Sligo Music Series 2007/2008 |
PROGRAMME OF EVENTS for 2007/2008
GALA NIGHTThe Irish Chamber Orchestra (visit website)Leader: Katherine HunkaSoloist: Piers Adams, recorder (visit website)
The Music The Irish Chamber Orchestra programme spans the centuries with dazzling
flashbacks for its Autumn Tour 2007. The PerformersThe Irish Chamber Orchestra has gained a remarkable reputation as a fresh and vibrant force on the Irish and international music scenes. Under the dynamic and charismatic leadership of artistic director Anthony Marwood, the Orchestra is recognised as one of Ireland’s world-class cultural assets. While enjoying a very busy touring schedule within Ireland, the ICO’s unique personality has charmed audiences the world over. The orchestra maintains associations with celebrated international artists including Bruno Giuranna, Maxim Vengerov, Nigel Kennedy, Stephen Kovacevich etc. The ICO is resident at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in the
University of Limerick. Event Sponsored by St Angela’s College Sligo, with the support of Amicizia (Sligo Italian Society) FROM VIENNA WITH LOVE!Anika Vavic, piano (visit website)
The MusicFranz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) wrote some 51 sonatas for piano and several other short piano pieces. Most of these were written in his early years. He was not a pianist and, as his career developed, he lost interest in the genre. Only three of his piano sonatas were written in the last twenty years of his life. The D major Sonata, no. 19, is one of the longer works at more than 21 minutes. The Performer A childhood winner of numerous international competitions and awards, the young pianist Anika Vavic began studying in Vienna at the age of sixteen, and since then has gone from strength to strength and was chosen in 2004 for the highly esteemed ‘Rising Stars’ concert-cycle, which has taken her as a soloist to the most famous concert houses in the world – amongst others to Carnegie Hall, New York; Wigmore Hall, London; Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Vienna’s Musikverein; Cologne’s Philharmonie; Megaron, Athens; Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles and Cité de la Musique, Paris. Event sponsored by Marie and Harry Wynne (Sligo Park Hotel) & an anonymous sponsor (Austrian Embassy Dublin) DIFFERENT TRAINSThe RTE Vanbrugh Quartet (visit website)Gregory Ellis, violin
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| Date: | Friday 2 November 2007 |  |
| Time: | 8pm | |
| Venue: | Model Arts and Niland Gallery | |
| Adm: | €22 (includes oysters and wine reception) | |
| Booking: | 071 9141405 special concessions to students on the night |
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Programme |
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| Schubert | "Quartettsatz" | |
| Franz Schubert | String quartet no 14 in D minor "Death and the maiden" | |
| Interval | ||
| Steve Reich | Different Trains | |
The Music
The Quartettsatz (Movement for String Quartet) was composed by Franz Schubert (1797-1828) in December 1820.
It represents the first movement, the Allegro assai, of a Twelfth String Quartet which Schubert never completed.
Dramatic and intense, the Quartettsatz was the forerunner of the late string quartets for which Schubert is best remembered.
The last few years of Schubert’s life saw a decline in his health but a huge rise in productivity. The quartet No.14 in D minor (1824) has taken the name from the famous song (Der Tod und das Mädchen) which furnishes the theme of the slow movement variations. Death-defying drama and heartrending beauty alternate in this extraordinary work.
Different Trains is one of the milestones of contemporary music: it is a three movement piece for string quartet and tape written by Steve Reich (1936) in 1988. This marked a new compositional method in which speech recordings generate the musical material for the instruments. During the war years, Reich made train journeys between New York and Los Angeles to visit his estranged parents. Years later, he pondered the fact that, as a Jew, had he been in Europe instead of the United States at the time, he might have been travelling in very different trains.
The Performers
Winner of the 1988 London International String Quartet Competition and now in its twenty-first concert season, the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet is one of Europe's most successful quartets, internationally recognised for its beauty of sound, clarity of texture and integrity of interpretation within an unusually wide and varied range of repertoire. Appointed Resident Quartet to RTÉ in 1986, the group has dedicated itself to bringing the wonders of the string quartet repertoire to audiences throughout the country. At the same time they have built a thriving international career with regular tours taking them throughout Europe and the USA.
