TOURING MUSICIANS and singers are nothing new. There were the bards and wandering minstrels of mediaeval times, while in Ancient Greece, Homer and Sappho were the singer-songwriters of their day, performing across the Greek islands.
It was the same for many singers in the 17th and 18th centuries. This was the era of the Arie di Baule, or 'suitcase arias' when famous singers brought arias with them on their travels, and inserted them into operas as party pieces or into pasticcios - an opera or other musical work featuring songs by different composers.
Suitcase Arias is the title of key concert of the Galway Early Music Festival, presented in association with Music For Galway, with leading Irish mezzo-soprano Sharon Carty performing many such arias from that era, by Riccardo Broschi (brother of Farinelli ), Gluck, Giacomelli, and Vivaldi. It takes place on Friday May 24 at 8pm in St Nicholas Collegiate Church.
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Sharon Carty is a winner of the RAAP/RTÉ Lyric FM Classical Breakthrough Music Bursary, and has performed leading roles at Oper Frankfurt and in the Galway International Arts Festival/Irish National Opera productions Second Violinist (2017 ) and Orfeo ed Euricide (2018 ). She will be joined by a baroque ensemble led by Claire Duff, and featuring Marja Gaynor (violin ), Lisa Dowdall (viola ), Margaret Dorris (cello ), David Adams (harpsichord ).
Tickets are €20/18/16/6 from www.galwayearlymusic.com, or www.musicforgalway.ie; 091 - 705962; O’Maille’s, High Street; or www.galwayearlymusic.com
