Stirring the waters of the Barrow

A novel way of curing the organisers’ homesickness, the the Barrow River Arts Festival is also a strong event now in its second year

YOU COULD sum up the Barrow River Arts Festival in three words – it’s payback time. Swiss baroque violinist Maya Homburger and her multi-tasking English partner Barry Guy (genre-crossing composer, double bassist and improviser) moved to Co Kilkenny in the 1990s and built their dream house there. But they faced what were then age-old issues of managing international careers from remote Irish locations. Telephone and internet service was problematic, and with the M9 motorway still in the future, the vagaries of getting to the airport on time also wore them down.

But they seem to have left part of themselves in Ireland. Homburger founded the period instruments ensemble Camerata Kilkenny with Kilkenny-based harpsichordist Malcolm Proud in 1999. And last year Homburger and Guy started the Barrow River Arts Festival, which runs again this weekend in Graignamanagh, Co Kilkenny, and Borris, Co Carlow.

“It was a way of saying thank you for all the wonderful – I would even say the best – years,” says Homburger. “We lived in Ireland for nearly 10 years, and we met so many wonderful artists, not least Malcolm Proud, but also poets and painters and writers and other musicians. The longer we have been away from Ireland, the more homesick we got.

“What we missed most about our house, after we had to sell it to be closer to the middle of Europe again, is that we had done lovely house concerts there, and even a Beckett play, Molloy with Conor Lovett. We miss having a place big enough to do things like that. So when the ballroom in Borris House was going to be refurbished, we realised it would be an amazing place to stage a festival. Also the chapel there works well, and as you know from last year it was a lovely mix of these two venues.”

This year, says Homburger, is “much more ambitious, and also a bit frightening, because we’ve gone for the first concert in Duiske Abbey, with the idea that we attract a larger audience. With the Labèque sisters we have this hope to stage something which then creates more interest in the rest of the festival.”

Not the least of the challenges will be that of keeping a historic church, not renowned for its creature comforts, at a temperature suitable for a pair of exacting performers, who not only have specifications about the serial numbers of the pianos they will play on (to ensure the instruments aren’t too old) but also like their venues to be toasty rather than cool.

The festival’s basic format hasn’t changed. It takes place over three days and has a maximum of three events a day. It covers music ancient and new, from the 16th century to contemporary German composer Bernd Franke, features improvisations by saxophonist Evan Parker and the Aurora Trio (with Barry Guy on bass with Agustí Fernández, piano, and Ramón López, percussion), and has a Bach and Biber programme from the German vocal ensemble Calmus and Camerata Kilkenny. The Labèques are offering Debussy, Stravinsky, Bernstein and Gershwin.

There's also painting (an exhibition celebrating the 90th birthday of English abstract expressionist Albert Irvin), and words (story telling by Eddie Lenihan and a show on Women in Joyce and Beckettfrom Marcella Riordan).

The aim is to keep things intimate. In their travels, Homburger and Guy have been to festivals which they feel are simply too busy, even though the programmes include things they adore. “Some of the festivals we’ve been to,” says Guy, “particularly jazz festivals, often have almost simultaneous events. There is this rather alarming moment when half the audience gets up and runs to another venue just as you’re getting to the last part of a concert. It can be very disturbing.”

There aren’t many duos featuring just baroque violin and double bass, certainly not with a double bassist who also writes material for performance. “It’s wonderful from my perspective to have the opportunity to write for the baroque violin, and it’s great to have Maya in the same building, so we can talk about things and refine them,” says Guy. “It’s a very, very exciting way of preparing music.”

The Barrow River Arts Festival is at Duiske Abbey, Graignamanagh (tonight), and Borris House (tomorrow and Sunday); barrowriverartsfestival.com, 059-9172400