Debussy, Takemitsu, & Roussel

FÁILTE

W e a r e d e l i g h t e d t o a n n o u n c e o u r 1 0 t h a n n u a l C h a m b e r M u s i c o n V a l e n t i a F e s t i v a l . W i t h c o n c e r t s , i m m e r s i v e b a s e d e x p e r i e n c e s , a n d m u s i c w o r k s h o p s , t h e r e i s s o m e t h i n g f o r e v e r y o n e a n d w e l o o k f o r w a r d t o w e l c o m i n g y o u t o t h e i s l a n d .

T h i s y e a r w i t h o u r 1 0 t h a n n i v e r s a r y c e l e b r a t i o n s w e w e l c o m e g u e s t a r t i s t s f r o m U S A , A u s t r i a , U K a n d I r e l a n d . O u r i n n o v a t i v e c u r a t o r s h i p h i g h l i g h t s i n c l u d e ; g a t h e r i n g o u r l a r g e s t e n s e m b l e e v e r t o p e r f o r m t h r e e o f B a c h ’ s m a g n i f i c e n t B r a n d e n b u r g C o n c e r t i , a p r o g r a m m e w i t h t h e c o m p e l l i n g e n s e m b l e o f f l u t e , v i o l a a n d h a r p i n C h a p e l t o w n , w e i n c l u d e m a j o r w o r k s b y B r a h m s a n d S c h u b e r t a n d s o n g s b y I r i s h f e m a l e c o m p o s e r s I n a B o y l e a n d A i l í s N í R í a i n , a n d o u r c l o s i n g c o n c e r t f e a t u r e s t h e t w i c e G r a m m y n o m i n a t e d c e l e b r a t e d v o c a l i s t I a r l a Ó L i o n á i r d T h e s e a r e o n l y s o m e o f t h e a m a z i n g m u s i c a n d p e r f o r m a n c e s y o u c a n e x p e c t T h r o u g h o u t t h e F e s t i v a l o t h e r h i g h l i g h t s a n d e n g a g e m e n t o p p o r t u n i t i e s i n c l u d e m a s t e r c l a s s e s , a n o p p o r t u n i t y t o p e r f o r m w i t h F e s t i v a l A r t i s t s , a n d t h e n o w m u c h l o v e d ‘ M u s i c a l M a p ’ o n S a t u r d a y 1 9 t h W e h a v e l a t e n i g h t c o n c e r t s o f F i d e l i o T r i o ’ s ‘ P o p A r c h i v e ’ a n d s t a r A m e r i c a n c e l l i s t S e t h P a r k e r W o o d s i n a s o l o a p p e a r a n c e a n d f e a t u r e w o n d e r f u l m u s i c i a n s M i c h a e l C o l l i n s ( c l a r i n e t ) , D a r r a g h M o r g a n ( v i o l i n ) , M a i g h r é a d M c C r a n n ( v i o l i n ) , F i o n a W i n n i n g ( v i o l a ) , R o s e R e d g r a v e ( v i o l a ) , T i m G i l l ( c e l l o ) , R o n a n D u n n e ( d o u b l e b a s s ) , D a v i d A d a m s ( h a r p s i c h o r d ) , C a t r í o n a R y a n ( f l u t e ) a n d G e r a l d i n e O ’ D o h e r t y ( h a r p ) T h i s a l l h a p p e n s w i t h i n a m u l t i t u d e o f a m a z i n g v e n u e s o n V a l e n t i a I s l a n d

W e l o o k f o r w a r d t o y o u j o i n i n g u s f o r o u r 1 0 t h F e s t i v a l t h i s A u g u s t a n d a s e v e r t h a n k o u r s u p p o r t e r s , v e n u e s , v o l u n t e e r s a n d a u d i e n c e i n m a k i n g t h i s F e s t i v a l e x i s t i n s u c h a m a g i c a l p l a c e .

