Y O U R 9 T H F E S T I V A L E V E N T P R O G R A M M E Chamber Music on Valentia Y O U 9 T H F E S T I V A L 17-21 AUG 2022 WORLDClass music on VAlentia island C H A M B E R M U S I C O N V A L E N T I A . C O M
FÁILTE FÁILTE
W e a r e e x c i t e d t o l a u n c h o u r 9 t h 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 , e x p e r i e n c e - b a s e d e v e n t s , a n d 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 a r e e x c i t e d t o w e l c o m e y o u b a c k t o t h e i s l a n d . 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 I c e l a n d , U S A , I t a l y , U K a n d I r e l a n d T h e p r o g r a m m e r a n g e s f r o m m a s t e r p i e c e s o f t h e r e p e r t o i r e b y E r n e s t M o e r a n a n d R o b e r t S c h u m a n n t o t h e w o r l d p r e m i e r e o f a u n i q u e c o m b i n a t i o n o f u i l l e a n n p i p e s a n d p i a n o t r i o , ‘ T h e y D a n c e d W h e n t h e M u s i c i a n s P l a y e d ’ W e p r e s e n t o u r r e c e n t C a r o l a n c e l e b r a t i o n , e x t e n d e d i n a l i v e f o r m a t a n d t h e g r a n d f i n a l e c o n c e r t w i l l b e a t w o p i a n o g a l a i n K n i g h t s t o w n i n c l u d i n g a p t l y ‘ P u c k F a i r ’ b y J o a n T r i m b l e a n d R a c h m a n i n o f f ‘ s m a j e s t i c S y m p h o n i c D a n c e s 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 a s p e c i a l l y c o m m i s s i o n e d S o u n d t r a i l a r o u n d V a l e n t i a , 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 s i n g i n g w o r k s h o p w i t h C h a m b e r C h o i r I r e l a n d 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 2 0 t h . A s w e c o n t i n u e t o e x p l o r e v e n u e s a l l o v e r V a l e n t i a , 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 b a c k , i n p e r s o n , f o r t h i s y e a r ' s f e s t i v a l . 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
1 MINIMALISM MASTERWORKS FRIDAY, 19 AUGUST 2022 | 10.00pm Church of St. John the Baptist, Knightstown with Darragh Morgan Violin & Director Una Sveinbjarnardóttir Violin Claudio Laureti Viola Dirk Wietheger Violincello Melinda Maxwell Oboe Guest performers from Festival Call for Participation & Seán Ó Dálaigh Sound production PROGRAMME Tunde Jegede Dancing in the Spirit (b. 1972) for string quartet Lawrence Justinian K. S. Tamusuza ‘Ekitundu Ekisooka’ (b. 1951) from Mu Kkubo Ery’Omusaalaba for string quartet Veronique Vaka Ofdune (b. 1986) for solo violin Gavin Bryars Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet (b. 1943)
Written by Festival Administrative Assistants, Nan Or and Nymara Blevins Hay (unless otherwise stated) Tunde Jegede Dancing in the spirit (b. 1972) for string quartet
‘In 1999 I was invited to collaborate with the Choreographer Wayne McGreggor at the Norwich Arts Festival. The resulting piece Dancing in the spirit was performed live by my ensemble together with Random Dance Company at The Norwich Playhouse as part of the festival. The ensemble went on to work with Random at the Greenwich Festival the following year, which included Wayne McGreggor performing a solo piece accompanied by myself playing a movement from one of Bach’s Cello Suites.
This version of Dancing in the spirit was specifically arranged for the Smith Quartet.’
Tunde Jegede Lawrence Justinian K. S. Tamusuza ‘Ekitundu Ekisooka’ (b. 1951) from Mu Kkubo Ery’Omusaalaba for string quartet Mu Kkubo Ery’Omusaalaba (‘On the Way of the Cross’) was written between 1988 and 1993, at the urging of the Kronos String Quartet. The first movement was composed during the study period with Kevin Volans. Tamusuza: “Since I have been aware of contemporary music, I have asked myself how such great masters as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, etc. were able to write such great masterpieces, despite the tremendous limitations imposed by tonality. Only later did I understand that also the music from my own tradition (Kigandan) is bound by considerable limitations, such as the pentatonic scale, fixed harmonies, ostinato, the absence of semi tones, etc. In the western world, composition students are required to master tonal compositional technique before addressed modern idioms. Thus, I decided to write a piece whose limitations are imposed by the material from my own musical tradition: pentatonic, ostinato phrases and rhythms, fixed harmonies and percussionism.”
