July 1st, 7:30pm
This performance hosted by San Antonio’s Mission Concepción pairs Liliya Ugay’s After the End of Time with Messiaen’s iconic Quartet for the End of Time, originally written in 1941 in a German prisoner of war camp. Messiaen’s Quartet is an ode to friendship and resilience in dire circumstances, with the performers and fellow inmates persisting and premiering this work on worn instruments in the fierce winter cold. Liliya Ugay’s After the End of Time was written as a modern response to Messiaen’s quartet. The work explores her feelings surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic - fear and uncertainty, detachment and unity, and hope. With the difficulty of live concert performances in 2020-2021, it was written to be premiered in a difficult situation, in the spirit of Messiaen’s original work. After the End of Time is an ode of persistence - the vitality of live music, which would continue to be created and find its place no matter what happens in the world it lives in.
Performed at Mission Concepción, an American National Landmark and UNESCO World Heritage site, the performance explores harsh realities, stories of persistence at one of America’s oldest Catholic Missions and one of the oldest unrestored churches in America.