M a r y D u l l e a A r t i s t i c D i r e c t o r

DEBUSSY, TAKEMITSU & ROUSSEL

SUNDAY 20 AUGUST 2023 | 1pm at Church of St. Teresa and St. Dorarca, Chapeltown with Catriona Ryan flute, Rose Redgrave viola, Geraldine

O’Doherty harp, Darragh Morgan violin, Seth Parker Woods cello & Robert Houlihan conductor

PROGRAMME

Claude Debussy Sonata for flute, viola (1862-1918) and harp (1915)

Claude Debussy’s Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp dates from the last years of his life. It was written in 1915 as part of a planned set of six sonatas for various instrumental combinations; Debussy’s final illness and death in 1918 prevented the completion of the project. Although Debussy used the familiar term “sonata” to describe the present work, there is very little that is traditional

about, either its combination of instruments or the formal structure of the work itself.

The first movement is not in sonata form but features six themes whose repetitions are freely varied as the movement proceeds. Similarly, the second movement, marked Tempo di menuetto, is a minuet in tempo only, its vaguely dance-like character manipulating material heard in the earlier movement. The finale is, again, essentially freely structured though highly energetic, beginning with a persistent, motoric 16th-note figure passed between the harp and viola. An explicit restatement of material from the opening movement forms a brief respite from the action, before a return of the up-tempo music brings the sonata to its close.

© Jonathan Blumhofer Reproduced with permission

Toru Takemitsu And Then I Knew ‘Twas (1930-1996) Wind (1992)

Toru Takemitsu’s And Then I Knew ‘Twas Wind is a valedictory work, written in 1992, four years before its composer’s death. Its title is drawn from Emily Dickenson’s poem “Like Rain it sounded till it curved,” and, as Takemitsu wrote, “has as its subject the signs of the wind in the natural world and of the soul, or unconscious mind (or we could even call it ‘dream’), which continues to blow, like the wind, invisibly, through human consciousness.”

And Then I Knew ‘Twas Wind is written in one movement and shares its fragmentary melodic style with Debussy’s Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp. Most of its harmonic content is derived from a collection of six pitches that, though not tonal, strongly alludes to F major. Takemitsu’s aim to project the shifting quality of the wind led him to create a score that is highly gestural – that is, musical lines reflect the physical attributes of an object (in this case the wind), rising, falling, turning mid-phrase, etc.

© Jonathan Blumhofer, reproduced with permission.

Albert Roussel Serenade for flute, violin, viola, (1869-1937) cello and harp, Op. 30 (1926)

Albert Roussel developed an individual voice within the influences that you might expect of French ‘impressionism’ and neoClassicism, considering his background. He made an early career in the navy, reaching the Middle East, India and Asia. But when he was 29, he studied with Vincent D’Indy in the Schola Cantorum and he later taught the counterpoint class there. Like so many, with the outbreak of World War 1, even though he had been dropped from the naval reserve due to his health, he joined the Red Cross as an ambulance driver and then the army as an artillery lieutenant. After the war his music took a new direction and a more personal, sometimes austere style.

This wonderful three movement work has outer movements that almost feel like insistent dances, the first movement rather cheerful and the final presto more manic and very colourful. The middle movement explores all the sonic possibilities of this combination of instruments and here Roussel’s trademark expertise in counterpoint is celebrated.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Full biographies are available on the website

CATRIONA RYAN Flute

Catriona Ryan was a scholarship student with Doris Keogh at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester under renowned teachers and flautists Trevor Wye, Richard Davis (Principal Flute, BBC Philharmonic) & Patricia Morris (Principal Piccolo, BBC Symphony Orchestra). Catriona is Flute Section Leader of the National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin, Ireland and has performed with the

BBC Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and The Hallé, undertaking Guest Principal Flute engagements when her orchestra schedule allows. She is a founding member of Cassiopeia Winds who feature in many concert series and music festivals around Ireland, including the Vogler Quartet’s International Festival of Chamber Music, New Ross Piano Festival, NCH Sounding The Feminists and NCH Chamber Music Series, Wood Quay Summer Sessions and Music for Galway’s Midwinter Festival. Cassiopeia Winds regularly receive touring awards from the Arts Council of Ireland, and particularly enjoy regional performances. Keen performers of contemporary music, they have collaborated with emerging composers from the Irish Composers Collective, Masters students from Maynooth University and are actively involved in commissioning partnerships with composers from the Contemporary Music Centre, Dublin. Their world premiere performances have included works by Adele O’Dwyer and Philip Hammond, and Wind Quintets have been written for them by eminent composers such as John Buckley, Jonathan Nangle and Raymond Deane.