PROGRAMME NOTES
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Lawrence Justinian K. S. Tamusuza was born in Kibisi (Uganda) in 1951. His earliest musical training was in Kigandan traditional music: singing, drumming and Endingidi playing. He later studied at Queen’s University in Belfast with Kevin Volans and as Fulbright Scholar at Northwestern University in Evanston,
Veronique Vaka is a composer based in the southern region of Iceland. She studied classical cello performance at Vincent d’Indy, continued her studies in electro acoustic composition at the University of Montreal and completed a Master's degree in music composition from the Iceland University of the Arts.
Ofdune “in a descending direction, from a higher to a lower place; degree, or condition” late Old English shortened from Old English ofdune “downwards, “originally of dune “ off from (the) hill, “ from dune “ from the hill.”Veronique Vaka Gavin Bryars Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet (b. 1943) ‘In 1971, when I lived in London, I was working with a friend, Alan Power, on a film about people living rough in the area around Elephant and Castle and Waterloo Station. In the course of being filmed, some people broke into drunken song sometimes bits of opera, sometimes sentimental ballads and one, who in fact did not drink, sang a religious song “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet”. This was not ultimately used in the film, and I was given all the unused sections of tape, including this one.
Originally composed for baroque violin in 2020, supported by Artists’ Salary Fund, this is the world premiere performance of this version.
When I played it at home, I found that his singing was in tune with my piano, and I improvised a simple accompaniment. I noticed, too, that the first section of the song 13 bars in length formed an effective loop which repeated in a slightly unpredictable way. I took the tape loop to Leicester, where I was working in the Fine Art Department, and copied the loop onto a continuous reel of tape, thinking about perhaps adding an orchestrated accompaniment to this. The door of the recording room opened on to one of the large painting studios and I left the tape copying, with the door open, while I went to have a cup of coffee. When I came back, I found the normally lively room unnaturally subdued. People were moving about much more slowly than usual, and a few were sitting alone, quietly weeping.
Veronique Vaka Ofdune (b. 1986) for solo violin
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Illinois. Today he teaches composition, theory, and analysis at the Makerere University in Uganda.
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The piece was originally recorded on Brian Eno’s Obscure label in 1975 (reissued on GB Records in 2015 as BCGBCD22) and a substantially revised and extended version for Point Records in 1993.
There have been many versions since then, ranging from a 12 minute version for 4 players to full orchestra. A choral version was written for The Song Company in 2018 and a 12 hour overnight version with orchestra, my ensemble and homeless choir presented at Tate Modern London in 2019. A 25 minute live recording from Cafe Oto by my ensemble, including all four of my children, was released in 2019 (BCGBCD29).’ Gavin Bryars
I was puzzled until I realised that the tape was still playing and that they had been overcome by the old man’s singing. This convinced me of the emotional power of the music and of the possibilities offered by adding a simple, though gradually evolving, orchestral accompaniment that respected the tramp’s nobility and simple faith. Although he died before he could hear what I had done with his singing, the piece remains as an eloquent, but understated testimony to his spirit and optimism.
Full biographies are available on the website This event also features Guest performers from Festival Call for Participation and sound production and design by Seán Ó Dálaigh.
DARRAGH MORGAN Violin & DescribedDirectorbyThe
Strad Magazine as ‘hugely impressive, he plays with seemingly effortless control’ Irish violinist Darragh Morgan was born in Belfast. A renowned exponent of contemporary music, 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.
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ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
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,
Darragh was for several years violinist with the award winning Smith Quartet, praised by The Guardian as ‘Britain’s answer to the Kronos’. Highlights of his time with The Smiths included appearances with Rokia Traore at Peter Sellars New Crowned Hope Festival at The Barbican, Bang on a Can Marathon New York, two sold out concerts at Seoul Arts Centre, Maerz Musik Berlin, ten performances of the music of Morton Feldman with pianist John Tilbury at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (shortlisted for an RPS Award), Steve Reich 75th Birthday Concerts, Kevin Volans 60th Birthday at The Wigmore Hall and many acclaimed albums including the first ever complete recording of Philip Glass String Quartets for Signum Classics.
Darragh regularly leads London Sinfonietta including recently at The Esplanade Singapore and Venice Biennale. He has appeared as leader of Ensemble Modern at Lucerne Festival, Sciarrino’s ‘Macbeth’ at Festival d’automne Paris, Klangspuren Schwaz, Tongyeong International Music Festival and at the Alte Opera Frankfurt. He has also appeared with Musik Fabrik in the World Premiere of ‘La Passione’ by Louis Andriessen and ‘Shelter’ by Michael Gordon, Julia Wolfe, and David Lang. Darragh 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 has been invited to direct European Union Chamber Orchestra and 2004 2005 was Artistic Director of Baroque 2000, South Africa’s premiere period instrument ensemble.
