5,000 young musicians in 108 youth orchestras
Cork Youth Orchestra presents West End Comes to Cork, conducted by Tomas McCarthy with guest singers Sofia Escobar, Linzi Hateley, Michael McCarthy and Mike Sterling on Saturday 11th May and Sunday 12th May at 8 pm – booking and further information from Pro Musica and at www.corkyouthorchestra.ie
The Cork Youth Chamber Orchestra‘s next concert is taking place next Saturday, April 27th at 8pm at St. Peter’s, Cork Vision Centre, North Main Street. Conducted by Adrian Petcu and led by Brian Murray, they will play a varied and interesting programme:
Bach Concerto for Two Violins in D minor
Mozart String Divertimento in F
Turina Oración del Torero
Mozart Porgi Amor
Delibes Les Filles de Cadix
Britten Simple Symphony
The soloists are Brian and Hugh Murray, violin; Kelley Lonergan, Soprano
Tickets are available on the door at €10 or €5 concession.
A record number of applications has been received for the 2013 Summer Strings Camp, to be held at St Agnes’ Primary School, Crumlin, from June 28th to July 5th, an important part of the annual programme of St Agnes’ School Violin & Orchestra project.
Once again the summer camp will be inter-generational. Seventeen string quartets and five double bass players will form the string orchestra eager to welcome Dr Sandra Dackow (www.sandradackow.com) who flies in from New Jersey USA in to conduct the summer camp orchestra. A highlight of the camp is the lunchtime concert on Thursday July 4th at 1:15 pm in Christ Church Cathedral. Dr Dackow has a busy globe-trotting career as a conductor and music educator and has visited Ireland to work with youth orchestras on development.
The core team of professional string players will be assisted by a young team of keen volunteers, all young string players. Dr Dackow has arranged a number of works for beginner, intermediate and advanced string players, including many pieces in the repertoire which will be rehearsed and performed in the summer camp. The players are used to seeing her name at the top of a page, and can’t wait to see her at the front of the orchestra with a baton in her hand!
Enquiries / contact – Joanna Crooks 087 274018
The Cork City Music College (CCMC) is celebrating its 25th Anniversary with a spectacular Gala Concert being held in Triskel Christchurch on Saturday, 25th of May, 2013 at 8pm.
Conducted by Kay O’ Sullivan, the programme includes a variety of orchestral pieces being performed by the CCMC Orchestra; including Piazzolla’s Oblivion, and Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin’s So Merrily Dance. Young and old alike are welcome to come and enjoy this event in support of many of Cork’s young, diverse, and talented musicians along with several well known established soloists, for what promises to be a wonderful evening full of music celebration, entertainment and fun.
The Lismore Music Festival takes place each June Bank Holiday weekend in the stunning surroundings of Lismore Castle and the Blackwater valley in west Waterford and has become a gem of a music festival on the Irish and International calendar. The festival was established by a small group of music/opera professionals and presents two performances of an opera on the Saturday and Sunday of the long weekend in the converted stables of Lismore Castle as well as recitals in historic houses along the Blackwater River and concerts in St. Carthage’s Cathedral.
Last year, for the second time, they invited a number of local schools and special youth projects to the dress rehearsal on the Friday night. The children were escorted by their teachers to the castle gardens. Before the performance, Festival Artistic Director, Mr. Dieter Kaegi, introduced the opera to the selected audience. There were further discussions during the interval and after the performance. It was a very positive and successful experience for all concerned as many of the students had never had the opportunity to attend an Opera performance before.
On May 11th 2013, The University of Limerick Orchestra will be performing a number of works at the University Concert Hall.
A 36 member CTRYO group flew from Farranfore Airport to Frankfurt on Easter Monday on the first leg of a journey to begin a concert tour of the Rhineland, arranged by the orchestra’s conductor Michael John Ryan.
The orchestra performed at two concerts in Bad Kreuznach and in Rudesheim where the performances were greatly appreciated and very favourably reported on in the local press. The programme included a traditional Irish section of solo and set dancers and baskets of jigs, reels and polkas for the entertainment of the audience.
