Top musicians play Mozart to honour his Galway translator

Date Published: {J}

The Genius of Mozart is the theme of this year’s Emily Anderson Memorial Concert series being presented by Music for Galway and NUI Galway next week, to honour the Galway woman who translated the correspondence between Mozart and Beethoven from German into English.

Two concerts will take place on Thursday next, February 23 and Friday, February 24 and will feature Norwegian violinist Marianne Thorsen and, from the UK, Viv McLean on piano and Alice Neary on cello.

Emily Anderson (1891-1962) was the daughter of the President of Queen’s College Galway, and grew up in the old Quadrangle of what is now NUIG. Her translations resulted in two hugely important books for musicologists and music lovers in the English speaking world.

Concerts in her honour are held annually, with the event being dedicated to the music of Beethoven and Mozart on alternate years.

This year it’s Mozart’s turn, with the concerts featuring piano trios, violin sonatas, piano sonatas, including the Sonata in A major, Alla Turca, and fantasies. The performers are leading interpreters of Mozart’s music.

Marianne Thorsen is one of Norway’s top violinists and regularly performs internationally with orchestras including the BBC Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Symphony, Prague Philharmonia and Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra. At home she plays regularly with the Oslo Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Trondheim Symphony and Norwegian Chamber Orchestra.

She is also Leader of the internationally-renowned Nash Ensemble of London, appearing with them in major British and international music festivals at London’s South Bank Centre, the BBC Proms and as part of a regular series at the Wigmore Hall. Thorsen is Professor at the Institute of Music at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim and also Professor of violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Marianne Thorsen plays the ‘Emiliani’ Stradivarius, which was made in 1703.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.