THE GALWAY Ensemble in Residence, ConTempo Quartet, open their new series of concerts at the Galway City Library on Tuesday September 2 at 1.10pm, with a programme featuring classical and contemporary music.
Over the next 10 months, these popular lunchtime concerts will feature 10 quartets by the master of string quartet-writing, Austrian composer Joseph Haydn.
The series will present some wonderful new quartets written over the past 50 years by composers from around the world. Irish composers Kevin Volans and Martin O'Leary feature alongside works by Astor Piazzolla (Argentina ), Michael Nyman (England ), James MacMillan (Scotland ), and Terry Riley (USA ).
The opening event will feature ConTempo performing Haydn’s Op. 76 no. 1 in G major from the Erdödy Quartets and Riley’s Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector. Each concert begins with a brief discussion of the pieces, and all events are free to attend.
The Galway Music Residency delivers a year round performance, education, and community based programme of events which includes visits by the ConTempo Quartet to local schools and universities, mini-residencies with guest artists from Ireland, Europe and other parts of the world, as well as monthly free concerts in the Galway City Library on the first Tuesday of every month.
The Galway Music Residency is supported by The Arts Council, NUI Galway, Galway University Foundation, Bank of Ireland, Galway city and county councils, and Friends of The Galway Music Residency.