The quartet members are also Artists in Residence at University College Cork and founders of the internationally acclaimed West Cork Chamber Music Festival. In 1996 the Quartet launched the Vanbrugh Quartet Scholarship Fund, a charitable fund dedicated to encouraging the art of chamber music amongst Ireland’s talented young musicians.
Event sponsored by Declan and Carol Gallagher, Luisa McConville and RTE
FROM PARIS TO MOSCOW
Finghin Collins, piano (visit website)
Marc Coppey, cello (visit website)
| Date: | Friday 30 November 2007 |   |
| Time: | 8pm | |
| Venue: | Model Arts and Niland Gallery | |
| Adm: | €22 (includes oysters and wine reception) | |
| Booking: | 071 9141405 special concessions to students on the night |
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Programme |
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| Debussy | Sonata for cello and piano | |
| Brahms | Sonata no 1 in E minor for cello and piano, op. 38 | |
| Interval | ||
| Beethoven | 7 variations on “Bei Mannern” by Mozart for cello and piano | |
| Rachmaninov | Prelude and Danse Orientale for cello and piano, op. 2 | |
| Shostakovich | Sonata op. 40 for cello and piano | |
The Music
Outstanding French cellist Marc Coppey will join our own much-loved pianist Finghin Collins for a substantial programme of music for cello and piano. The programme begins and ends in the twentieth century. The sonatas by Debussy (1915) and Shostakovich (1934) are arguably the two most popular works for these instruments written in the last century. Debussy's Sonata is one of a projected set of six sonatas for different instruments with piano which the composer never completed (as he died of cancer in 1918); it's a concise work, based on the Baroque sonatas of the 18th century, sad and ironic in tone. Shostakovich's great sonata won him the Stalin Prize of one hundred thousand roubles. Even “Pravda” was impressed, calling it “lyrically lucid, human and simple”. Each of its four movements is a treat in its own way, from the introspection of the first and third movements to the pyrotechnics of the second and fourth.
Between these works is the chance to hear one of Brahms' two masterful sonatas for cello and piano - his glorious E minor sonata, noble and majestic, with a fugue in the final movement which again recalls the Baroque period. Two shorter offerings make up the rest of the programme - Beethoven's charming variations on a theme from Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute", and two contrasting snapshots by Rachmaninov. There's something for everyone in this meaty and generous programme.
The Performers
Dublin-born pianist Finghin Collins enjoys an extremely successful career that embraces Ireland, Europe and the United States. In February 2006 Finghin made his début at the Lincoln Center, New York, performing a recital at the Walter Reade Theater as part of the Great Performer Series. In May 2006 Claves Records in Switzerland released two CDs featuring the piano music of Schumann and which have received great critical acclaim.
French cellist Marc Coppey came to notice of the musical world when he won the Leipzig Bach Competition in 1988.
Singled out early on by Yehudi Menuhin, he made his début in Moscow and Paris in the Tchaïkovsky Trio with Menuhin and Victoria Postnikova, at a concert filmed by Bruno Monsaingeon. Rostropovitch invited him to the Evian Festival, and from that moment his solo career took off. He has been a soloist with orchestras under the baton of some of the most eminent conductors in the world. He is also a very well known chamber musician. Maestro Coppey combines his solo career with a concern for teaching: he is a professor at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris and gives master-classes all over the world.
