In Cal Performances’ season opener, expect tragedy and transcendence

Olivier Messiaen’s Harawi for voice and piano gets physicalized as Grammy-award winning soprano Julia Bullock and pianist Conor Hanick are joined by choreographers/dancers Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber for a single performance at the Wallis in Beverly Hills, presented in collaboration with the prestigious Ojai Music Festival. Messiaen’s heartfelt lyrics were inspired by poetry in Quechua, an indigenous Andean language from Perú and Bolivia. The 12-song cycle also reflects searing, contrapuntal forces in the composer’s own life, emotions the choreographers sought to embody in their movement.