Brahms in Ireland | Thursday, 17 August 2023

FÁILTE

We are delighted to announce our 10th annual Chamber Music on Valentia Festival. With concerts, immersive based experiences, and music workshops, there is something for everyone and we look forward to welcoming you to the island.

This year with our 10th anniversary celebrations we welcome guest artists from USA, Austria, UK and Ireland. Our innovative curatorship highlights include; gathering our largest ensemble ever to perform three of Bach’s magnificent Brandenburg Concerti, a programme with the compelling ensemble of flute, viola and harp in Chapeltown, we include major works by Brahms and Schubert and songs by Irish female composers Ina Boyle and Ailís Ní Ríain, and our closing concert features the twice Grammy nominated celebrated vocalist Iarla Ó Lionáird These are only some of the amazing music and performances you can expect Throughout the Festival other highlights and engagement opportunities include masterclasses, an opportunity to perform with Festival Artists, and the now much loved ‘Musical Map’ on Saturday 19th We have late night concerts of Fidelio Trio’s ‘Pop Archive’ and star American cellist Seth Parker Woods in a solo appearance and feature wonderful musicians Michael Collins (clarinet), Darragh Morgan (violin), Maighréad McCrann (violin), Fiona Winning (viola), Rose Redgrave (viola), Tim Gill (cello), Ronan Dunne (double bass), David Adams (harpsichord), Catríona Ryan (flute) and Geraldine O’Doherty (harp) This all happens within a multitude of amazing venues on Valentia Island

We look forward to you joining us for our 10th Festival this August and as ever thank our supporters, venues, volunteers and audience in making this Festival exist in such a magical place.

Mary Dullea Artistic Director

BRAHMS IN IRELAND

THURSDAY, 17 AUGUST 2023 | 7.30pm at Church of St. John the Baptist, Knightstown with Michael Collins clarinet, Darragh Morgan & Maighréad

McCrann violins, Fiona Winning viola, Tim Gill cello, Megan

O’Neill soprano (Young Artist) & Mary Dullea piano

PROGRAMME NOTES

Ina Boyle Have you heard of my boy Jack? (1889 – 1967)

A Mountain Woman

Eternity Sleep Song

Ina Boyle was a pupil of the British composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958). She lived quietly with her family in Co. Wicklow and would travel regularly to London for lessons with Vaughan Williams, who thought highly of his Irish student. Despite his encouragement, Boyle would not relocate to London and instead lived all of her life in the family home caring for her parents and sister who needed her, while still composing every day, drawing inspiration from the beautiful countryside around the family home. As a result of her isolation from musical life in London, early success was not followed through and performances of her

music dwindled. Her huge body of work including, symphonies, choral, vocal and chamber music, in addition to an opera and various stage works, remain largely unperformed and are preserved in manuscript form in the Library of Trinity College Dublin awaiting rediscovery. It is particularly poignant that Ina Boyle heard so little of her music performed in her lifetime. Modern audiences now have the opportunity of hearing and enjoying her music being performed for the first time. We are presenting here four of her magical songs.

Ailís Ní Ríain

Sop Préacháin [A Crow’s Wisp] (b. 1970)

An Chéad Phlaic (The First Mouthful)

An Dara Plaic, Nó Ath-Quoof 1 (The Second Mouthful (Quoof: Slight Return 1)

An Triú Plaic, Nó Ath-Quoof 2 (The Third Mouthful (Quoof: Slight Return 2)

Ailís Ní Ríain is an Irish composer and writer who aims to produce work that challenges, provokes and engages. Her work has been performed across Europe, in Israel, Brazil, USA and Japan and broadcast on BBC and RTÉ. The Tionscadal na nAmhrán Ealaíne Gaeilge project is a remarkable one both for song and the language. To quote from CMC’s website, where the project is hosted: ‘Irish is the oldest vernacular written language (i.e. nonGreek) in western Europe, and this longevity of tradition has created one of the great European literatures. Despite Irish language obliteration during colonization, the language has somehow, miraculously, survived. As the expression of a culture, the Irish language is immensely poetic and musical, and is ideally suited to the art song genre. However, in the classical music canon, the number of Irish language art songs is regrettably very small. In 2018, Bliain na Gaeilge/Year of Irish, in a desire to make a significant contribution to the canon of Irish language art song and to enliven interaction between classical composers and Irish language poets, Dáirine Ní Mheadhra commissioned fifty new art songs, set exclusively to Irish language texts, from Irish and

International

composers.’