Event Sponsored by Model Niland
CON BRIO - LECTURE SERIES
GREAT VOICES – NOW AND THEN
TWO Lectures by John Allen
| John Allen compares some legendary opera voices with their present day superstar counterparts |  |
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| Lecture 1: | Björling and Tebaldi v Villazón and Fleming 22nd January 2008 | |
| Lecture 2: | Callas and Cappuccilli v Netrebko and Hampson 12th February 2008 | |
GREAT MUSICIANS OF OUR TIME
FOUR Lectures by Ian Wilson
| Ian Wilson will focus on four of the great musicians of our time |  |
| Pianist Glenn Gould, cellist Jacqueline du Pré, violinist Yehudi Menuhin and conductor Simon Rattle. | |
| 29th January, 5th February, 19th February and 26th February 2008 | |
| The lectures will be a stimulating mix of biographical detail and audio examples from some of their great recordings, combining to give a comprehensive overview of their lives, work and impact on audiences and fellow musicians alike. Each session will be of two hours’ duration with a break (refreshments provided). Please note lectures will only go ahead if a minimum number is reached. Fee payable in advance (see form). |
| Venue: | Yeats Memorial Building, Hyde Bridge Sligo. |
| Booking: | Use booking form provided or phone: 087 9985231. |
Sponsored by The Yeats Society
CELEBRITY CONCERT
CHOPIN AND FRENCH IMPRESSIONISM
Pascal Rogé, piano (visit website)
| Date: | Friday 18 January 2008 |  |
| Time: | 8pm | |
| Venue: | Canis Major – Clarion Hotel | |
| Adm: | €25 (includes programme and wine reception) |
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| Booking: | Tickets on sale in the Book Nest bookshop, Rockwood Parade special concessions to students on the night |
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Programme |
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| FAURE | Nocturne in E flat, op. 33 No. 1 | |
| CHOPIN | Nocturne No. 13, op. 48 No. 1 | |
| POULENC | Nocturne No. 1 in C major | |
| RAVEL 3 | Waltzes from ‘Les Valses Nobles et Sentimentales’ Modéré |
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| Assez animé | ||
| Presque lent, dans un sentiment intime | ||
| CHOPIN | Waltz in C sharp minor, op. 64 No.2 | |
| DEBUSSY | Mazurka in B minor | |
| CHOPIN | Mazurka in B minor, op. 33 N°4 | |
| CHOPIN | Etude in E minor, op. 25 No. 5 | |
| CHOPIN | Etude in A flat major, op. 25 No.1 | |
| DEBUSSY | Etude pour les arpèges composées | |
| CHOPIN | Etude in C minor, op. 10 No. 12 | |
| Interval | ||
| DEBUSSY | Ballade | |
| DEBUSSY | Prelude: les Fées sont d’exquises danseuses | |
| CHOPIN | Prelude in D flat major, op. 28 No.15 | |
| DEBUSSY | from Preludes Book 1: La fille aux cheveux de lin Le vent dans la plaine Ce qu’à vu le vent d’ouest |
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| CHOPIN | Prelude in B minor, op 28 No.6 | |
| DEBUSSY | from Preludes Books 1 & 2 : La terrasse des audiences au clair de lune Les collines d’Anacapri Canope |
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| CHOPIN | Ballade No. 4 in F minor, op 52 | |
Pascal Rogé's performances around the world have established him as one of the great pianists of his generation and as a worldwide ambassador of the French repertoire.
The programme he will play for Con Brio was devised for a performance at the Chopin Vancouver Society.
We will let him explain in his own words:
“At the age of twenty-four, I stopped playing Chopin on stage for several reasons, but mostly because of an all-Chopin recital I had heard in Paris by the great Arthur Rubinstein, who was then nearly 80 years old. I was so impressed…so moved. I was amazed by the spontaneity, the genuine simplicity of his interpretation – no affectation, no needless rubato, no display of virtuosity. I knew already that nearly any pianist could play Chopin, but to my ears, only Rubinstein understood the soul of Chopin. He was playing in his own natural language. Then, I started to ask myself, “Do I also have my own ‘language’ or shall I just continue to play ‘any’ music?” And that is how I started playing Poulenc, Satie, Fauré and gradually became an Ambassador of the French repertoire, where I found my own language.
