Musici Ireland Summer Lunchtime Concert Series

5X5 MUSICI IRELAND

SUMMER LUNCHTIME CONCERT SERIES Five concerts, celebrating five years of Musici Ireland, featuring a popular programme of chamber music favourites

Thursdays 3 | 10 | 17 | 24 | 31 August 2017, 1pm John Field Room nch.ie

Conor Sheil

Beth McNinch

5x5: Franz with Friends Thursday 3 August 2017, 1pm

Siún Milne and Siobhán Doyle violin Beth McNinch viola Christopher Ellis cello Sarah Halpin Bass Conor Sheil clarinet Hilary Sheil bassoon Bethan Watkeys horn Schubert Octet in F major, D. 803 Adagio Allegro Adagio

Allegro Vivace Andante

Menuetto & Trio Allegretto

Andante Molto Allegro Musici Ireland are fast gaining a reputation as one of the leading chamber ensembles performing in Ireland today. Described as ’stunning’ and ‘uplifting’ the ensemble perform Schubert’s monumental Octet in F Major, D. 803 for the first of their five August Summer Lunchtime Series concerts entitled 5x5 at the NCH. Tickets: €15 (Concessions €10) 5x5 Concert Package Price €60 (Concessions €40) 10% discount for Friends of the NCH

Ríona Ó Duinnín

Dianne Marshall

5x5: An Impressionistic Uprising Thursday 10 August 2017, 1pm

Ríona Ó Duinnín flute Dianne Marshall harp Beth McNinch viola Arnold Bax Elegiac Trio Anonymous The Coolin Debussy Sonata for flute, harp and viola

Pastorale, Lento dolce rubato

Interlude. Tempo di minuetto

Finale. Allegro moderator ma risluto Debussy Clair de Lune for solo harp Ravel Sonatine Modéré

Mouvement de menuet Animé The second concert in the series features a mix of Irish inspired works such as the anonymously composed The Coolin and Elegiac Trio by Bax, a British composer who embraced Irish politics, literature, language and poetry particularly that of William Butler Yeats. His Elegiac is said to memorialize the Easter Rebellion in Ireland. The programme also includes Debussy’s Claire de Lune, his third and most popular movement of Suite Bergamasque and his Sonata for flute, harp and viola, a work which displays impressionistic elements apparent in the unusual instrumental, exotic harmonies and melodic fragments. Ravel’s Sonatine, one of two solo piano works, emphasizes his desire to revive the elegance and structural clarity of the late 18th century French music. This is in contrast to the sensuality and pictorial impressionism of the Debussy.

Tickets: €15 (Concessions €10) 5x5 Concert Package Price €60 (Concessions €40) 10% discount for Friends of the NCH

Emmet Byrne

Siún Milne

5x5: Phantasies and Filigrees Thursday 17 August 2017, 1pm Emmet Byrne oboe Siún Milne violin Beth McNinch viola Ailbhe McDonagh cello Bach Oboe Quartet in B flat major Allegro Rondeau, Grazioso Boccherini String Trio Op. 14, No. 4 Allegro Giusto Andantino Allegro Assai Britten Phantasy Quartet for Oboe and String Trio Op. 2 John Lynch (arr.) Slán le Maighe Mozart Oboe Quartet in F Major K. 370 Allegro Adagio Rondo: Allegro This concert features a beautiful selection of chamber music featuring the oboe; from the intricate works of Bach and Mozart to the beautiful Phantasy Quartet

by Benjamin Britten. The concert also offers a string trio favourite by Boccherini, published in 1772. A prolific composer and string player, Boccherini wrote over 70 string trios, the majority of which were for two violins and cello. However the trio we hear today is for violin, viola and cello in what has become the standard combination for string trios.

Tickets: €15 (Concessions €10) 5x5 Concert Package Price €60 (Concessions €40) 10% discount for Friends of the NCH

Lance Coburn

Sharon Carty

5x5: Sublime Songstress Thursday 24 August 2017, 1pm

Sharon Carty mezzo-soprano Lance Coburn piano Beth McNinch viola Brahms Two Songs Op. 91

Gestillte Sehnsucht (longing)

Geistliches Wiegenlied (Lullaby for the Christ Child) Frank Bridge Three Songs

Far, far from each other

Where is it that our soul doth go?

Music when soft voices die Charles Martin Loeffler Four Poems for voice, viola and piano Op. 5

La Cloche fêlée – lento

Dansons la gigue! – Allegro non troppo

Le son du cor s’afflige vers les bois – adagio

Sérénade Poco – Allegro This concert showcases the ensemble’s diversity and features the voice of Irish mezzo-soprano Sharon Carty. The opening two songs by Brahms were composed for violinist Joseph Joachim and his wife Adele who were in the throes of divorce; the pieces were written in the hopes of brokering a peace between them. Frank Bridge, a British violist and composer whose reputation rested on his role as a teacher of young composers, among them Benjamin Britten, composed his Three Songs based on melancholy texts by different poets. They will be followed by Four Poems for voice, viola and piano by Charles Martin Loeffler, a German born violinist and composer who was a pupil of Joachim. Loeffler had moved around Europe and Russia before settling in the USA to become a violinist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a renowned composer.

Tickets: €15 (Concessions €10) 5x5 Concert Package Price €60 (Concessions €40) 10% discount for Friends of the NCH

Mia Cooper

Andreea Banciu

5x5: Romancing the Strings Thursday 31 August 2017, 1pm

Mia Cooper and Siobhán Doyle violin Beth McNinch and Andreea Banciu viola William Butt and Gráinne Hope cello Strauss Brahms

String Sextet from Capriccio Op. 85 String Sextet No. 1, Op. 1 Allegro ma non troppo Andante, ma moderato Scherzo: Allegro Molto Rondo: Poco Allegretto e grazioso

In this final concert, we hear two of the most joyful string chamber pieces. Strauss’ String Sextet, from his opera Capriccio, was written as an operatic prelude rather than the more usual operatic vocal sextet. This beautifully structured and ardent piece is now a chamber music favourite in it’s own right.

The appeal to Brahms of a string sextet was based, one supposes, on the possibilities presented by the deep sonority of its two cellos and two violas playing off the soprano brilliance of two violins. As we know from his orchestral music, Brahms revelled in the gutsy strength and soulful expressiveness of the lower instruments. So it’s no surprise that his first sextet begins with a cello tenderly singing the main theme. www.musici.ie Tickets: €15 (Concessions €10) 5x5 Concert Package Price €60 (Concessions €40) 10% discount for Friends of the NCH

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