Free concert to mark European Day of Early Music

An afternoon tea concert featuring harps, bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy, virginal, voice and more, will be held in St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church on Sunday, March 20, to mark the fourth European Day of Early Music.

This free concert, organised by the Galway Early Music Festival, will feature medieval and renaissance music from Ireland, Britain and mainland Europe. This beautiful selection of music highlights Galway’s history as an Irish city with strong European connections, from its medieval foundation to the present.

The Red Earl’s Consort, with its combination of early continental and Irish harps, recorder and voice, highlights this unique heritage.  A selection of historical bagpipes played by Jacopo Bisagni will bring the audience from Italy to France and beyond. Éamonn Ó Bróithe will sing sean-nós songs that highlight the influence of medieval French poetic metres on Irish poetry, while Michael Shields will perform pieces from the Elizabethan-era Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, including the Irish tune Callino Costurame, on a reproduction of this historical keyboard instrument.

In addition, Vlad Smishkewych, the internationally renowned tenor and presenter of the Lyric FM programme Vox Nostra, will launch the programme of the Galway Early Music Festival with a speech and a few songs. That Festival will run from May 12-15.

But first, the European Day of Early Music with Galway Early Music will take place on Sunday, March 20, at 4pm in St Nicholas Collegiate Church.  For more information on this free event, go to www.galwayearlymusic.com.