A sonorous string sound

ursday, March 16 at 8pm at the Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle, Kilkenny will bring the sonorous delights of a string trio comprised of superb musicians. Led by Grammy-nominated violist Maxim Rysanov and performing together for the very rst time, the trio also features magni cent violinist Nikita Boriso-Glebsky and one of the rising stars of the classical music world, cellist Dóra Kokas.

e programme will showcase the elegance and exuberance of Mozart’s only string trio, Beethoven’s glorious Trio in G major and a thought-provoking work by Bulgarian composer Dobrinka Tabakova which aims to highlight the extraordinary unity of sound created by a string trio. A new Music Network commission by award-winning Irish composer Ed Bennett completes the programme.

Grammy nominated Ukrainian-British violist and conductor Maxim Rysanov has established himself as one of the world s most vibrant and charismatic musicians. As a violist, he is principally known as a frequent guest of the crème of the international music scene. In parallel with playing viola, Maxim enjoys a thriving career as a conductor, often combining conducting and directing as a soloist in the same concert. of Hungary’s leading ensembles, Dóra has performed with the quartet in Australia, USA, India and throughout Europe.

Having been awarded the silver medal and ve special prizes in the XIII International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2007 and subsequently winning the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in Helsinki in 2010, Nikita Boriso-Glebsky’s international career has reached remarkable heights and continues to go from strength to strength.

Nikita plays a violin created by the Austrian master Martin Schwalb in 2020 on the model of the Guarneri del Gesù ‘Ole Bull’ violin from 1744.

Maxim Rysanov: Grammy nominated violist from Ukraine

LGBTQ+ community.

“Our research with LGBTQ+ youth highlights the urgent need for social media platforms to be consistent and e ective in implementing their community guidelines to prevent the spreading of homophobic, biphobic and transphobic content online.” ese gures come two weeks after the publication of a report that revealed that Europe saw the “deadliest rise in anti-LGBTI+ violence in over a decade” last year.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has personally backed primary school students being offered education about what it means to be transgender but stressed that he believes a clear parental opt-out should also be o ered.

Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman has already signalled that he believes transgender education should be part of the primary cycle to promote a greater understanding of the diversity in modern Irish society.

Renters fear as in ation sticks

As the Government moves to end of ban on rent eviction, a new survey shows that ongoing in ation and prices staying up is having a dramatic e ect on Ireland’s property market with nearly two-thirds of renters say rising costs have a ected their ability to purchase property. A total of 55% of prospective homebuyers also point to rising costs as a stumbling block to nding a property.

Special report Page 22

Increased calls for menstrual leave

ere are calls on the island of Ireland to do the decent thing there and follow Spain which last month became the rst European country to allow women have paid menstrual leave of three to ve days a month.

Periods and other aspects of women’s reproductive lives only came out of the closet recently, writes our columnist Marianne Heron.

Comment Page 12

Call for women to stand for election

MEP for Kilkenny Grace

O’Sullivan has called on the women of Ireland to consider putting their “hands up” and taking a step forward to represent their local communities in the upcoming local, European and general elections.

Exclusive Page 10 estab-

Finally, born in Hungary in 1992, Dóra Kokas has quickly estab lished herself as one of the leading cellists of her generation. She has received multiple awards at notable international competitions.

Nikita

BorisGlebsky: multiaward winning violinist from Russia

A founding mem ber of the Kelemen Quartet (2010-2015), one

Inside

Paul Hopkins ........................................P8

Marianne Heron..............................P12

Clair Whitty.........................................P12

Science & Wellbeing .....................P18

Travel & Leisure................................P19

Gerry Moran......................................P20

Special Report..................................P22

Gerry Cody .............................. P34 & 35

Sport........................................... P52 & 53