Catriona particularly enjoys chamber music collaborations, recently forming the Amici Trio with her NSO Principal Cellist colleague Martin Johnson and pianist Aileen Cahill. She appears regularly as soloist with various ensembles including frequent concerto appearances with her own orchestra, the NSO. She has given recitals with celebrated pianists Finghin Collins and Fiachra Garvey as well as collaborating with Melvyn Tan and the Con Tempo Quartet. On top of her busy performance schedule, she has an active career tutoring, teaching, giving masterclasses, examining, and adjudicating for bodies such as the Royal Irish Academy of Music, EUYO, MTU Cork School of Music, TU Conservatoire Dublin, National Youth Orchestra, the National Concert Hall and Trinity Laban Conservatoire, London.

Catriona hosts occasional pre-concerts talks with conductors and soloists for the NSO and enjoys the opportunity it affords her to

meet the audience up close. Indeed, in 2019 she had the pleasure of hosting a conversation with Daragh Morgan and Mary Dullea before the Fidelio Trio’s performance of Beethoven’s epic Triple Concerto with the NSO. More recently, Catriona took on the role of presenter for a live-streamed concert on the NSO YouTube channel.

GERALDINE O’DOHERTY Harp

Geraldine O’Doherty has been Principal Harpist with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra since 2006. In the same year, she was appointed to the teaching staff of the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. As a chamber musician, she has recorded five critically acclaimed CDs of chamber music for violin, cello and harp with the group Reflecting Strings. She is also a founding member of the flute, viola and harp ensemble “Triocca“, who recorded their debut CD on the RTÉ Lyric FM label and with whom, she has toured internationally. Geraldine has been privileged to premiere chamber and solo harp works by James Wilson, Eric Sweeney, Linda Buckley, Philip Martin and John Buckley.

As a soloist, she has performed with the Ulster Orchestra, Sinfonia Cymru, the Hungarian State Symphony and the RTÉCO. Geraldine also enjoys a variety of work in the field of light music, highlights include the premiere of Boublil and Schoenberg’s The Pirate Queen in Chicago, the European premiere of The Light in the Piazza by Adam Guettel in the UK and more recently, a UK tour and BBC Prom with the John Wilson Orchestra. She has recorded for Paul Byrom, The Priests, Celtic Woman and Celtic Thunder amongst others and she also features on the soundtrack to the Oscar nominated film “Albert Nobbs“. Geraldine holds a BMus (Hons) from the Guildhall School of Music and a Konzertdiplom from the Hochschule fur Musik in Zurich, where she studied with the eminent French harpist Catherine Michel.

ROSE REDGRAVE Viola

Rose Redgrave studied at the Royal Northern College and Royal Academy of Music, where her teachers for chamber music included Vicci Wardman, John White and Christopher Rowland, and where she was awarded all of the prizes for viola. She currently has an international performing career with groups such as The King’s Consort, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Musica Saeculorum in Italy, Music Theatre Wales, Scottish Ensemble, Adderbury Ensemble and Psappha. She often plays too as principal viola at the Summer Endellion Festival. Rose is a member of the Incus Trio, Fews Ensemble and of the Milbrook Ensemble. As a member of the Coull Quartet (2010-2014) she undertook a busy schedule of concerts and recordings alongside a full-time residency at Warwick University. A committed teacher, Rose teaches at Birmingham Conservatoire and Birmingham University and privately. She has also recently given classes, judged the viola prize and been external examiner at the Royal Academy of Music, London.

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.

SETH PARKER WOODS Cello

Hailed by The Guardian as “a cellist of power and grace” who possesses “mature artistry and willingness to go to the brink,”

GRAMMY-nominated cellist Seth Parker Woods has established his reputation as a versatile artist and innovator across multiple genres. His projects delve deep into our cultural fabric, reimagining traditional works and commissioning new ones to propel classical music into the future, inspiring The New York Times to write, “Woods is an artist rooted in classical music, but whose cello is a vehicle that takes him, and his concertgoers, on wide-ranging journeys.” He is a recipient of the 2022 Chamber Music America Michael Jaffee Visionary Award.

