THE MYTH of Orpheus has served as an inspiration to poets, musicians, and film-makers and Galway is to be treated to a concert of 17th century English music also inspired by the Greek tale.
Irish mezzosoprano Sharon Carty and the Austrian-German recorder consort VUENV will perform Orfea Britannica in St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church on Saturday August 6 at 8pm.
The concert will be a quasi-operatic reworking of the Orpheus story, told through English instrumentals and songs composed during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Composers featured include John Downland, Nathaniel Giles, Christopher Tye, and Alfonso Ferrabosco.
Sharon is currently a member of the Opera Studio at Frankfurt Opera House, and made her German stage debut there in September as Tebaldo in Don Carlo. She has performed in productions of such works as Le Nozze di Figaro and Rigoletto. She has also performed with the Capella Istrapolitana, Wiener Akademie, and the European Union Chamber Orchestra.
This will be Sharon’s third visit to Galway in the past 18 months, having previously performed with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and at the Galway Baroque Singers/Karl Jenkins concert.
VUENV was founded in 2007 by five recorder players with a shared interest in music from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. They play on copies of original instruments by Martin Praetorius.
Tickets are €20/15 at the door. See also www.stnicholas.ie