Between concerts, members enjoyed a cruise on the Rhine, passing some of the best known vineyards and some of the largest wine producing areas in Germany where castles towered high along the hilly banks of the great river. There too was ‘Lorellei’, the area from whence came the lovely German melody.
There was time for shopping and viewing the beautiful towns with their decorative artistic trade signs, their cobbled streets and colourful half timbered houses, as well as visiting Phantasialand with all it’s wonders and Theme Park and sensational fun fair rides of almost every kind. It was indeed a great treat.
Before the Orchestra went to Germany, a pre-trip Concert was held in the Excel Centre, Tipperary, at which the orchestra performed a programme of light classical favourites laced with Traditional Irish Music and were joined in concert by The Michael John String Quartet, RTE Concert Orchestra Cellist Jane Hughes, Classical Guitarist John O’Shea and The Junior Strings of the Ryan School of Music. It was an outstanding success and it is hoped to have a similar event on Sunday Afternoon 5th May at 3.30 p.m.in the Excel, Tipperary.
The Waterford Concert Orchestra present a concert of film and classical music that will take place at the end of this month in St. John’s Church, Parnell Street, Waterford. There will be music from Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator, Schindler’s List, Platoon and other films. Also included Beethoven’s Battle Symphony and Peterloo by Malcolm Arnold.
St John’s Church, Parnell Street, Waterford
8.00pm April 27th 2013
Tickets €18/€16, under 16 €10 available from www.garterlane.ie or Telephone 051 855038
Also available on the door.
Donegal Music Education Partnership and Rathfarnham Concert Band present
The Happy Prince and Other Musical Tales
An Grianán Theatre, Letterkenny, Sunday 14 April, 3pm
The Rathfarnham Concert Band, a National Band Championship prize winner, makes a welcome return to Donegal this weekend where its performers will perform a wide selection of music in a double-bill concert with the County Donegal Youth Orchestra and Youth Choir. Under the direction of Conor O’Riordain, they will perform a series of musical tales including extracts of the ‘Firebird’ suite by Stravinsky and Hans Zimmer’s ‘Gladiator’ alongside music from Pixar Films, Michael Jackson and Queen. They will then be joined by the County Donegal Youth Orchestra in a Beatles medley to bring the first half of the concert to a rousing end.
Following a short interval, this will then be followed by a performance of The Happy Prince, the unique and exquisite Donegal-inspired orchestral and storytelling adaptation of the Oscar Wilde story. Following on from its sell-out live performances in RTE and at the Baboró International Children’s Festival in Galway, this will be the last opportunity for local audiences to see this award winning performance. Retold by Little John Nee with music composed and conducted by Vincent Kennedy, The Happy Prince will be performed by the County Donegal Youth Orchestra and Donegal Youth Choir.
This is a fantastic afternoon of music and a wonderful way to spend a family Sunday afternoon. Tickets are very keenly priced at €5 (under 18s) and €10 (adults) and are available from An Grianán Theatre on (074) 912 0777.
Ireland’s Presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2013 provides an opportunity to celebrate the magnificent body of chamber music that has emerged from all across the Union. This series straddles the many diverse regions in a survey of some of the great chamber music from the past five centuries and our own.
The third programme, “A Eurocry”, from the National Chamber Choir of Ireland, emphasizes the light and the humorous, from Orlando Gibbons’ The Cryes of London and Clément Janequin’s Les Cris de Paris to Siobhán Cleary’s very international and multi-lingual study of tongue-twisters Theophilus Thistle and the Myth of Miss Muffet.
The National Concert Hall would like to offer a €5.00 ticket deal to students for this event. To obtain this deal please use the promotional code EMS when booking your ticket(s) online or in person at the Box Office.
Please see the NCH website for event details and links to Facebook/Twitter.
Conducting Workshops: The IAYO Conducting Workshops will be held at the RIAM from 8th to 12th July 2013. Find out more here.
ConCorda: The ConCorda Chamber Music Course in August 2013 is now recruiting. Find out more at concorda.ie.