Ní Rïain’s sets poems by Aifric MacAodha.

Johannes Brahms Trio for clarinet, cello and (1833-1897) piano in A minor, Op. 114 (1891)

1. Allegro

2. Adagio

3. Andantino grazioso

4. Allegro

When Brahms visited Meiningen, he was introduced to the playing of the principal clarinet of the court orchestra, Richard Muhlfeld and his creativity was reinvigorated. What followed were four chamber works featuring the clarinet: tonight's Trio, a Quintet for clarinet and strings Op 115, and two clarinet and piano Sonatas Op 120 (also loved by viola players). The first performance was given in Berlin in December 1891 with Brahms at the piano and Hausmann on cello. In contrast perhaps to earlier piano and strings chamber works, the piano in this trio has more of a lighter texture and the solo and ensemble voices of clarinet and cello sing through. The opening sets a rather languid mood with a rising and falling cello tune. With building agitation at times with triplet figures in the piano as well as semiquaver scales, the mood alternates with the more relaxed main themes. Indeed the scales return at the very end of the movement at a slower speed and soft dynamic. The second movement also features wonderful conversation between the instruments, seamlessly intertwining the two themes. The third movement barely disturbs this, unusually taking a feel of a slow waltz (perhaps with more rustic references later on). The final movement returns us to a more energetic mood with some typical Brahms interplay of 2/4 and 6/8 time signatures. -

Quintet for piano, two violins, (1833-1897) viola and cello in F minor, Op. 34 (1865)

1. Allegro non troppo

2. Andante, un poco adagio

3. Scherzo: Allegro

4. Finale: Poco sostenuto; Allegro non troppo

Brahms reworked this quintet in a number of ensemble combinations before being satisfied to publish it in this form in 1865. This ensemble balance provides the youthful power of the piano and the warmth of tone of the string quartet.

The opening theme in unison sets up the majestic mood for the first movement, which is rich in theme, that he takes time to expand and develop. The second movement is tender and indeed song-like. The piano introduces a slightly off-beat idea which is gentle, against subdued strings. The middle section is contrasting as the tension rises but ultimately the tranquility of the main theme returns. The scherzo is rather a rollercoaster with quick changes in mood. The scherzo is marked by swift changes in mood, for The trio is sharply contrasting before repeating the main section. The final movement begins darkly but is taken over by a tranquillo cello tune. As in other movements Brahms introduces other themes with building tension. The long coda ends in a burst of energy, showing off Brahms’ contrapuntal skill.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Full biographies are available on the website

MICHAEL COLLINS Clarinet

Michael Collins is one of the most complete musicians of his generation. With a continuing, distinguished career as a soloist, he

Johannes Brahms

has in recent years also become highly regarded as a conductor. From 2010-2018 he was the Principal Conductor of the City of London Sinfonia and has recently been Artistic Director of London Mozart Players. Recent guest conducting and play-directing highlights have included engagements with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. Recent highlights include a return to the Philharmonia Orchestra, performances worldwide with orchestras including Minnesota Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Rheinische Philharmonie, Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra and Kuopio Symphony Orchestra and tours in South Africa, Australia (with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra), Japan and Mexico (with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional).

Michael celebrated his 60th Birthday in 2022 and gave commemorative concerts at Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall with the London Mozart Players. He was also interviewed for a double page spread in Gramophone Magazine. In January 2021 Michael gave the debut performance of new ensemble Wigmore Soloists, a new Associate Ensemble funded by the Wigmore Hall and led by Michael Collins and violinist Isabelle van Keulen. Wigmore Soloists sees leading international instrumentalists coming together to perform a wide range of chamber music repertoire, from duets to works for up to 13 musicians. The ensemble released the Schubert Octet on disc in 2021 to great acclaim (BIS Records). More recently, they have released a trios disc and recordings of Beethoven and Berwald septets.

