The Music of Friends - Afternoon - Concert Programme

The Music of Friends Sunday, November 28th, 2021 at 3.00 pm Chapel Royal, Dublin Castle

The Music of Friends – Afternoon Concert

The Music of Friends Presented by the Dublin International Chamber Music Festival in partnership with the Office of Public Works Albert Einstein said of music that "It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and charm and gaiety to life."

In our first live concert in two years, and also the first public concert under our new name, the Dublin International Chamber Music Festival, we hope to bring some of these qualities to everyone here in the beautiful Chapel Royal of Dublin Castle.

Our concerts today have a particular theme and relevance to our lives in the pandemic: our artists invite you to share with them a piece of music with personal significance to them during these challenging times.

In addition, in recognition of, and to honour the work and sacrifices of key workers this afternoon’s concert will include a selection of musical works that have been nominated by frontline workers themselves.

These concerts serve to deliver a taste of our plans for next year when this theme will be carried through and members of the public, via our social media channels, will be invited to suggest music which gave them comfort, solace or which, indeed, uplifted them during lockdown.

Similarly, further frontline workers will be asked to choose special works with a personal meaning for them, demonstrating the power of connections with music.

With all that is in store for 2022's Festival, we invite you in the meantime to just sit back and enjoy our first live concert of this most challenging year and let the music charm your souls.

The Dublin International Chamber Music Festival (Great Music in Irish Houses) is funded by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and is supported by the Office of Public Works.

The Music of Friends – Afternoon Concert

Fionnuala Moynihan Ludovico Einaudi: WA Mozart:

Experience Adagio in B Minor, K540

"There are some pieces in this world that speak to the soul and seem to voice what is going on in your heart. Mozart's Adagio in B minor is one of those that has always spoken to me, both as a performer and a listener. During lockdown, I loved playing it at home. It seemed to express my Covid thoughts, from worry to happiness, from sadness to hope. Mozart is the master of articulating emotions in both simplistic and virtuosic ways. I hope you enjoy with me the sheer beauty, delicacy, honesty and sincerity of this delightfully sensitive work."

Einaudi’s Experience is the nominated piece of Liliana Walsh, ICU Nurse, Mater Hospital.

Fionnuala Moynihan is widely acknowledged as one of Ireland’s leading pianists. She has a particular affinity with the works of baroque, classical and early romantic composers. In 2010 Fionnuala performed the Complete Piano Sonatas of Mozart in the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, in a series of five recitals. She is the only pianist to have undertaken the formidable challenge of performing this cycle in its entirety in Ireland. Since then, Fionnuala has performed six complete piano sonata series performing the complete cycles by Mozart, Haydn, Clementi and Schubert.

Fionnuala has given solo recitals and concerto performances throughout the UK, France, Holland, Italy, Israel, USA, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Russia, Poland, Japan, Holland and Hungary, as well as extensively and regularly in Ireland. Fionnuala is also an active chamber musician and has performed with such celebrated artists as sopranos Daniele De Niese and Deirdre Moynihan, the Contempo Quartet, violinist Mia Cooper, tenor Gavan Ring, cellist Ailbhe McDonagh and flautist Kieran Moynihan.

In 2009 Dr Fionnuala Moynihan became the first person to be awarded a Doctorate in Music Performance from the Royal Irish Academy of Music and Dublin City University.

Veronica McSwiney Claude Debussy: Frédéric Chopin:

Clair de lune Nocturne in E Flat Major Op 9 No 2

“Last year I celebrated my 80th birthday but of course during the pandemic I had to miss out on all celebrations. As a small child I was infatuated with the moon and had many a conversation with the Man up there. Many times when I had a worry or concern I always got a strange feeling of peace and wonderment from the night sky. During this awful time we have had with Covid, I often took refuge in my music room, looking out at the moon and stars, and this piece by Debussy gives me that feeling of peace, contentment and indeed gratitude for the wonderful life I have had. Yes! at times I was angry at the injustice of it all, and like most people, I was inspired by our incredible frontline workers who worked so hard, tirelessly and unselfishly to keep us all safe. Debussy had this extraordinary gift of creating an atmosphere in all of his works. This beautiful Clair de lune portrays my appreciation of all the wonderful things this world has to offer and gives me that feeling of calm and confidence that things will come good in the end.”

Chopin’s Nocturne Op 9 No 2 is the choice of Sandra Vedres, Advanced Paramedic

The Music of Friends – Afternoon Concert

Veronica McSwiney has performed worldwide for the past six decades. Her performing career began in Dublin and her London début at the prestigious Wigmore Hall set her on an international path. A regular recitalist on RTÉ and BBC, she performed numerous concertos with the then RTÉSO and most of the British Orchestras. She was the first Irish pianist to be invited to play in the Soviet Union in 1975, and was regularly invited back. She played throughout the United States on a number of occasions.

She is always a very enthusiastic chamber musician and in more recent years has performed with her violinist daughter, Aisling O’Dea, in sonata recitals at the National Concert Hall. She was also the Music Director of the original Irish National Opera for 15 years and toured throughout the country with them, performing entire operatic scores on piano. She is frequently invited as a jury member in piano competitions and is a regular adjudicator at music festivals. She now resides in County Wicklow and is devoted to her garden and her animals.

