Associate Director of Music Raymond Nagem will perform Messiaen’s Apparition de l’Église éternelle and La Nativité du Seigneur.
Organist, pianist, composer, and visionary, Messiaen wrote music of vivid color and intense contrasts, ranging from delirious joy to profound stillness. La Nativité tells the Christmas story, with the shepherds, the Magi, the Word of God, and the infant Jesus all represented in music.
With the Cathedral’s famous acoustics, underneath soaring Gothic arches, these meditations on the drama of Christ’s birth take on spectacular power.
For a really fascinating and in-depth look at how Messiaen created these works, their meanings, their historical context, and their relation to other works, please visit Raymond’s illuminating blog.