Heidi Melton, soprano and John Parr, piano

Although the music of Olivier Messiaen is extremely popular these days, his songs are rarely encountered in live performance. Little wonder, for they're so overly demanding. Dramatic soprano Heidi Melton and pianist John Parr took on the major beast of the field, his largest cycle, Harawi, Sunday afternoon in Old First Church, and pulled off a triumph. They had drawn a larger crowd than expected and had them literally yelling "Encore!" at the conclusion; after an hour's intense musicianship, though, none was offered. More »