Esker Festival Choir alongside its rising star soloist, Zo ë Nagle and conductor, Peter Joyce, will bring Gustav Holst's famous suite, The Planets, to the Galway Cathedral on Saturday, August 17 at 8pm.
Returning for its 11th year, this year's performance by the Esker Festival Orchestra will feature the world premiere of a newly commissioned piece by Dublin based composer, titled Earth, the Cradle of Life in addition to Holst's The Planets. The programme also features Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor with rising Irish star Zoë Nagle as soloist.
This year's programme is set to also include a new orchestration of Arnold Schoenberg's Six Little Piano Pieces, which will feature the 90 piece Esker Festival Orchestra, and the Esker Festival Choir, all under the baton of founder, and prize winning conductor and Galway native, Peter Joyce.
Following the upcoming event in Galway Cathedral on Saturday, August 17, the Esker Festvial Choir will take to the illustrious stage of the National Concert Hall, Dublin on Sunday, August 18 at 3pm.
Moving onwards and upwards
Regarding the upcoming concert, Joyce said that this year's festival is one which features many highlights, all of which he is delighted to be bringing to the orchestra's spiritual home, Galway Cathedral.
"Following our hugely successful 10th anniversary performances of Mahler's 2nd symphony last summer, I am so delighted that the Esker Festival Orchestra can continue to move not only upwards but also outwards with this year's performances of Gustav Holst's ‘The Planets’. There are many highlights of this year's festival and tour.
"Perhaps most exciting of all is that we will be performing the world premiere of Tom Lane's Earth, the Cradle of Life, which we commissioned following an anonymous call for proposals to create a new Earth movement, to accompany Holst's Planets and continuing to work with the Esker Festival Choir.
"Another highlight I am extremely looking forward to is performing the Elgar, Cello Concerto with the incredible Irish rising star, Zoë Nagle. I am delighted to have the opportunity to perform a new orchestration of Arnold Schoenberg’s, Six Little Piano Pieces to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the composer who inspired Holst to compose The Planets. And of course I am so happy to be performing these incredible works once again in our spiritual home, Galway Cathedral and for the first time in the National Concert Hall, Dublin."
Creating meaningful musical opportunities
Made up of musicians from all over Ireland, the Esker Festival Orchestra is a Galway based philharmonic that was founded by Joyce in 2014. As a 'highly successful conductor, composer and instrumentalist', the creation of the orchestra is attributed to Joyce's desire to 'provide a high-quality and meaningful musical opportunity for young, emerging artists from the west of Ireland and beyond'.
Since its establishment, Esker Festival Orchestra has been lauded for creating an 'exciting space' which nurtures the talents of young emerging musicians, as well as helping to relieve the 'financial burden' on the musicians as much as possible. The result of this has enabled the orchestra to 'support and develop' orchestral music in Ireland. A stand out feature of the orchestra is that it is entirely led and 'run by its members, for its members', allowing young musicians to 'not only preform and work together', but also to 'socialise and build fruitful relationships which are beneficial during their professional lives'.
As a conductor, composer, and instrumentalist, Joyce has enjoyed a varied and successful career, working with Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Wiener Symphoniker, the Sofia National Philharmonic, 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, among many others.
The Esker Festival Orchestra is supported by the Irish Association of Youth Orchestras, The Arts Council, the Contemporary Music Centre and RTÉ Supporting the Arts.
Tickets for the upcoming Galway Cathedral concert cost €24 or €12 (concessions ). Tickets for the following National Concert Hall concert are €30 or €12 (concessions ). Tickets can be purchased online at www.eskerfestivalorchestra.com
Full concert details and more information about the orchestra can be found online at; www.eskerfestivalorchestra.com
