The Irish Chamber Orchestra takes to the road again from 14-17 July visiting venues in Kilkenny (Castalia Hall, Callan ) on July 14.
Distinguished violinist Bradley Creswick directs the orchestra in Summer Serenade, a programme featuring a host of orchestral classics, a world première alongside some magical Magyar melodies. Creswick is leader of the Northern Sinfonia and the London Philharmonia and guest leads a wide range of orchestras throughout Europe.
Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings took the US by storm in the 1930’s and is considered an all-time favourite. With a tense melodic line and taut harmonies, this richly beautiful piece is shot through with anguish, expressing at its climax, a kind of primordial scream. It was performed after the deaths of Presidents Roosevelt and Kennedy and features in several movie scores including The Elephant Man, Platoon, and Amelie.
Anything Can Happen is a world première of a new Irish work by one of Ireland’s more enigmatic composers Mícheál O Súilleabháin. Scored for full symphony orchestra, and taking as its working title the Seamus Heaney response to 9/11 through the poem Anything Can Happen this newly commissioned work by the Irish Chamber Orchestra commemorates the tenth anniversary of the annihilation of New York’s Twin Towers.
Bartók’s modestly titled Divertimento for String Orchestra (Sz. 113 ) is another great 20th-century work and is the first of three featured Hungarian works. It crackles with a primal energy inherent to Bartók’s folk song, displaying the facility of ease with which the ICO is able to manoeuvre the vibrant textures of the string orchestra. It manages to be at once playful and serious, accessible yet uncompromising, and lush within the limits of its instrumentation.
Hubay’s delightful Scènes de la Csárda illustrate the Hungarian and folk element of his artistry to full effect. The csárdás is a Hungarian folk-dance that attracted many composers with its gypsy sensibility, and certainly no one used the gypsy-like form more effectively than Hubay.
Finally, Grigoras Dinicu was renowned for his light, virtuosic, and tuneful compositions. The Lark is synonymous with Hungarian gypsy music and a fitting inclusion to this programme.
Don’t miss an exciting night with the Irish Chamber Orchestra at a venue near you. The Irish Chamber Orchestra is funded by The Arts Council of Ireland.