In the 2022-2023 season, Woods premieres a new version of his evening-length, multimedia tour de force Difficult Grace at 92Y, UCLA, and Chicago’s Harris Theater; curates and performs a program honoring the centennial of composer George Walker at The Phillips Collection in Washington D.C.; premieres Freida

Abtan’s My Heart is a River, commissioned by the Seattle Symphony; and performs a world premiere by Anna Thorvaldsdottir at Carnegie Hall as part of Claire Chase’s Density Series. The Great Northern Festival in Minneapolis will present Woods in his critically acclaimed performance installation, Iced Bodies, in which Woods, in a wetsuit, plays an obsidian ice cello. Woods is also a member of celebrated new music ensemble Wild Up, with whom he is nominated for a 2023 Grammy Award. Recital appearances this season include concerts with pianist

Andrew Rosenblum at Dumbarton Oaks in D.C., Boston's Isabella Gardner Museum, and The Wallis Annenberg Center in Beverly Hills, and a return to his former home Brussels for a solo recital at Das Haus. He also tours to Washington Performing Arts, Krannert

Center, Stanford Live, California Center for the Arts, Count Basie Center for the Arts, Auburn University, and Emory University with the Chad Lawson Trio. In addition, Woods will hold residencies at Montclair State University and Oberlin Conservatory. The season will also see the release of a new solo album on Cedille Records and the soundtrack of the PBS documentary The U.S. and the Holocaust – a film by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and Sarah Botstein –to which Woods contributed.

In addition to solo performances, he has appeared with the ICTUS Ensemble (Brussels, BE), Ensemble L’Arsenale (IT), zone Experimental (CH), Basel Sinfonietta (CH), Ensemble LPR, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Atlanta and Seattle Symphonies, and in chamber music with violinist Hilary Hahn and pianist Andreas Haefliger. A fierce advocate for contemporary arts, Woods has collaborated and worked with a wide range of artists ranging from the likes of Louis Andriessen, Elliott Carter, Heinz Holliger, G. F. Haas, Helmut Lachenmann, Klaus Lang, and Peter Eötvos to Peter Gabriel, Sting, Lou Reed, Dame Shirley Bassey, and Rachael Yamagata to such visual artists as Ron Athey, Vanessa Beecroft, Jack Early, Adam Pendleton, and Aldo Tambellini. In the 20212022 season, he premiered concertos by Rebecca Saunders and Tyshawn Sorey.

In recent years, Woods has appeared in concert at the Royal Albert Hall – BBC Proms, Aspen Music Festival, Ojai Festival, Snape Maltings Festival, the Ghent Festival, Washington Performing Arts, Strathmore, Musée d’art Moderne et Contemporain, Le Poisson Rougel, Cafe OTO, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Klang Festival-Durham, INTER/ actions Symposium, ICMC-SMS Conference (Athens, GR), NIME-London, Sound and Body Festival, Instalakcje Festival, Virginia Tech, La Salle College (Singapore), and FINDARS (Malaysia), amongst others. Recent awards include a DCASE artist grant, Earle Brown/ Morton Feldman Foundation Grant, McGill University-CIRMMT/IDMIL Visiting Researcher Residency, Centre Intermondes Artist Residency, Francis Chagrin

Award, Concours [Re]connaissance-Premiere Prix, and the Paul Sacher Stiftung Research Scholarship.

His debut solo album, asinglewordisnotenough (Confront Recordings-London), has garnered great acclaim since its release in November 2016 and has been profiled in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, and The Guardian, among others. In April 2023, Woods releases the world premiere recording of Difficult Grace on Cedille Records. He was nominated for a 2023 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance as a soloist in Wild Up’s recording, Julius Eastman Vol. 2: Joy Boy on New Amsterdam Records (2022).

