Oranmore soprano Helen Hancock will present The Lark in the Clear Air in the Mick Lally Theatre on Saturday March 18 at 8pm.
Hancock will be joined by Dublin-based pianist Annalisa Monticelli and clarinettist Berginald Rash to present the programme which will feature Schubert’s Shepherd on a Rock along with Arnold Cooke’s Songs of Innocence, both for soprano, clarinet and piano. In addition Strauss and Clara Schumann songs for soprano and piano will feature, as will Paul Reade’s Victorian Kitchen Garden Suite for clarinet and piano. A selection of Irish airs will round off the evening.
Hancock is a recitalist with interests in chamber music, art song and baroque music, and her 2022 engagements included giving the opening concert of the Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin Concert Series and performances in Maynooth University and The Mick Lally Theatre, Galway.
Her career highlight of 2022 was her Arts Council Agility Award which funded trips to Berlin for specialist lieder and Baroque Opera coaching. She also performed at the Ulysses 100 Celebration at the Embassy of Ireland, Berlin in June 2022. She was also a recipient of a Galway County Arts Office Artist Bursary in 2021 which funded a concert in the 2021 Galway Early Festival.
Pianist Annalisa Monticelli is a highly sought-after international musician, having performed and recorded in Europe, Asia, North and South America. She has worked as an Italian coach for numerous opera productions and masterclasses in Ireland and abroad, including the recent INO production of Cenerentola and Boheme, and she is Italian diction coach and vocal coach at the Royal Irish Academy Dublin and a programme director at the DkIT Dundalk.
Comfortable as both a chamber musician and soloist, Berginald Rash is co-founder and artistic director of Vivre Musicale, and has collaborated with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Frankfurt hr-Sinfonieorchester, and the RTÉ ConTempo Quartet and has been a featured soloist at the National Concert Hall in Dublin.
Helen says there is a big appetite among audiences for live music right now and she has chosen a programme which will not only appeal to the Galway audience, but also to those visiting Galway, with a mix of classical music favourites and Irish airs to give the perfect flavour for St Patrick’s weekend.
Tickets are €21/€16 students and are available at https://themicklallytheatre.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873633546.
