For the centenary of the death of Dublin composer Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, Music for Galway’s artistic director and pianist Finghin Collins has arranged a celebration.
Mezzo-soprano Sharon Carty and clarinettist John Finucane will perform Cushendall, a concert dedicated to Stanford. The trio will perform in the Hardiman Hotel’s Ballroom on November 7, at 7.30pm.
As well as composing, Stanford was professor of composition at the Royal College of Music in London, a position he held for four decades. As such, he left an extraordinary legacy not only in the form of his own work, but also by teaching the next generation of composers.
Beside works by Stanford himself, this concert will include music by those who influenced him, such as Brahms and Schumann, as well as by those whom he influenced, like Muriel Herbert and Rebecca Clarke.
Somm Recordings released a new recording earlier this year featuring Carty and Collins performing rarely-heard settings of Irish poems by Stanford, including the eponymous cycle Cushendall. The sweet melancholy of the songs frames Stanford’s warm and elegantly melodious sonata for piano and clarinet. Brighten a November’s evening immersed in this beautifully crafted and varied programme delivered with sensitivity, depth and effortless brilliance by three Irish artists at the top of their game.
Music for Galway is grant aided by the Arts Council and this concert is generously sponsored by KPMG.
Tickets range from €11 to €22 from www.musicforgalway.ie or phone 091 705962
