MKČ26 | Festival Closing Concert | Roger Muraro Performs Messiaen’s “Catalogue of Birds”

On the closing night of the Vilnius season of the XIV International M. K. Čiurlionis Music Festival, audiences can look forward to an exceptional musical event: the legendary French pianist and audience favourite Roger Muraro, whose 2024 recital at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic was hailed by critics as one of the musical events of the year, will perform the complete Catalogue of Birds (Catalogue d’oiseaux) – Olivier Messiaen’s monumental piano fresco of birdsong and landscapes.

Lasting nearly three hours, this 13-part cycle is, due to its scale and extraordinary technical demands, one of the most rarely performed 20th-century piano works in its entirety. In Lithuania, it can be heard only on exceptional occasions, making the closing concert of the International M. K. Čiurlionis Music Festival all the more special.

Catalogue d’oiseaux is a vast soundscape alive with the voices of 77 bird species. Messiaen, a passionate ornithologist, meticulously transcribed birdsong in its natural environment and believed that music itself was born from the voices of birds. A composer who “heard” colours in harmony, he used the piano to create not only a world of sound, but also visions of light, shadow and landscape.

More information: www.ciurlionisfestival.com