Special composer associations have included being the dedicatee of Michael Finnissy’s Violin Sonata and the recording of his complete Violin and Piano repertoire for Metier, commissioning Kevin Volans Piano Trio No.3 ‘Le Tombeau des Regrets’ and recording his first piano trio for NMC, invitation to record Philip Glass Trios for his label Orange Mountain Music. World Premieres include Chris Newman violin concerto ‘Free Standards’, much music by Joe Cutler including his violin concerto ‘Macedonia’, Richard Causton‘s Seven States of Rain which he recorded for his NMC debut album ‘Opera’ alongside music by Joseph Phibbs, Gerald Barry’s chamber music recorded for Mode Records, Andrew Poppy’s Violin Concerto with Crash Ensemble, Steve Reich ‘Double Sextet’ Recording with Ekkozone which was awarded a Diapason D’or Award, Michael Nyman complete piano trios for MNR as well as works by Robert Fokkens, Judith Weir, Tansy Davies and Howard Skempton. He has recorded over 50 chamber
6 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.
www.unasmusic.com
UNA SVEINBJARNARDÓTTIR
www.darraghmorgan.com
UnaViolinSveinbjarnardóttir
CLAUDIO LAURETI BornViolaand raised in Rome, he graduated with honors from the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome in the classes of Margot Burton and Luca Sanzò, and pursued further training at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne with Diemut Poppen, at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz of Cologne with Alexander Zemtsov and at the Accademia Walter Stauffer of Cremona with Bruno Giuranna. A laureate of competitions such as the Anton Rubinstein International Competition (Düsseldorf) and Virtuoso & Belcanto (Lucca), he has
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.
7 music and solo albums for NMC, Resonus, Delphian, Signum, Diatribe, Metier, Da Capo, Centaur, Naxos, and Col Legno.
is the leader of the Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra and the 3rd. concertmaster of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. She has premiered many compositions Among her solo concertos with the ISO are Beethoven, Shostakovich nr. 1, Philip Glass nr. 1, Atli Heimir Sveinsson, Páll Ragnar Pálsson and Þuríður Jónsdóttir. Una has worked closely with Björk, Jóhann Jóhannsson and Atli Heimir Sveinsson. She has worked with Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Musikfabrik and Bedroom Community.
Una has written for film and theatre and her work includes Opacity (2014), Lullaby (2016), Gátt (2017), Missir and El Desnudo (2018). Her album Umleikis with her solo pieces for violin was out in 2014 and her new album LAST SONG is out on Sono Luminus on July 23rd , 2021. She is a founding member of Siggi String Quartet, and her work Opacity is featured on the quartet’s debut album South of the Circle, on Sono Luminus 2019. Siggi String Quartet was awarded the Icelandic Music Awards in 2019.
As soloist or chamber musician he has performed all across Europe, in venues such as the Gran Teatro la Fenice di Venezia, Kölner Philharmonie, Teatro Ponchielli di Cremona, Teatro alla Scala di Milano and Teatro Sociale di Como, with such artists as Ton Koopman, Giovanni Sollima, Bruno Giuranna, Karl Heinz Steffens, Andrej Bielow, Salvatore Accardo, Francesca Dego, Robert McDuffie, Franco Petracchi, Luc Marie Aguera (Ysaÿe Quartet), Alexander Zemtsov, Marko Ylönen, and Antonio Meneses. He is regular guests of institutions such as the Zermatt Festival, in collaboration with the Scharoun Ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic, Villa Musica Rheinland Pfalz, the Fiskars Summer Festival, OperaEstate Festival, Aurora Chamber Music, the Accademia dei Cameristi di Bari, Swiss Chamber Academy, New Generation Festival, Talich Beroun Festival and the Rome Chamber Music Festival. Some of his concerts have been recorded for broadcasters such as SWR and RaiRadio3. Since 2019 he is kindly supported by the Associazione Culturale Musica con le Ali, thanks to which he performs in several prestigious venues all across Italy, alongside some of the best musicians of the country. In 2020, as a result of this collaboration, he has published his first CD, recorded live at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice with Giovanni Sollima, Massimo Quarta and other young Italian talents. He is furthermore supported by the program NeuStart Kultur of the Deutscher Musikrat, and since 2018 he regularly takes part in the projects of the Lead! Foundation Finland. Since 2021 he is scholarship holder of the foundation Villa Musica Rheinland Pfalz.
www.claudiolaureti.it
He is currently Principal Viola of the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana and has cooperated with ensembles such as Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Kölner Kammerorchester, Finnish Chamber Orchestra and Mahler Chamber Orchestra, under the baton of, among others, Antonio Pappano, Esa Pekka Salonen, Vassily Sinaisky, Jorma Panula, Andrés Orozco Estrada, Klaus Mäkela, Jukka Pekka Saraste, Juraj Valcuha, Sakari Oramo and Leif Segerstam.
