Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time
Sunday, May 17, 2026
7:30PM
The Cathedral of the Madeleine
331 E South Temple Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
This concert is presented in collaboration with the Cathedral of the Madeleine as a part of the 2026 Madeleine Festival of Arts and Humanities.
Free and open to the public. Tickets are not required.
Most of Messiaen’s music is directly connected with scripture, sacred liturgy and theological concepts. The Quartet for the End of Time draws its inspiration from the Book of Revelation and was composed between 1940 and 1941, while Messiaen was a prisoner in a German war camp. Scored for clarinet, violin, cello and piano, this work depicts the very beginning of the Final Judgment through eight compelling and evocative movements, including “Crystal Liturgy”, “Abyss of Birds” and “Dance of Fury”. This concert is presented in collaboration with The Madeleine Festival.
About the Artists
Laura Ha
Violinist Laura Ha was born in the Los Angeles area and raised by Korean parents in the small town of Covina, California. Laura performed as a soloist with several orchestras, such as the Pasadena POPS and the Young Musicians Foundation’s Debut Orchestra and gave solo recitals in Canada and the Netherlands.
She enjoys performing with her colleagues around the world as a member of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, led by Gabor Takac-Nagy, and regularly participates in tours with the ensemble throughout the year.
Ms. Ha was a member of the Oregon Symphony and the Lyric Opera of Chicago before joining the Utah Symphony | Utah Opera in the fall of 2018. Her previous mentors include David Chan, Ronald Copes, Linda Rose, Joan Kwuon, and Joel Smirnoff. She plays on a violin made in 2002 by Mario and Brenda Miralles.
When not playing, Ms. Ha enjoys climbing on, and snoozing under, the red rocks of southern Utah with her partner, Tom, and their dog, Tobi.
Mira Larson
Originally from Chicago, Mira Larson (née Luxion) started training in cello and dance at an early age. She continued her cello studies at Northwestern University (BM, summa cum laude) and the New England Conservatory (MM). She holds a Dalcroze Professional Certificate and a Dalcroze License and runs a Dalcroze eurhythmics program for children in Salt Lake City, Rythmique Music School (RMS). Mira currently serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Dalcroze Society of America, as well as local Chapter Chair for Music for Food.
As a chamber musician, Mira has performed at Jordan Hall (Boston), Orchestra Hall (Chicago), and Carnegie Hall’s Weill and Zankel Recital Halls. She has collaborated in chamber and contemporary music performances across the country and around the world. She finds great joy in communicating through the non-verbal language of music, whether with concert audiences or her students. Mira teaches privately and through RMS, as well as at the French-Immersion Preschool at Tanner Dance.
Erin Svoboda-Scott
Erin Svoboda-Scott has held the position of Associate Principal and E-flat Clarinet since 2013. Originally from the East Coast, Erin began her musical studies with the piano at the age of five and clarinet at nine.
She earned degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music, Temple University, and Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Thomas Martin of the Boston Symphony, Ricardo Morales of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Mark Nuccio of the New York Philharmonic and Houston Symphony respectively.
She spent her summers at the Tanglewood Music Center, Marlboro Music Festival, Pacific Music Festival, and Aspen Music Festival. Erin freelanced in New York City after she graduated, playing with such ensembles as the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, and American Symphony Orchestra. She spent a year as the Assistant/2nd/E-flat clarinetist in the Colorado Symphony before moving to Utah.
Also an active chamber musician and soloist, she recorded the trio Tibetan Dances on Spring Dreams with Cho-Liang Lin on violin and the composer, Bright Sheng, on piano. Erin also premiered Michael Gandolfi’s Concerto for Clarinet and Bassoon with her father, Richard Svoboda, on the bassoon.
Jason Hardink
A fearless interpreter of large-scale piano works both modern and historical, pianist Jason Hardink’s debut at Weill Recital Hall was lauded for its audacious programming and pianism demonstrating “abandon and remarkable clarity” and a “capacity for tenderness and grace” (Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times). Concerts during the 2024-25 season include the premiere of Jeffrey Holmes' large-scale solo piano cycle YGG “Inn Naetr Níu” [The Nine Nights] (February 2025), a performance of the Liszt Sonata in B Minor on an 1852 Bösendorfer piano (December 2024), and performances and recording of the complete solo piano music of Jeffery Mumford. Much sought after as a chamber musician, Mr. Hardink has collaborated with violinists Augustin Hadelich, Nicola Benedetti, and Phillip Setzer. Recording projects include a recent performance of Saint-Saens’ Le carnaval des animaux with the Utah Symphony, Thierry Fischer, and pianist Kimi Kawashima, to be released as a live recording on the Hyperion label. Upcoming recordings include Jason Eckardt’s pulse-echo with the JACK Quartet and solo disc of music by Ferneyhough, Xenakis, and Beethoven.are parents of twin boys, Luc and Derek.
