets: £38 £29 £23 £18 £14 £11 £8
Find out more about the life and work of Messiaen on our dedicated resources website