Michael Collins has been committed to expanding the repertoire of the clarinet for many years and has received the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year Award in 2007 in recognition of his pivotal role in premièring repertoire by some of today’s most highly regarded composers. In great demand as a chamber musician, Collins performs regularly with the Borodin, Heath and Belcea quartets, András Schiff, Martha Argerich, Stephen Hough, Mikhail Pletnev, Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis. His ensemble, London Winds, celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in

2018 and the group maintains a busy diary with high calibre engagements such as the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh Festival, Edinburgh Festival, City of London Festival, Cheltenham International Festival and Bath Mozartfest. During the 2019-20 season he was an Artist in Residence at the Wigmore Hall. Michael Collins records for BIS, and in his prolific recording career he has covered an extraordinarily wide range of solo repertoire, which also includes releases on Chandos, Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, EMI, and Sony. He is one of the world’s most recorded clarinettists, having made no fewer than twenty discs for Chandos alone.

MAIGHRÉAD McCRANN Violin

Maighréad McCrann has been the Concertmaster of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra since 1993. In 1997 she was appointed Professor of violin at the University of Performing Arts in Graz. During this time, she has also enjoyed a versatile career as a soloist, chamber musician and directing chamber orchestras from the violin. Her passion for teaching has resulted in many masterclasses and intense coaching with the youth orchestras of Spain, Catalunya, Columbia, the Vienna Jeunesse Orchestra and the National Orchestral Institute in Washington. Born in Dublin where she studied with Brian McNamara, she graduated from Trinity College of music in 1984 and commenced studying in Vienna with Ernst Kovacic. Further violin lessons with Sandor Vegh and David Takeno. She was a member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and played baroque violin with Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s Concentus Musicus. In 2020 she was appointed to the board of the Wiener Jeunesse Orchestra and became a member of the advisory committee of the Austrian National Bank for the allocation of valuable instruments. She is artistic director of the Neuberg Masterclasses in Austria. www.maighreadmccrann.com

DARRAGH MORGAN Violin

Described by The Strad Magazine as ‘hugely impressive, he plays with seemingly effortless control’ Irish violinist Darragh Morgan was born in Belfast. Darragh has appeared as a soloist at Aldeburgh Festival, Philips Collection Washington DC, Wiener Konzerthaus, Spitalfields Festival, Osterfestival Tirol and BBC Proms Chamber Music. His numerous concerto appearances with The Ulster Orchestra include the World Premiere of ‘Hymn of Dawn’ by Sir John Tavener which he also performed with Istanbul Symphony Orchestra. With National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, he has toured Beethoven Triple Concerto, recorded ‘Elastic Harmonic’ by Donnacha Dennehy for NMC Recordings and he has premiered Brian Irvine’s ‘A Mon Seul Desir’. With RTÉ Concert Orchestra and London Musici/Rambert Dance Company he has given over 40 performances of ‘Tabula Rasa’ by Arvo Pärt (including in the presence of the composer). Darragh gave the South African premiere of Barber Violin Concerto with the KZN Philhamonic Orchestra. Other concerto appearances have included Kölner Kammerorchester and Cyprus Symphony Orchestra. He has collaborated with such distinguished musicians as Thomas Adès, Emmanuel Pahud, Darius Brubeck, Joanna MacGregor, John Tilbury, Mícheál Ò Súilleabháin and David Holmes.

A passionate chamber musician Darragh is founder member of ‘the virtuosic Fidelio Trio’ (Sunday Times). They were shortlisted for the Royal Philhamonic Society Awards Ensemble Prize and have received Gramophone Magazine Editor’s Choice for their recordings. The trio have appeared at prestigious venues around the globe including Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room Southbank Centre, Casa da Musica Porto, National Sawdust New York, Morrison Artist Series San Francisco, Princeton Sound Kitchen, Andy Warhol Museum Pittsburgh, National Centre for Performing Arts Mumbai, Beijing Modern Music Festival, National Concert Hall Dublin, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Brighton Festival, Cheltenham Festival, and the Vale of Glamorgan Festival.

They have collaborated with actor Adrian Dunbar, writer Alexander McCall-Smith and poet Sinead Morrissey.

