Leading names for Cathedral Recitals

The 22nd annual Galway Cathedral Recital series which will take place on Thursday evenings at the Town Hall Theatre until August 6 features top national and international performers.

World-renowned organist John Scott will play a programme of Baroque, Romantic and 20th-century music next Thursday, July 16. John was the organist of St Paul’s Cathedral in London for many years and now fullfils that role at St Thomas’ Church in New York.

Dublin organist Rónán Murray will make his Galway début on Thursday, July 23, with a exciting programme of Baroque and Romantic music which will also include an improvisation.

Young German organist Lisa Hummel, who is a student, was joint winner of the 2014 Dublin Organ Competition, will perform on Thursday, July 30. Her concert forms part of the prize from the competition and will see her playing music by composers including Bach, Elgar and Messiaen.

The series will close with a concert by Irish mezzo-soprano Sharon Carty and German/Austrian recorder consort Veunv, who will present Orfea Britannica, a quasi-operatic arrangement of Elizabethan and Jacobean songs and instrumental pieces, on August 6.

This week’s event, meanwhile, is a community performance of Benjamin Britten’s cantata St Nicolas.  A choir and specially-assembled orchestra will perform the large piece. Tuam native Eoin Hynes sings tenor, and Cathedral organist Raymond O’Donnell conducts. This concert is a major part of the year-long programme of events marking Galway Cathedral’s 50th anniversary, as St Nicolas is one of the Cathedral’s patrons.

Each concert will begin at 8pm and is followed by an informal reception where the audience has an opportunity to meet the evening’s performers over a glass of wine. Admission to each concert is €15 (concessions €10). Full details of all performers and their programmes are available on the Galway Cathedral Recitals website, http://recitals.galwaycathedral.ie.