A FEAST of fools, ticking clocks, apocalyptic visions, and a time warp - time is of the essence at the 20th Galway Early Music Festival which runs from Thursday May 14 to Sunday 17.
The festival, which celebrates ancient, medieval, Renaissance, and baroque music, is based on the theme of ‘Time’, and focuses on the cycle of the seasons, the monastic hours, the ‘ages of man’, and the ages of the world.
Among the highlights will be Ludus Danielis in St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church on May 14. Originally performed c1200 by the teenage choristers of Beauvais Cathedral, France, it tells the story of Daniel, from Belshazzar’s Feast to his ordeal in the Lions’ Den, through catchy, rhythmic choruses, improvisation, and expressive solos.
One of the world’s outstanding trombonists, John Kenny, founder and director of Pandora’s Box, will give a concert using the earlier form of the instrument - the sackbutt - in St Nicholas on May 15. Sequentia: Benjamin Bagby (voice and harp ), Norbert Rodenkirchen (medieval flutes ) will perform the concert, Fragments for the End of Time, on May 16.
The festival hub will be in The Print Works, Market Street, which will include a multi-media exhibition of 20 years of the Galway Early Music Festival, an exhibition of prehistoric Irish horns, an instrument makers exhibition, and talks, demonstrations, and workshops.
The full programme and ticket booking are available through www.galwayearlymusic.com
