Under the vaulted ceiling of the Atrium in the National Gallery of Ireland, thoughts can turn philosophical. Four string-players tune up for a short recital and John Ruddock, the man responsible for bringing to Ireland the Berlin-based musicians, the Vogler Quartet, stands listening.
His favourite piece of chamber music? The fourth movement of The Schubert Quintet in C Major. "That's what I'd like to have played at my funeral. It's a very deep, very emotional piece, it's the most heavenly piece of music . . . But I hope to last a bit longer," he says, pointing out that he's in the bloom of health. His wife, Doreen, standing nearby, will be glad to hear it.
Half the denizens of Sligo town have come up to Dublin to witness the launch of the ESB Vogler Spring Festival, which will take place in St Columba's Church, Drumcliffe in Co Sligo over the May Bank holiday.
Members of the Con Brio Sligo Music Association are out in force, including its founder, Luisa MacConville, an Italian from the Pergolesi family, who has been living in Sligo for 30 years. She's come along with a host of Con Brioites including the Dutch-born Hennie Bruggeman, Mayor Rosaleen O'Grady, the folk singer Barbara McLynn, and Mai Neary, Helen Kerrin and John Flynn, a retired agricultural officer, who is, they say, "having wonderful time" as the only man in the group.
Donnacha Dennehy, a young Dublin composer, stands back listening also, delighted that his newly-composed and specially-commissioned piece of chamber music, Counting, is ready for its premiere at the festival. "It's almost like a Beckett piece," he says. It will be heard for the first time on Sunday, April 30th, in Drumcliffe.