Woods recently joined the faculty of the Thornton School of Music at The University of Southern California as Assistant Professor of Practice - Cello and Chamber Music. He previously served on the faculties of the University at Buffalo, University of Chicago, Dartmouth College, and the Chicago Academy of the Arts and as Artist in Residence at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and Northwestern University - Center for New Music. Woods holds degrees from Brooklyn College, Musik Akademie der Stadt Basel, and a PhD from the University of Huddersfield. In the 202021 season, he was an Artist in Residence with the Kaufman Music Center, and from 2018-2020 he served as Artist in Residence with Seattle Symphony and Creative Consultant for the interactive concert hall, Octave 9: Raisbeck Music Center. Seth Parker Woods is a Pirastro Artist and endorses Pirastro Perpetual Strings worldwide.

ROBERT HOULIHAN Conductor

Robert Houlihan’s festival appearances include the BBC Proms and the Almeida Festival, London, The Budapest Spring Festival and the Bartok Festival, Hungary, The Summer Festival, Amsterdam and the Wurzburg Mozart Festival, Germany, to name a few. Robert has conducted over 100 different orchestras since he began his career. More recently he was invited to conduct the orchestras of Tours (France), The Royal Oman Symphony

Orchestra and the Orchestra of the National Opera House, Maribor (Slovenia).

Robert has a wide range of repertoire covering various genres, from Baroque to the great repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as Opera, Operetta and Ballet. Due to his solid and precise technique, corroborated by the international press, he is very often invited to conduct demanding new contemporary works. He has also worked successfully with soloists of international renown such as Maxim Vengerov, Olivier Charlier, Javier Camarena, Rebecca Olvera, Lesley Garret, Istvan Ruha, Miklos Perenyi, Patrick Gallois, Joaquin Achucarro, John O Conor and more.

In addition to his conducting appearances, Robert has recorded the works of major Irish composers (with both RTÉ Orchestras) and is in much demand as a teacher, giving classes in Ireland (for the Irish Association of Youth Orchestras), France, Holland, Portugal and Hungary. In 1987 and 1989 Robert organised and conducted two tours with the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland to France, Luxemburg and Belgium and a third tour in 1994 to Hungary. From 1989 until 2013 he reserved two weeks in August each year to tutor with the late George Hurst on the conducting faculty at the renowned Sherborne (formerly Canford) Summer School of Music, Sherborne, England. Since 2014 Robert has been teaching masterclasses twice a year at his home in Kerry, Ireland, with students coming from Europe and beyond. Robert Houlihan returned to live in his native Ireland in December 2002. He now appears as a guest conductor with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra as well as other European Orchestras.

Why not join us for tonight’s Finale concert, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Cormac McCarthy, Darragh Morgan and Seth Parker Woods in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Knightstown at 7.30pm?

SAVE THE DATE

We also look forward to welcoming you to our 2024 festival, so why not pop the date in your diary now? Join us Thursday 16th to Sunday 19th August 2024.

GO RAIBH MAITH AGAT

W e a r e g r a t e f u l t o a l l o f o u r F r i e n d s a n d S u p p o r t e r s f o r t h e i r c o m m i t m e n t a n d c o n t r i b u t i o n s . W e a c k n o w l e d g e t h e a s s i s t a n c e o f A r t s C o u n c i l I r e l a n d , M u s i c G e n e r a t i o n K e r r y , K e r r y C o u n t y C o u n c i l , F e x c o , a n d R T É S u p p o r t i n g t h e A r t s

T h e F e s t i v a l w o u l d n o t b e p o s s i b l e w i t h o u t t h e h e l p o f s o m a n y v o l u n t e e r s o n V a l e n t i a w h o a s s i s t w i t h v e n u e s , e q u i p m e n t , a d v e r t i s i n g , a c c o m m o d a t i o n a n d a h o s t o f o t h e r b e h i n d t h e s c e n e s a c t i v i t i e s t h a t m a k e t h e F e s t i v a l r u n s m o o t h l y

OUR PRINCIPAL PARTNERS

OUR FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS

F R I E N D S O F T H E F E S T I V A L

M a r g o t F e r w e r d a

R o s a l e e n O ’ M u i r c h e a r t a i g h

D a v i d a n d B r e n d a W i l k e s