Entertainment
Finghin embraces diversity in Music for Galway role
Arts Week with Judy Murphy
I’m not trying to re-invent the wheel and I’m not introducing radical changes,” says Music for Galway’s recently appointed Artistic Director, Finghin Collins as he prepares to launch the organisation’s programme for 2013-14.
Finghin, who has taken over the role from Music for Galway’s co-founder and longstanding director Jane O’Leary, is also one of Ireland’s leading classical performers who is on the international stage for much of the year. He’s just back from Switzerland and is preparing to spend three weeks in America, so the old adage ‘if you want the job done, ask a busy man’ certainly is relevant when applied to him.
The work he is doing with Music for Galway can be summed up simply, he says.
“I’m introducing fresh, new musicians who I am aware of through my own work and I’m offering a diverse offering of events. There will be things people recognise and a few new things; there is an opera and an oratorio and a little bit of everything.”
The season will open on November 14 with a new piece from Jane O’Leary, which was commissioned by Finghin, who “wanted to pay tribute” to his predecessor. O’Leary is a renowned composer and her new solo piece, Five Bagatelles will be premiered by Korean pianist Ah Ruem Ahn on November14.
The Irish premiere of Ian Wilson’s The Little Spanish Prison by David Cohen and Sasha Grynyuk will take place on October 30. Both O’Leary and Wilson will be present at each of these concerts to introduce their works.
A highlight of each season is the Midwinter Festival in January. Te event for this season focus will on the period from 1893 to 1913.
“They were 20 years in musical history when things changed dramatically. Composers were leaving tonality behind and not wanting in any particular key,” explains Finghin. During the Festival, which runs from January 17-19 audiences will get to relive the ground-breaking new sounds created by Debussy, Schoenberg and Stravinsky alongside contemporary ‘old-style’ masterworks by Brahms, Fauré and Vaughan Williams. The event is programmed so that people can hear the music in a chronological order, as would have happened when these new, often controversial works – most notably Stravinsky’s 1913 piece, The Rite of Spring – were performed.
The world of visual art also took off during in the late 19th century with the Impressionist movement, says Finghin, and art will be involved in this Mid-Winter Festival too. Music for Galway is hosting a competition for students and recent graduates of the Centre for Creative Arts and Media (CCAM) of the GMIT, where the students are asked to respond to the music of the era. The resulting exhibition will be launched along with the Festival at the Town Hall Theatre. Fifteen leading classical musicians from all over the world will take part in the event.
It’s a big undertaking, says Finghin, as he praises Music for Galway’s board and administrator Anna Lardi Fogarty for their role in bringing it to this stage.
“I’ve thought big on this one. I’ve had the idea and worked it and pushed for it.”
The brochure features a drawing by French artist Jean Cocteau of Stravinsky performing the Rite of Spring, which Anna located and is absolutely striking.
Other highlights in Music for Galway’s 2013-14 season include Handel’s popular Messiah in a period performance by the Irish Baroque Orchestra and Resurgam in St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church on December 8.
Folk duo Niall Teague and Pádraic Joyce are launching their new album What Will We Be, a blend of folk, Americana and acoustic music, this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in An Taibhdhearc.
The success of their well-received 2020 release Taobh le Taobh, as well as recent successes at the Pan Celtic and Oireachtas Song Contests, spurred the duo on to record this new album which represents many years of collaboration and musical development.
It features Niall and Pádraic on vocals, harmonies, and acoustic guitars, Maidhc Ó hÉanaigh on double bass and Neil Fitzgibbon on fiddle. The catchy title track, What Will We Be, features contributions from percussionist Jim Higgins (The Stunning, Christy Moore, Paul Brady) and haunting, driving melodies on vocals, guitar, and fiddle.
Themes of love and hope are woven through Come Away with Me which features interplay between piano and fiddle as well as rich vocal harmonies.
People, places, and broken dreams are celebrated and lamented on Martin and Tom, Guitar Gold, Memories of You and Achill Island. The influence of David Henry Thoreau’s novel Walden features on the tracks Simple and Wise and Walden, with the beauty of nature, escape and simple pleasures at their core.
The album moves from minimalistic folk ballads such as Galway Ghost to swirling, string-laden arrangements on the song Neptune, both of which are influenced by maritime tales from Galway. Much of the work on this album was supported by the Arts Council, including work with musical arranger Eoin Corcoran and the string ensemble Treo.
The album will be launched this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in an Taibhdhearc. Tickets €22, plus booking fee at Eventbrite.ie.
Dunmore is the place to be this weekend for lovers of traditional music, as the Galway County Fleadh will take place there from this Friday, May 19, to Sunday, May 23.
It is 10 years since Dunmore last hosted a fleadh and the local Comhaltas branch, which has re-formed since Covid, is looking forward to facilitating this gathering of music, song, dance and craic.
The official Opening Concert will take place in Dunmore Town Hall this Friday at 8pm with the acclaimed Mulcahy family from Limerick. Mick, Louise and Michelle are well known throughout the country, thanks to their live performances, television appearances and numerous CDs. They were the winners of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Grúpa Ceoil Award for 2023. Tickets for their concert can be purchased on the door and a great night of music is promised.
Two days of competitions will kick off this Saturday at the town’s Community School, with more than 1,500 competitors taking part. Participants will be hoping to qualify for the Connacht Fleadh 2023, which will be held in Ballina, County Mayo, from June 23 to July 2.
Competitions for those aged Under 10, Under 12 and Under 15 will be held in a large variety of instruments on Saturday, as well as in singing and Comhrá Gaeilge. Sunday’s competitions will be for the Under 18 and Over 18 ages groups, as well as in dancing.
On both days a large entry is expected for Grúpaí Cheoil and Céilí Band competitions across all age groups.
Seventeen Comhaltas branches from across Galway will have participants in this weekend’s competitions, which will result in a large number of visitors to the Dunmore area.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the competitions, which offer a great opportunity to hear and see the talent on display. There will be sessions in local pubs over the weekend as well and everybody is welcome to attend these.
For more information on the County Fleadh, go to www.galwaycomhaltas.ie.
Music for Galway’s concert with renowned Swiss pianist Cédric Pescia which had been due to take place on April 27 but which had to be deferred, will now take place next Tuesday, May 23, at 8pm, in the Emily Anderson Concert Hall at the University of Galway.
This concert of German classics with Bach at its core, will brings the Bach element of Music for Galway’s 41st season to an end.
This world-class pianist who won the famous Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition, has a repertoire that spans many eras from baroque to contemporary and he is widely known for his elaborate programmes. Cédric Pescia describes music as ‘language and movement at the same time’.
Audiences will have a chance to experience his soft, clear touch as he performs a programme for solo piano that will include classics such as Schumann’s popular Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), a suite of nine short pieces, and the penultimate of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, No. 31. These pieces will be interspersed with French Suites by Bach.
■ Ticket for Cédric Pescia’s concert are available at www.musicforgalway.ie, or by phone 091 705962 and on the door on the night. They cost €20/€18. The price for fulltime students of all ages is €6 while MfG Friends can avail of the friends’ rate of €16.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
