Take a bow

IT'S often said that the health of an orchestra can be gauged by the chamber ensembles it spawns. If that's the case, the early emergence of the Hibernia String Trio was a good omen for the Irish Chamber Orchestra. The ICO was newly reconstituted with Limerick as its base early in 1995; the trio was, if not quite up and running, certainly up and rehearsing before the end of the year.

The members are Irish (the violinist Brona Cahill), English (cellist Richard Jenkinson) and German (viola player Joachim Roewer). Joachim says he was attracted to Ireland by the prospect of being in on the establishment of a completely new orchestra - not an everyday occurrence in any part of the world.

Brona and Richard had played in a piano trio as students at the Guildhall in London. They didn't encounter Joachim until all three were playing with the ICO. At the beginning, says Brona, "we weren't expecting anything."

"We spent a lot of time playing - up to eight hours a day - and discovering how we got on. Food and wine were very important, as well, and the chat. And it just escalated from there."

Joachim says the variety of backgrounds has added to the challenge and interest of working together and has ultimately been a cementing force. This is not to say that there are no arguments. But "we're very compromising people", says Brona, laughing. "There's always a solution to be found."

The group has been around the country (they're working as part of the Music Network's Musicwide scheme), as well as at the RDS and the Hugh Lane Gallery (where they played Schoenberg's late, great Trio). Next Friday they play for the first time as part of the AIB Music Festival in Great Irish Houses, joining pianist Hugh Tinney at the National Gallery in piano quartets by Mozart and Schumann; this programme also includes some solo piano music, Schubert's Three Pieces, D946.

At the end of the month, their first CD will appear in unusual circumstances. They're playing at the opening of the new Dun Laoghaire Town Hall, and the CD (including a new jazz oriented work by Ronan Guilfoyle featuring clarinettist Brendan Doyle), which was commissioned for the occasion, will be distributed free to the invited audience on the night.

An advance copy of the disc has attracted the interest of a New York agent, who is making attractive noises about a tour and a recording contract. Before any of that materialises you can catch also catch them in Castletownbere tonight, and next month at the Irish Chamber Orchestra's festival in Killaloe.