Darragh was for a number of years violinist with the award winning Smith Quartet, praised by The Guardian as ‘Britain’s answer to the Kronos’. He regularly leads London Sinfonietta, has appeared as leader of Ensemble Modern and with Musik Fabrik. He has worked closely with conductors including Oliver Knussen, Pierre Boulez, Francois Xavier Roth, John Eliot Gardiner, Heinz Holliger, En Shao and Paul Daniel. He has appeared as guest leader of Aurora Orchestra, The Philharmonia, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Macau Orchestra, Les Siecles and Athelas Sinfonietta, Remix Ensemble, BCMG and Red Note Ensemble. Darragh directs European Union Chamber Orchestra and 2004-2005 was Artistic Director of Baroque 2000, South Africa’s premiere period instrument ensemble. He has recorded over 50 chamber music and solo albums for NMC, Resonus, Delphian, Signum, Diatribe, Metier, Da Capo, Centaur, Naxos and Col Legno. Darragh regularly records for soundtracks at Abbey Road Studios and Air Lyndhurst Studios. Darragh plays an 1848 Giuseppe Rocca violin, generously on loan from the Morgan-Rocca Instrument Trust which is administered by The Royal Society of Musicians and a bow by Joseph Alfred Lamy.

www.darraghmorgan.com

FIONA WINNING Viola

Fiona Winning studied at the Juilliard School in New York, going on to become Principal Violist of the Royal Philharmonic and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestras. For many years she has been a regular guest principal of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (including four seasons at Glyndebourne Opera), Aurora Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Fiona’s orchestral activities have taken her to many of the worlds most prestigious halls and as a principal she has worked closely with eminent conductors such as Charles Dutoit, Vladimir Jurowksi, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Gianandrea Noseda and Vasily Petrenko.

A passionate performer of contemporary music, she is a regular guest principal with the London Sinfonietta, with whom she has performed at the BBC Proms, South Bank Centre, Huddersfield Festival and in Europe and the Far East. Other highlights include George Benjamin’s Into the Little Hill at the Wigmore Hall and one of Pierre Boulez’s last conducting engagements (Stravinsky Dumbarton Oaks). She performs regularly with the Red Note Ensemble (Scotland), most recently in a nationwide tour of George Crumb’s epic electronic quartet Black Angels. Fiona was for seven years a member of the Scottish Ensemble with whom she broadcast regularly on BBC radio 3, appearing at the Edinburgh International Festival, BBC proms, Wigmore Hall, Huddersfield, Lichfield and City of London Festivals. As a session musician she records at Abbey Road and Air studios in London, and can be heard on numerous soundtracks for film and TV.

Fiona loves the mountains, and has climbed in the Bolivian Andes, Himalayas, Alps and her local hills near Loch Lomond.

MEGAN O’NEILL Soprano (Young Artist)

Megan O’Neill is a soprano from County Kerry. She is currently studying with Prof. Mary Brennan and Dr Andrew Synnott and is in third year of the Doctor in Music Performance Degree at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. She completed the BMus Degree in Maynooth University in 2018 and graduated with a First ClassHonours Degree. In August 2020, she completed the Masters in Music Performance Degree at the RIAM, where she also received a First Class-Honours. Most recently, Megan played the titular role of Cinderella, an opera by Alma Deutscher, at Wexford Festival Opera as part of the Wexford Factory programme. In the 2022 Feis Ceoil, Megan was the winner of the German Government Cup and the prestigious Gervase Elwes Memorial Cup. She was also awarded the 2022 RDS Music Bursary of 15,000EUR. Megan played the role of ‘Teen polar bear’ in The Scorched Earth Trilogy, a street art opera by Brian Irvine and John McIlduff, which was produced by Irish National Opera and Dumbworld Production Company in March 2022. She played the

role of Signora Avoglio in All the Angels by Nick Drake, which took place in the Everyman Theatre, Cork, and Smock Alley, Dublin, from October 2021 to December 2021. She is also a company chorus member with Irish National Opera, and will be performing in Così fan tutte by Mozart in May and June 2023.

TIM GILL Cello

Tim Gill studied at Cambridge University, reading music (and meeting his future wife and eminent cellist Joely Koos), the Royal Academy of Music and the Banff Centre in Canada. In 1988 he was selected to play at the South Bank as part of the Park Lane Group concert series and has since enjoyed a lifelong commitment to contemporary music. In 2001, he became Principal cellist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and two years later was made principal with the London Sinfonietta, drawing critical acclaim for his solo performances of music by Stravinsky, Xenakis and Maxwell Davies.