8 attended masterclasses with Nobuko Imai, Kim Kashkashian, Hartmuth Rohde, Lars Anders Tomter and Wilfried Strehle.
Many pieces have been written for her including those by Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Simon Holt and Howard Skempton. Her own septet Fractures received its
was born in Münster in 1972. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold with Gotthard Popp and Karine Georgian, then at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover with Klaus Heitz. He then attended Xenia Jankovic’s masterclass at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg, which he completed in 2002 with a Masters in Music. He completed his training in numerous masterclasses, including with Maria Kliegel, Arto Noras, David Geringas and Heinrich Schiff. As early as 1991 he was invited to play a work for solo cello by the Japanese composer Seiichi Inagaki at the Festival Aktive Musik Ruhrgebiet. Since then he has performed regularly as a soloist and chamber musician in German speaking countries, focusing on works from the 20th and 21st centuries. For example, he appeared at the Biennale Neue Musik Hannover or at the Bielefeld Concert Days, where the local press described him as a “gifted person of the first order”. He has been a permanent member of Ensemble Musikfabrik since 2001. With this high ranking and international ensemble, he is represented at all important festivals for new music worldwide.
MelindaOboe
Regular CD, radio and television recordings are just as much a part of this as collaboration with such important composers as Mauricio Kagel, Nicolaus A. Huber, Helmut Lachenmann, Hans Zender, Wolfgang Rihm, Péter Eötvös and Kaija Saariaho. In 2004, a critically acclaimed solo CD with works by Gubajdulina, Janáček and Grieg was released by TACET/EigenArt. Dirk Wietheger teaches around the world in master classes and workshops. From 2009 to 2011 he held a teaching position at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold. He plays a Testore cello from Milan, early 18th century.
MELINDA MAXWELL
DirkVioloncelloWietheger
9 DIRK WIETHEGER
Maxwell has performed worldwide as soloist in Europe, Japan, Africa, the USA and nationally in the UK. She is also a recitalist, chamber musician, composer, improviser and teacher. She is Principal Oboist of the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and has played as guest principal and sub principal with the London Sinfonietta for over thirty years.
Part of her PhD studies involves opening the idea of oboe character and how this can influence a musical language. So far, she has learnt the Nadaswaram, an Indian oboe, and has begun research into the ancient Greek aulos.
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premiere in a performance by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group in 2016 conducted by the late Oliver Knussen. She has recorded frequently for the BBC and her own recordings have been critically acclaimed and voted CD of the month in the BBC Music magazine and the Guardian. Her most recent CD Blue Bamboo: jazz and other improvisations was released in 2016 by Oboe Classics.
As a teacher she has taught at the RAM, Trinity College of Music, and the RNCM (Head of Woodwind and Consultant in Woodwind Studies). She is the Oboe Tutor at the NYO and coaches at the Britten Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies in Snape, Suffolk. In 2013 she gained an MMus in Jazz Performance at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and in 2016 began a PhD in Improvisation, Performance and Composition.
www.melindamaxwell.co.uk
11 JOIN US AT OUR UPCOMING EVENTS SATURDAY, 20 AUGUST 2022 Family Concert at the Lighthouse Concert 11.00am | Lighthouse, Cromwell Point Musical Map Live Events Experience From 2.00pm | All across Valentia Island World Tour: Dittersdorf to Price Concert 7.00pm | Glanleam House SUNDAY, 21 AUGUST 2022 QUARTET with Chamber Choir Ireland Two Piano Finale: Symphonic Dances with Simon Callaghan & Mary Dullea 1.00pm | Church of St. Dorarca and St. Teresa, Chapeltown 8.00pm | Church of the Immaculate Conception, Knightstown JOIN US To find out more about our 2022 events, please visit chambermusiconvalentia.com/our-2022-festival or call +353 (83) 096 5977 SAVE THE DATE We also look forward to welcoming you to our 2023 festival, so why not pop the date in your diary now? Join us Thursday 17th to Sunday 20th August 2023.
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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 , M o v i n g o n M u s i c , T h e L i g h t h o u s e P r o j e c t , 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 FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS F R I E N D S O F T H E F E S T I V A L r o f e s s o r É a m a n n a n d M r s M a r y B r e a t h n a c h M a r g a r e t a n d D e n i s D u l l e a 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 B r e n d a a n d D a v i d W i l k e s B A C H F R I E N D S R o s e a n d P i e r r e M i r j o l e t C H A M B E R M U S I C O N V A L E N T I A . C O
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