Strangely enough, the fact that I have been playing French repertoire for many years inspired me to create the program I am playing tonight. Through the years, I realised how much influence Chopin has had on French composers like Fauré, Debussy, and even Ravel. So, when I received an invitation from the Vancouver ChopinSociety to play a recital for them, along with a “challenge” - I must perform “some” Chopin - instead of turning down the invitation (like I would have done not so long ago) I thought, “Well...I am not 80 yet(!). Why not take this opportunity to feel what the experiences in my artistic and personal life through the years have brought to a music I used to play when I was a child, and to try and build a program around “my” repertoire that musically demonstrates all the links there are between Chopin and the French 20th century music?”
Pascal Rogé
Pascal Rogé exemplifies the finest in French pianism; his playing of Poulenc, Satie, Fauré, Saint-Saëns and Ravel in particular is characterised by its elegance, beauty and delicate phrasing – his name is simply synonymous with the best playing of French repertoire in the world today. Pascal Rogé has performed in almost every major concert hall in the world. Some of the orchestras he has appeared with include the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony, L’Orchestre de Paris, L’Orchestre National de Radio France, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Leipzig Gewandhaus and all the major London orchestras. He appears regularly in the United States and is a frequent guest artist in Australia, New Zealand, Latin America and especially Japan. Among his recent British engagements are recitals at Wigmore Hall, Symphony Hall Birmingham and the Queen Elizabeth Hall where he is a frequent guest of the International Piano Series. He has played with the Hallé, London Mozart Players, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Ulster, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Northern Sinfonia and appeared at many festivals including the City of London, Aldeburgh and Newbury Spring.
Onyx Classics/Debussy Volume II - What the critics say:
First of all this selection of works offers the perfect way into Debussy’s oeuvre for piano: each piece here is a fragrant, picturesque and melodious miniature of quite wonderful quality. Secondly Rogé is a Debussian of the utmost sympathy and perception - so persuasive is he that one doesn’t feel the need to seek an alternative opinion on how this music can be performed. …….. the sensitivity of his fingers and his care for dynamics are so naturally placed before us and his depth of feeling for the music reveals that he is among the most complete and convincing of Debussy interpreters. Throughout this recital, Rogé’s variegated, subtle and eloquent playing brings this music alive with a refinement and narration that embraces the listener. Roge is alive to every feature that distinguishes these works ... a truly marvellous release.
From INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW – MARCH 2007
Event sponsored by Eileen and Ray Monahan (Clarion Choice Hotels)
"Classic restraint, elegance and economy, an ideal absence of artifice and idiosyncrasy." Gramophone
FRIENDS!!
The Vogler Quartet (visit website)
Tim Vogler and Frank Reinecke, violins
Stefan Fehlandt, viola Stephan Forck, cello
| Date: | Friday 22 February 2008 |  |
| Time: | 8pm | |
| Venue: | Canis Major – Clarion Hotel | |
| Adm: | €22 (includes programme and wine reception) | |
| Booking: | Tickets on sale in the Book Nest bookshop, Rockwood Parade special concessions to students on the night |
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Programme |
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| Mozart | String Quartet in C Major, KV 157 | |
| Interval | ||
| Blacher | String Quartet No.3 | |
| Beethoven | String quartet in E flat major op.127 | |
The Music
This evening's programme contrasts the best of early Mozart with the first of the sublime final quartets of Beethoven. Mozart's early string quartets are not too interesting but K.157 is a perfect and inspired miniature and a fascinating preview of the great Mozart. Fourteen years separate Beethoven's late quartets from their predecessors. It was a period that brought him new sufferings, new tensions and new worries from which these last wonderful visionary works served as a release. Opus 127 is the first of the late quartets and was composed in 1824 immediately after the completion of the Ninth Symphony. Indeed the central adagio is an inspired set of variations whose inspirational character and unusual form derives in part from the model of the choral finale of the Ninth Symphony.
Boris Blacher (1903-1975) was one of the central figures in Berlin musical life after the 2nd World War. His music is noted for its colourful French inspired instrumentation and its irreverence towards Austro-German tradition. Most of his works are in attractive neo-classical manner, very clear in texture and form and terse and simple in content. The most extended, weightiest and harmonically the richest of them is the String Quartet No 3, Opus 32, which has a slightly unusual sequence of four movements, ending with a 'Larghetto'.