Máire Carroll Paul Harvey: Philip Glass:

Four Notes - Paul’s Tune Piano Étude No 6

“Philip Glass completed his set of 20 piano Études in 2012 and the pieces were composed over a period of 20 years. These piano pieces became a central part of my lockdown experience as l embarked on learning the full set of études during the pandemic, performing half of the collection as part of my Doctorate performance exams in early 2021. These piano études provide insights into the sound world and mind of Glass. What originally had begun as a personal goal, later transformed into a larger project with the aim to record and perform the entire 20 piano Études in late 2022.”

Paul Harvey’s “Four Notes” is the musical choice of Jackie Kay, Activities Co-Ordinator, Care Choice Trim.

Máire Carroll is a concert pianist who has performed throughout Europe, Asia, United States and Canada, including performances at Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, National Opera House in Tallinn, the Barbican, Royal Over-Seas League, St John’s Smith Square and the National Concert Hall, Dublin.

Máire is the Artistic Director of Hidden Pianos. This series was created in 2018 with the goal of bringing classical and contemporary music to intimate and unexpected spaces. Máire regularly collaborates with composers at home and abroad and often performs with Crash Ensemble. In early 2021, Máire was awarded a Bank of Ireland, Begin Together Arts Fund Award, for her upcoming recording project SUDDEN CHANGES in partnership with the Contemporary Music Centre. SUDDEN CHANGES features the work of composers Amanda Feery, Nick Roth, Sam Perkin, Anna Murray and David Coonan. Máire graduated from her MMus degree with distinction at the Royal Academy of Music, London, where she studied on scholarship with Christopher Elton.

Thérèse Fahy Sergei Rachmaninov: Claude Debussy:

Prelude in B Minor Op 32 No 10 Reflets dans l’eau from Images Book I

“Reflets dans l’eau from Images, Book I is probably my favourite piece of piano music written by the great French composer, Claude Debussy. It evokes water in all of its many forms: from tiny raindrops to waterfall cascades to the might of the ocean. The play on the word ‘reflets’ in these painful pandemic times, is reflectively calm, perhaps mirroring the water lilies of painter, Claude Monet.”

Rachmaninov’s Prelude Op 32 No 10 is the nominated piece of Dr Mark Glynn, Paediatric Senior House Officer at Galway University Hospital.

The Music of Friends – Afternoon Concert

Thérèse Fahy, enjoys an active performing and teaching career at home and abroad. Her recital and concerto appearances throughout Europe and the United States have met with critical acclaim.

Recent engagements have included solo recitals, lecture-recitals and masterclasses in France, UK, Italy, Poland, Spain, Portugal, USA, the Czech Republic, Holland, Israel, Ethiopia and Ireland, as well as serving on international juries including Dublin International Piano Competition, the Manchester International Concerto Competition, the Baltic International Piano Competition and the Scriabin International Piano Competition, Italy.

As an acknowledged specialist in French repertoire, Thérèse Fahy has performed and internationally toured Debussy’s complete works for solo piano, and her performances of the solo works of Messiaen have been described by The Irish Times as a “tour de force”. In 2018, as well as bringing her Debussy Festival to Dublin and Paris, Thérèse was honoured to perform a solo recital at Debussy’s birthplace on March 25th, the exact centenary date of the composer’s death. In November 2019, the French Government bestowed on Thérèse Fahy the award of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.

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Conor Linehan JS Bach/Myra Hess: Ross Parker & Hughie Charles:

Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147: Choral: Jesu bleibet meine Freude (Jesu, joy of man's desiring) We’ll Meet Again

“Today I will play Myra Hess's arrangement of Bach's Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring. I recorded this at home in tribute to a friend's mother, who was an early victim of Covid. Despite its familiarity, this music still evokes, for me, great feelings of hope and consolation. Recording music at home, and sharing it with friends online, was of great sustenance to me during the first period of Covid.”

“We’ll Meet Again”, synonymous with the voice of Dame Vera Lynn, is the musical nomination of cellist Gerald Peregrine, who has masterminded hundreds of performances in care home settings over the past 20 months.

Conor Linehan is a composer, pianist and teacher based in Dublin. After studies at Trinity College Dublin and the Royal Irish Academy of Music (where he studied piano with Thérèse Fahy) he continued to study piano in London with the world-renowned piano teacher Peter Feuchtwanger. On his return to Dublin in 1997 Conor began teaching at the DIT Conservatory of Music. He was subsequently appointed to the Keyboard Faculty of the RIAM where he continues to teach.

Conor is best known as a composer of theatre music. He has written scores for the Abbey Theatre (over 20 productions), Druid Theatre (including the iconic DruidShakespeare cycle), The Gate, Lyric Theatre Belfast, The Corn Exchange (including Dublin by Lamplight), Coiscéim Dance Theatre, and leading theatres in Ireland and throughout the United Kingdom. Conor recently composed The Patient Woman, a short opera, for Irish National Opera’s 20 Shots of Opera and also completed a commission for four cellos for Music Network’s Cello Quartet tour of Ireland.

As a pianist Conor has been soloist with the RTÉ NSO, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and the Dublin Philharmonic, performing concertos by Beethoven and Shostakovich on their 2009 tour of the United States. Other work includes playing with Crash Ensemble, The John Lynch Chamber Music Project and chamber music with partners including Oonagh Keogh (a regular collaborator), Kenneth Edge, Michael d’Arcy, and the RTÉ NSO principal string players.