High on the successes of Cellissimo and high up on the roof of Bonham Quay, Music for Galway unveiled plans for its 43rd International Concert Season 2024/25.
Caressed by the Atlantic breeze off the bay, the gathering heard Anna Lardi, CEO of Music for Galway csay that delivering Cellissimo has proven to be transformative for Music for Galway and has given them the confidence to look to the stars in terms of their ambition.
“It was hard graft, a privilege, and ultimately the festival itself turned into pure joy. This brings us to our 43rd season feeling invigorated and with renewed resolve to inspire you with a treasure trove of ambitious programmes,” she said.
And treasures to present there are many. From the opening extravaganza on September 27 in Leisureland featuring the RTÉ Concert Orchestra with special compère Marty Morrissey celebrating through music the joys that the nation experienced during the Olympic Games this year, right through to the end of the season on May 7, when dazzling American pianist Anne-Marie McDermott will give her Galway debut at the Emily Anderson Concert Hall performing an unmissable programme of works by Bach, Busoni and Brahms.
“Quite organically, a theme emerged as the season took shape”, commented MfG Artistic Director Finghin Collins. “There were either Irish-based artists or an Irish historic connection or composer in almost every concert. So we have decided to name our season Irish Connections”.
Mfg Encores – Taking The Treasures Further
MfG returns to Bonham Quay for an evening of stargazing to the sounds of Cassiopeia Winds on Wednesday October 23. The MfG Encore, a repeat of this concert, will take place the following night in Kilcummin Church, Oughterard. The MfG Encore concerts aim to bring visiting artists closer to the doorsteps of people in the region and to increase the cultural impact of visiting artists in order to offset the impact of their travel.
In a similar vein, the Britten Oboe Quartet, led by star oboist Nicholas Daniel, brings an eclectic programme including Mozart, Maconchy and Moeran to St. Joseph’s Church on Tuesday, March 11th, repeating it in Campbell’s Tavern, Headford the following night.
Including a wealth of top Irish and Ireland-based performers also plays into MfG’s sustainability policy. The Creative Europe Project “Songs of Travel” has set the organisation on a trajectory in which sustainability is part of the whole decision-making process: from the choice of artists, programme, production of marketing materials, to the delivery of the concerts themselves.
The staging of Musici Ireland’s A Mother’s Voice on Friday November 22 in Nuns Island will be a poignant moment as it is a commemorative dedication to the many women affected by the mother and baby homes in Ireland during the 1900s. It is a multidisciplinary production in honour of these women, a collaboration between artists and living survivors to shed light on this veiled era of Ireland’s recent history.
Symphonic and chamber music to get you through the darker months
Two important events in the season are presented, as before, in partnership with the University of Galway. The Emily Anderson Concert on October 10 fetes this most extraordinary of alumnae with a performance of Liszt’s arrangement of Beethoven’s monumental 9th Symphony by Italian pianist Maurizio Baglini.
The Midwinter Festival RAVEL celebrates 150 years since the birth of one of the most original and sophisticated composers of the 20th century: Maurice Ravel. In three concerts on January 17th, 18thand 19th at the Town Hall Theatre we will hear some of his most beautiful chamber music and song output, and on the final day audiences will experience the rarely-performed four-hand piano version of the iconic Bolero with a new choreography by Galway-based dance artist Diarmuid Armstrong Mayock, commissioned in partnership with Galway Dance. To stay with the theme of the Irish connection, more than half of the stellar cast has been drafted from artists in Ireland.
Other concerts to look forward to include Cushendall in the Hardiman Ballroom on November 7th featuring MfG Artistic Director Finghin Collins and his friends, clarinettist John Finucane and mesmerizing mezzo-soprano Sharon Carty. The programme includes songs from their recently-recorded CD dedicated to Stanford. The same venue sees the welcome return of the Fidelio Trio offering pillars of the piano trio repertoire by Beethoven and Schubert on February 17th. On February 27th we return to Leisureland to welcome back the National Symphony Orchestra with violinist Simone Lamsma and conductor Alexander Shelley to perform Brahms’ soul-baring Violin Concerto and Schumann’s Rhenish Symphony. We return to St. Joseph’s Church on March 30th. as Vanbrugh and Friends bring us two of the biggest treasures of chamber music, the viola quintets by Mozart and Brahms.
The introspective and contemplative Music for Good Friday concert in collaboration with Mark Duley in St. Nicholas Collegiate Church has established itself firmly in the MfG calendar. This year we will hear Collegium perform a programme entitled Miserere. Two settings of the text, one by Allegri and one by James MacMillan, frame shorter motets.
Lunchtime concerts with arts in action at the University Of Galway
MfG continues its partnership with Arts in Action and presents four lunchtime concerts at the University of Galway on Thursdays at 1.05pm. With these concerts the organisation offers a platform particularly to emerging artists. These concerts are also earmarked as ‘relaxed’ performances, intended specifically to be sensitive to and accepting of audience members who may benefit from a more relaxed environment.
This year MfG is honoured to present winner of RDS Music Bursary 2024, tuba player Adam Buttimer on October 31; Galway soprano Aimee Banks with pianist Dearbhla Collins on November 14; Galway pianist and composer Laoise McMullin on February 13 and pianist Cahal Masterson with Rebecca Murphy, soprano performing a new song-cycle KRAINA on March 27th.
Music for Galway is a registered charity and is funded by the Arts Council, Galway City Council, Galway County Council, Creative Europe, Creative Ireland; Strategic Partner: University of Galway; Sponsors: Lifes2Good Foundation, KPMG, SAP, Tigh Neachtain, Embassy of Switzerland, The Ardilaun, Park House Hotel, Connacht Hotel, Galway Advertiser, Connacht Tribune, Galway City Tribune, RTE lyric fm, RTE Supporting the Arts, Galway Bay FM, Diginet Business Solutions, The Hardiman, Bonham Quay.