"Blacher summed up the reaction of sensitive Germans after the war against pathos, bombast, inflated emotion... [His music] has something of the bracing Berlin climate and something of the city's humour." Financial Times
The Performers
The Vogler Quartet need no introduction to Sligo audiences having been quartet-in-residence for 5 years. Their return is always welcome. Founded in East Berlin in January 1985, the Vogler Quartet celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2005 with its members unchanged. They are now considered one of the finest quartets of their generation. Mastering a repertoire of over 200 works from all periods of music, they are characterised by their extraordinary musical intelligence, highly creative playing with homogenous sound, rich nuances, powerful interpretations and unconventional programming.
The concert will be followed by the launch of the Vogler Spring Festival performed by Tim Vogler.
Event sponsored by Sligo County Council and Sligo Borough Council
PEARLS OF THE OPERA
Mairead Buicke, soprano (visit website)
Seung-Wook Seong, baritone (visit website)
Lada Valesová, piano (visit website)
| Date: | Saturday 8 March 2008 |  |
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| Time: | 8pm | ||
| Venue: | Canis Major – Clarion Hotel | ||
| Adm: | €20 (includes programme and wine reception) | ||
| Booking: | Tickets on sale in the Book Nest bookshop, Rockwood Parade | ||
Programme |
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| Arias and duets from the operas of Verdi, Puccini, Massenet, Mozart, Donizetti and others | |||
The Music
Sligo audiences love opera and this is a great opportunity to hear an unusual programme. Some of the great baritone and soprano arias which are not so commonly heard but magnificent all the same will be a feature of this evening’s entertainment. Mairead and Seung will perform arias and duets from operas by Verdi, Puccini, Massenet, Mozart and Donizetti.
The Performers
Mairead Buicke was born in Limerick, and studied at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and subsequently at the National Opera Studio, London. She is one of the most promising Irish singers nowadays and she is a “Bank of Ireland Millennium Scholar” and a former Young Associate Artist with Opera Theatre Company, Dublin. Mairead has won several prizes in Ireland, and was a special prizewinner at the 2004 Belvedere International Singing Competition in Vienna. Future engagements include First Lady in The Magic Flute for English National Opera, Gretel in Hansel & Gretel and Mahler’s Symphony No 8 (Symphony of a Thousand) with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin, as well as concert recitals. Mairead will feature as a soloist with The Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra on their U.S. tour in 2009.
Korean baritone Seung-Wook Seong graduated from the Yon-Sei University in Seoul with a First Class degree in singing. From university, Seung-Wook Seong embarked on operatic appearances throughout Korea, including Don Alfonso (Cosi Fan Tutte), Leporello (Don Giovanni), Betto (Gianni Schicchi), and as oratorio soloist in Handel's Messiah and the Masses of Gounod and Mozart. At the end of 2001, he won a prestigious entrance scholarship to Royal Academy Opera.
Lada Valesová is established as one of the leading young pianists and accompanists on the European music scene. She is a graduate of Prague Conservatoire and Prague Music Academy. She studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where she was awarded a full scholarship for three years. She also studied at the National Opera Studio in London.
Lada Valesová is a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, where she directs the Russian Song Class and works as a vocal coach.
Event sponsored by Model Niland
This is a MusicNetwork event
Rapidly rising Limerick soprano Mairead Buicke, whose wide- ranging programme ... showed a musical manner that was forthright, a tone that was pleasing and a delivery that was sure and strong. ... The voice is one that commands serious attention.
