Conducted by Peter Joyce, with the Esker Festival Choir and vocal soloists from the Irish National Opera Member Studio, Kathleen Nic Dhiarmada, and Madeline Judge.
The Esker Festival Orchestra will return this August to celebrate its 10th anniversary with two concerts in majestic venues in Galway and Dublin. This year’s programme is one of Esker Festival Orchestra’s most exciting yet, featuring two performances of Gustav Mahler's titanic 2nd Symphony ‘Resurrection’, as well as the 90-piece orchestra, plus the 100 person Esker Festival Orchestra Choir, featuring vocal soloists from the Irish National Opera Member Studio, Kathleen Nic Dhiarmada, and Madeline Judge. The newly formed Esker Festival Orchestra Choir is made up of musicians from all over Ireland.
Based in Galway, the Esker Festival Orchestra was set up in 2014 by the highly successful conductor, composer, and instrumentalist, Peter Joyce, to provide a high-quality, beneficial, and meaningful musical opportunity for young emerging musicians from the west of Ireland and beyond. Esker Festival Orchestra creates an exciting space that supports and develops orchestral music in Ireland by nurturing the talents of young emerging musicians and by helping to relieve the financial burden on the musicians themselves as much as possible. The orchestra is unique in that it is entirely led and run by its members, for its members. The orchestra allows young musicians to not only perform and work together but also to socialise and build fruitful relationships which will be beneficial during their professional lives. Fresh off his conducting debut at the famed Golden Hall of Vienna‘s Musikverein, Galway native Peter Joyce says:
"After several difficult years of lockdowns and reduced capacity concerts, it was clear to me that there would be no better way to celebrate the opening up of society and our own 10th Anniversary season than with one of the greatest, all-encompassing and life-affirming classical works of all time, Gustav Mahler's Second Symphony. We are absolutely delighted to not only have put together the largest, most diverse, and most talented orchestra in our history but also for the first time to combine these forces with the jubilant voices of the newly formed Esker Festival Choir and incredible soloists Kathleen Nic Dhiarmada and Madeline Judge. We have no doubt that all of this will combine to become one of the best musical experiences put on in Ireland in recent years."
As a conductor, composer, and instrumentalist Peter has enjoyed a varied and successful career and has worked with the National Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Ulster Orchestra, Orchestra of the Baden State Theater, Placido Domingo, Andrea Bocelli, Imelda May, Liam Ó Maonlaí, Hozier, Nathan Carter, among many others.
Performances take place in Galway Cathedral on Saturday August 19 at 8pm Galway Cathedral and in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin on Sunday August 20th at 8pm.
Tickets are available at eskerfestivalorchestra.com or on the door of each venue (€20 / €12 concessions ).
Find out more at eskerfestivalorchestra.com
