7PM Canoe Load-in, 7:30PM Music

This concert 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. The piece 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. Liliya is particularly inspired by the topics of immigration, motherhood, cultural diversity, and geographic inequality. 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.

These free performances take place at the Gowanus Dredgers Bunker as well as other Dredgers locations. The audience will be able to attend the performance either via canoe (reserved in advance via donation to the Dredgers), sitting on one of the Dredgers’ new docks, or on shore via an accessible location. Each performance opens with a talk given by members of the Dredgers about their work in the Canal.
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