Michael Dervan, The Irish Times
CON BRIO - EDUCATION
Masterclass with Finghin Collins, piano and Marc Coppey, cello
1 December 2007 | Model and Niland | 11am | Black Box
Booking at 071 9134958 (free of charge)
Sponsors: The National Concert Hall + Model Niland
YOUNG CON BRIO CONCERT
Aileen Cahill, piano
9 December 2007 | Model and Niland | 3pm | Admission €10
Programme |
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| Grieg | A selection of Lyric Pieces including Op. 54 and Wedding Day at Troldhaugen | |
| Prokofiev | Sonata No. 4 in C minor, Op. 29 (1917) | |
| Brendan Finan | Sonatina | |
| Debussy | Three Studies: For five fingers, thirds, and octaves | |
The Performers
A native of Sligo, Aileen Cahill initially took piano lessons before entering the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin to study with Assoc. Prof. Anthony Byrne at the age of sixteen. She is now attending a Masters In Music Performance at the R.I.A.M., and studies under Dr. John O'Conor and Anthony Byrne.
She has had much success in both Sligo and Dublin, winning the prestigious 'Most Promising Musician of the Year' cup and bursary at Sligo Feis Ceoil in 2003. She continued this success by winning the Dina Copman Cup for Chopin the same year, and the Concerto Cup in 2004 at the R.I.A.M. Festival. Aileen has also been commended many times at Dublin Feis Ceoil, including the Huban, Pigott and Benson Cup.
In February 2005, she gave a recital with baritone Jamie Rock in the Model Niland Centre, Sligo, as part of the Con Brio recital series. Aileen has performed many times in the R.I.A.M. Lunchtime and Teatime concerts also. In masterclass, Aileen has worked with Jacques Rouvier, Pascal Rogé, Christopher Elton, Dimitri Alexeev and many more.
Sponsors Dr Klocker Dental Surgery & Model Niland
CON BRIO - EDUCATION
Masterclass with the Vogler Quartet
23 February 2008 | 11am | Yeats Memorial Building
Booking at 071 9854122 (free of charge)
Sponsors: The National Concert Hall + Model Niland
CLASSICAL MUSIC FESTIVALS - SLIGO
12th FESTIVAL OF BAROQUE MUSIC 26th - 29th October 2007
The Irish Times calls it “The best line-up of Baroque music the country has ever seen……a truly extraordinary weekend”. This year features performances from Armoniosa (IRL), Mathew Hall (UK) and Lenneke Ruiten (NL) among others.
Call 071-9141405 or visit www.modelart.ie for more details.
SLIGO NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL - Spring 2008
For more info contact the Model at 0719141405
THE VOGLER SPRING FESTIVAL
2nd - 5th May 2008 St Columba’s Church, Drumcliffe, Co. Sligo
Hosted by the Vogler Quartet, Quartet in Residence in Sligo from 1999 to 2004, the festival will feature an exciting combination of national and international guest artists. The Vogler Spring Festival offers the highest quality chamber music in a unique venue in the beautiful environs of North Sligo. Details of the Festival will be disclosed at the Launch which will take place on 22 February 2008 in the Clarion Hotel.
For more information please phone 01 5059582
OTHER EVENTS
Organised by or in conjunction with Con Brio
Amicizia Italian Society
Con Brio and the Italian Society will organise a concert of music with an Italian flavour. Date and venue tbc.
Music Making at the Model
Informal afternoons of music making, fun and socialising for music lovers of all ages with Members of Sligo Early Music Ensemble and local soloists. These sessions will be held in the Black Box but in informal setting and children are welcome. Dates tbc. Contact the model at 0719141405.
A collaboration between Sligo Early Music Ensemble, Model and Niland, Sligo Arts Office and Con Brio.
Con Brio, Sligo Early Music Ensemble and the Amaryllis Singers
This very successful collaboration will continue with a May concert in St Columba’s Drumcliffe - date to be confirmed.
Members Dinner
Following our very successful event last year, Con Brio plan a similar quality dinner. Paid up members only.
Opera Trip
An opera trip is on the cards! Date and venue to be confirmed. Paid up members only.
Con Brio sponsors/patrons/ members will be notified of the above events by post and e-mail.
If you want to join Con Brio contact us »
Con Brio gratefully acknowledge the generous support of:
