The University of Wisconsin-Superior Music Department will present Olivier Messiaen’s Harawi – Songs of Love and Death featuring Professor Vicki Fingalson, D.M.A., soprano, accompanied by Teresa Vaughan, piano, on Tuesday, September 30, at 7:30 p.m. in Webb Recital Hall as part of its University Recital Series.

Harawi refers to a genre of Indigenous Andean music and lyrical poetry and is typically shared in the form of love songs. This cycle is the first part of Messiaen’s Tristan and Isolde trilogy and centers on Messiaen’s reimagining of the two fated lovers.  

For the composition, Messiaen used his native language of French, and featured words in Quechuan which originated among the Indigenous people of Peru.

“The music is haunting, passionate and dramatic, with moments of great beauty and unsettling dissonance,” said Fingalson.  

The performance runs 55 minutes, with no intermission. Tickets are $15 and are available at the door. Webb Recital Hall is in Holden Fine and Applied Arts Center, 1805 Catlin Ave.