THE MUSIC Of Charles Villiers Stanford is “dramatically significant, as well as beautiful in itself. It has, moreover, that quality so rare among modern composers – style.”
So said The Times about the Irish composer, songwriter, and teacher who will be celebrated at Music for Galway’s annual midwinter festival - the first major, annual, event in Galway’s cultural calendar.
The midwinter festival, entitled Stanford, takes place at the Town Hall Theatre and St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church, from January 21 to 23.
Music and musicians
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Sharon Carty. Photo:- Joe Duffy
Stanford is one of Ireland’s greatest composers and was hugely influential as a professor of composition in London in the early part of the 20th century. The festival will seek to place Stanford in context by pairing some of his finest vocal and chamber works, alongside pieces written by composers who influenced him, as well as those whom he himself taught and nurtured.
Performing at the festival will be mezzo-soprano Sharon Carty and clarinettist John Finucane; Finghin Collins; the ConTempo Quartet; Collegium Choir, conducted by Mark Duley; tenor soloist Christopher Bowen; Ríona Ó Duinnín, flute; John Leonard, bassoon; Hannah Miller, horn; Dominic Dudley, double bass; and the RIAM Student Quartet. There will also be talks about Stanford by musicologist Jeremy Dibble on January 21 and 22 at 6pm.
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Christopher Bowen. Photo:- Rosalind Hobley
"We are thrilled to shine a light on a truly masterful composer who should really be better known and appreciated in his native country,” said Anna Lardi, executive director of Music for Galway. “We hope that music-lovers will gain a deeper understanding into how this one man shaped so much of the musical landscape of his time.”
A selection of the works to be heard at the Town Hall concerts include Stanford’s String Quartet No 6 Op 122 (January 21, 8pm ); Brahms’ FAE Scherzo for violin and piano and Stanford’s Fantasy No 1 in Gm for clarinet quintet (January 22, 8pm ); and Stanford’s Clarinet Sonata Op 129 and Nonet Op 95, as well as Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro Op 70 for cello and piano (January 23, 8pm ).
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RIAM Quartet.
The St Nicholas’ concert is on January 22 at 3pm, and features excerpts from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Hiawatha Trilogy, and songs by Stanford and a selection of his pupils.
The festival programme was devised by MfG artistic director, and one of Ireland’s leading classical pianists, Finghin Collins. “Since my childhood, I have been a great fan and advocate of Stanford, and was honoured to give the first performance at the BBC Proms of his Second Piano Concerto in 2010,” he said. “His legacy is enormous, as evidenced by his own significant output, and also by his many composer pupils: Frank Bridge, William Hurlstone, Rebecca Clarke, Muriel Herbert, and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.”
Films and exhibition
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Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
The festival culminates in a film double bill (January 23, 8pm ) by Charles Kaufmann, the artistic director of the Longfellow Chorus in the USA. The first is the world theatre premiere of That's None of My Business, part of the official selection of Venezia Shorts Italy 2021, about an attempt to desegregate an all-white concert by the RPO in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1963. This will be followed by our feature film which explores the extensive American legacy of Anglo-African composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
As part of MfG’s 40th anniversary season celebrations, there will be an exhibition in the foyer of the Town Hall Theatre. Using materials from the special collection at NUIG’s Hardiman Library, it looks back at the achievements and highlights of the last four decades. It will be launched with the Midwinter Festival and continue until the end of February.
The midwinter festival is sponsored by MJ Conroy and NUI Galway. Tickets are €25/21/22.50/10 while the choral concert is €15/13.50/11/6. The film is €8/7. Admission to the talks are free. A festival ticket is €90/81/77. Booking is via the Town Hall Theatre (091 - 569777 or www.tht.ie ).
