Birthday concert for acclaimed Contempo

Arts Week with Judy Murphy

Galway’s ConTempo Quartet will be joined by Emma Johnson on clarinet and Hugh Tinney on piano next Thursday, November 26, at the Aula Maxima, NUIG, for a special concert to mark the quartet’s 20th anniversary.

The concert, which will start at 8pm and will feature music by Janacek, Mozart and Schumann, is being hosted by Music for Galway and The Galway Music Residency to celebrate ConTempo which was set up in Romania two decades ago.

The four members – Bogdan Sofei, Ingrid Nicola, Andreea Banciu and Adrian Mantu – first met as students at the conservatoire of Bucharest and decided to join forces as a quartet to take part in a competition. They won, signalling the start of a working and personal bond that has stood the test of time.

ConTempo quickly become recognised as one of the world’s top string quartets, winning a record of 14 international prizes and performing more than 1,000 concerts all over the world. Almost 13 years ago, the four came to Galway to fill a newly-created ensemble-in-residence and they have enriched the cultural life of the city and county since then.

They are renowned for their performances, but their contribution is much greater than that. Through their work with schools and communities, they have helped to give an appreciation of classical music to young and old. They have also nurtured the talents of emerging musicians, partly through a young residency scheme. In 2014 ConTempo was also appointed RTÉ’s Quartet in Residence.

British clarinettist Emma Johnson and Irish pianist Hugh Tinney are regular collaborators of ConTempo and friends with the four and will perform Mozart and Schumann with them to mark the 20th anniversary..

Emma Johnson has busy solo career, which is a rare feat for a clarinettist. Her recent recording of sonatas by Brahms and Mendelssohn with John Lenehan was described by the Observer newspaper as ‘definitive . . . triumphant . . .a landmark disc’. It follows on from her classical chart-topping successes Voyage and The Mozart Album on the Universal label.

Hugh Tinney is one of Ireland’s most renowned pianists at international level and has also made a major contribution to classical performances here at home for over 30 years.

Next Thursday’s concert will open with Janacek’s String Quartet No 2, ‘Intimate Letters’. The composer gave it this nickname, referring to the long friendship he had with a woman almost four decades younger than himself, a friendship that produced an exchange of over 700 letters. ConTempo has a special affinity with this work, partly because of its Eastern European origin.

They will be joined by Emma Johnson for Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A K. 581 and by Hugh Tinney for Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E flat major Op. 44.

Tickets for Thursday night’s birthday concert are €20 / €16 concessions and MFG Friends, and €6 for full-time students. Booking at MFG 091 705962 / Opus 2, High Street / www.musicforgalway.ie