In 2011 he enjoyed a brief spell as principal with English National Opera, before returning the next year to the RPO. He now freelances in London, focussing on his solo and chamber music commitments while retaining his association with the London Sinfonietta. He has appeared throughout the world as a soloist, most recently at the BBC Proms and at London’s Kings Place “Cello Unwrapped” series. Tim plays on a cello by Francesco Ruggeri, dated 1695.

MARY DULLEA Piano & Artistic Director

As soloist and chamber musician, Irish pianist Mary Dullea leads a diverse performance career internationally. Her frequent broadcasts include BBC Radio 3, Radio 4, RTHK, RTÉ Lyric FM, WQXR, Radio New Zealand and Sky Arts, Irish, French, Austrian and Italian television. Concerto appearances include RTÉ Concert Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and KZN Philharmonic Orchestra. Of her multiple CD releases, recent collaborations include premiere recordings of Philip Glass for

Orange Mountain Music and, on Divine Art Métier, solo piano music from Iran by composers Amir Mahyar Tafreshipour and Hormoz Farhat.

Mary’s piano trio, Fidelio Trio, are passionate advocates for piano trio repertoire around the world. They were shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards Ensemble Prize and have been Gramophone Magazine Editor’s Choice for their recordings. The trio have appeared at prestigious venues around the globe including Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room Southbank Centre, Casa da Musica Porto, Morrison Artist Series San Francisco, Andy Warhol Museum Pittsburgh, National Centre for Performing Arts Mumbai, Beijing Modern Music Festival, National Concert Hall Dublin, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Brighton Festival, Cheltenham Festival and Gümüşlük International Classical Music Festival. They have collaborated with actor Adrian Dunbar, writer Alexander McCall-Smith and poet Sinead Morrissey and constantly commission new works. Mary is the curator of Soundings (an annual UK/Austrian collaborative music festival) at the Austrian Cultural Forum London from since 2008. She has served on the jury of ‘Schubert und die Musik der Moderne’ International Chamber Music Competition in Graz, Austria. In 2014 she founded 'Chamber Music on Valentia' an annual chamber music festival in Co. Kerry, Ireland, with the aim of bringing chamber music performances of international standing, innovative programming and engagement programmes to this unique place. Mary’s own studies were at The Royal College of Music, London on the Edith Best Scholarship, Goldsmiths, University of London (MMus) and her PhD in Performance is from Ulster University. Mary was on the piano faculty of Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama for 9 years. She previously held the position of Director of Performance at University of Sheffield and since 2015 she has held this position at Royal Holloway, University of London where she is also Professor in Music.

www.marydullea.com

Why not join us for tonight’s late-night concert, Fidelio Trio Pop Archive, here at 9.30pm?

MORE EVENTS

SATURDAY, 19 AUGUST 2023

Musical Map Live Events Experience

PRELUDE Concert

Bach to Folk Concert

Seth Parker Woods (cello)

Late Night Solos Concert

SUNDAY, 20 AUGUST 2023

Debussy, Takemitsu and Roussel

Flute, viola & harp

Finale with Iarla Ó Lionáird, Cormac McCarthy, Darragh

Morgan & Seth Parker Woods

From 1.30pm | All across Valentia Island

7.00pm | Church of the Immaculate Conception, Knightstown

7.30pm | Church of the Immaculate Conception, Knightstown

9.30pm | Church of the Immaculate Conception, Knightstown

1.00pm | Church of St. Dorarca and St. Teresa, Chapeltown

7.30pm | Church of the Immaculate Conception, Knightstown

To find out more about our 2023 events, please visit chambermusiconvalentia.com/our-2023-festival or call +353 (83) 096 5977

GO RAIBH MAITH AGAT

We are grateful to all of our Friends and Supporters for their commitment and contributions. We acknowledge the assistance of Arts Council Ireland, Music Generation Kerry, Kerry County Council, Fexco, and RTÉ Supporting the Arts

The Festival would not be possible without the help of so many volunteers on Valentia who assist with venues, equipment, advertising, accommodation and a host of other behind the scenes activities that make the Festival run smoothly

OUR PRINCIPAL PARTNERS

OUR FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS

FRIENDS OF THE FESTIVAL

Margot Ferwerda

Rosaleen O’Muircheartaigh

David and Brenda Wilkes