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Composing the Island | A Century of Music In Ireland 1916 – 2016

September 7, 2016

The first week of Composing the Island: A century of music in Ireland 1916 – 2016 commences this evening, Wednesday 7th September at 8pm with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra under the baton of Kenneth Montgomery performing orchestral works inspired by Irish history and landscape.

These include Ina Boyle’s Symphony No. 1 Glencree from 1927, a symphony that received its only previous complete performance in 1945; Norman Hay’s Dunluce from 1921 which was inspired by the dramatic ruined castle on the north Antrim coast and Charles Villiers Stanford’s Irish Rhapsody No. 4, sometimes known as the Ulster Rhapsody. Tickets Available Here

Thursday evening sees the Vanbrugh Quartet and guests performing early 20th century chamber music and songs by English and Irish composers who were inspired by Irish landscape, language and folk traditions. These composers include Hamilton Harty, Frederick May, Ernest John Moeran and Arnold Bax. Tickets Available Here

Our Friday lunchtime concert is by tenor Robin Tritschler with pianist Peter Tuite who will perform original compositions and folk song arrangements from the first decades of the 20th century in a programme entitled Songs of Erin: An Irish Songbook (Volume 1). Tickets Available Here

Assistant organist and director of the cathedral girl choristers at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, David Leigh will perform organ music from 1916 – 1945 by three influential teachers – Percy Buck, Charles Kitson & Charles Villiers Stanford. Tickets Available Here
Composing the Island

Our Friday evening concert features orchestral music from the 1930s performed by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra with conductor Gavin Maloney & soprano Máire Flavin. The programme includes Howard Ferguson’s Partita for Orchestra, Hamilton Harty’s last major completed work, The Children of Lir and Aloys Fleischmann’s The Four Masters – a concert overture drawing inpsiration from the annals of Celtic Ireland. Tickets Available Here

The Band of the Defence Forces School of Music treat us to an afternoon of music by Col. Wilhelm Fritz Brase, A.J. Potter, Gerard Victory & more on Saturday with Lieutenant Colonel Mark Armstrong as conductor. Tickets Available Here

On Saturday evening in the Kevin Barry Recital Room, the Fidelio Trio perform a selection of piano trios and sonatas by influential composers including Stanford, one of the most important figures in the musical life of Dublin, Michele Esposito and Joan Trimble. Tickets Available Here

Week One draws to a close on Sunday afternoon with the Vanbrugh Quartet perfomring chamber music composed between the wars. They will be joined by the Chiral Quartet and oboeist Matthew Manning for works by Ina Boyle, Brian Boydell, Frederick May & Aloys Fleischmann. Tickets Available Here

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