MICHAEL DERVANtakes note of the best classical music on offer in the months ahead
THE KBC Music in Great Irish Houses Festival (June 7th-13th, 01-6642822) has stolen a march on its rivals by securing the Irish debut of the hugely-talented, much-touted Ebène String Quartet from France. They’re joined in a programme of Beethoven, Ravel and Dvorak by pianist Philippe Cassard for concerts at the National Gallery (Wednesday June 10th) and Fota House in Co Cork (Thursday 11th).
The festival also includes a second piano and string quartet line-up: John O’Conor with the Navarra Quartet (at Killruddery House, Co Wicklow, on Tuesday 9th). No less than three cellists feature in separate recitals: Daniel Müller-Schott at Emo Court, Co Laois (Sunday 7th); Natalie Clein at Beaulieu House, Co Louth (with guitarist Xuefei Yang on Friday 12th); and Valentin Erben at Castletown House, Celbridge (with the Belcea Quartet on Saturday 13th, when the programme includes Schubert’s sublime String Quintet in C). The all-Irish team of Tara Erraught (mezzo soprano), John Finucane (clarinet) and Hugh Tinney (piano) feature in an evening of Schubert, Brahms and Spohr at Killruddery House (Monday 8th).
Recession or no, the programme for the West Cork Chamber Music Festival(June 27th-July 5th, 1850-788789) seems as full as ever. Norway's all-female Trio Mediaeval appear in three concerts, performing folk-songs and in collaborations with trumpet and percussion. There's solo Bach from French cellist Anne Gastinel and Russian violinist Alina Ibragimova, and a strand that will include Mozart's wind serenades.
Visiting composers include Lera Auerbach and Giya Kancheli (Auerbach features as a pianist, too), and there's a new work from John Kinsella, On Hearing Purcell and Shostakovich at Bantry House, clearly paying back for previous experiences at the festival. Other guests include Dutch soprano Lenneke Ruiten, the Callino and Danel Quartets, pianists Finghin Collins, Alexander Melnikov, Ian Fountain and Jeremy Menuhin; violinists Hagai Shaham and Marlene Hemmer; and the Storioni Trio. Works by the winners of the 2009 Young Composers' Awards – Hugh Martin Boyle, Amanda Feery and Bartholomew Callinan – will also feature in a programme that runs to over 30 events.
The Irish Chamber Orchestra's July festival has a new name. It's dropped Shannon from its title and is now the MBNA Limerick International Music Festival(July 8th-12th, 1890-923543). It has also abandoned the University Concert Hall in favour of a new venue, the city's Franciscan Church, which will share the concerts with St Mary's Cathedral.
The ICO’s artistic director, Anthony Marwood, features heavily. He’s the soloist in the opening concert (in which he also directs works by Corelli, Boccherini, Vivaldi, Edison Denisov and Bach); two days later he performs the same dual role in a programme of Rossini, Mozart, Vivaldi, Elaine Agnew and Haydn. In the closing concert, which includes a performance of Haydn’s Harmoniemesse with the National Chamber Choir under Paul Hillier, he is the pre-interval attraction with an early Violin Concerto by Kurt Weill.
The programme also includes a concert by violinist Jennifer Pike (Thursday 9th), a choral programme from the Seoda Chamber Choir (Friday 10th), and Viennese Opera Classics with singers Mary Nelson, Carolyn Dobbin, Robin Tritschler, and Owen Gilhooly (Saturday 11th).
The big coup for Kilkenny Arts Festival(August 7th-16th) is to have secured the Irish debut of one of France's leading periodinstruments ensembles, Le Concert Spirituel.
The group's festival appearance under its director Hervé Niquet is on Saturday 8th, and the programme includes a host of unfamiliar composers: Henry Fremart, Pierre Hugard, Louis Le Prince, Sébastien de Brossard, and Pierre Bouteiller. The familiar presence is Marc-Antoine Charpentier, whose De Profundis will open a programme titled Splendour of the Cathedrals under Louis XIV, the Sun King.
The opening concert is by Serbian pianist Aleksandar Madzar, who has made a very favourable impression on previous visits to Ireland. Also returning, but playing here together for the first time, are violinist Priya Mitchell and pianist Polina Leschenko, whose unusual programme celebrates the Mendelssohn bicentenary with his rarely-heard Sonata in F, and juxtaposes it with the 1997 Sonata by Fazil Say, a man who’s a lot better known as a pianist than as a composer.
The Irish Baroque Orchestra under Monica Huggett celebrate Haydn (the symphony nicknamed La Passioneand the C major Cello Concerto with Sarah McMahon) and throw in one of Mozart's most delicious symphonies, No 29 in A, for good measure. Also being planned, but not finally confirmed at this stage, is a performance of Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers.
