Duck Baker, one of the most highly regarded finger style guitarists of his generation, performs at the Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar on Monday April 20 at 8pm. Born Richard R Baker IV in Richmond, Virginia, ‘Duck’ is unique among jazz guitarists in that his repertoire spans the entire history of music from ragtime through swing to modern masters like Thelonious Monk and Herbie Nichols and into free improvisation. His devotion to American music, also encompasses more traditional forms like blues, gospel, Appalachian music, and its Scots-Irish ancestry. Duck’s extensive discography reflects the diversity and quality of his musical talent, as do collaborations with the likes of bluesmen Charlie Musselwhite and Jerry Ricks, bluegrass’s Tim O'Brien and Dan Crary, traditionalists Ali Anderson and Brian MacNeil, new music icon John Zorn, rock legend JJ Cale, Irish fiddler Kieran Fahy, and guitarists Jamie Findlay, Woody Mann, and Ken Emerson. A chance to see a true original in the flesh. Don’t miss it. Duck Baker performs at the Linenhall Arts Centre on Monday April 20 at 8pm. Booking is advised.
Brian Friel play The Home Place
Splódar Theatre Company presents its new production of acclaimed Irish dramatist Brian Friel’s play, The Home Place, at the Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar on Wednesday April 22 at 8pm.
Friel’s award-winning drama probes the dilemma of a benevolent landlord as social and political forces close in around him. The author sets his play in 1878, the year of the assassination of Lord Leitrim, an event which marked the beginning of the end of landlordism. Central to the plot is a beautiful love story which rivals that in Friel’s other masterpiece, Translations. The play is directed by Prin Duignan. (NB: While Splódar is generally known for Irish language productions, this is an English-language version of The Home Place.
Top Russian cellists at the Linenhall
There is a chance to experience a truly original musical phenomenon when the unique talents of the Rastrelli Cello Quartet come to the Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar on Tuesday April 28 at 8pm as part of a nationwide Music Network tour.
The cello has been described as the instrument that sounds closest to the human voice and it is with this unique attribute that the Rastrelli Cello Quartet weaves its magic as audiences are treated to a heady mix of classical, jazz, and Latin-American music in a concert by this astonishing and hugely entertaining quartet. Since meeting up in 2002, the quartet have released three CDs, and the four cellists — Kira Kraftzoff, Kirill Timofeev, Misha Degtiareff, and Sergio Drabkine — have garnered an impressive collection of prizes and worked with such luminaries as Gidon Kremer, James Galway, and Yuri Bashmet. This dazzling combination of talents brings the repertoire of the cello into unknown and surprising waters. With pieces by Piazzolla, Sulchan Zinzadze, Billy Strayhorn, Alfred Schnittke, Jimmy Forrest, and Modest Mussorgsky among others, the result has to be heard to be believed. Rastrelli Cello Quartet perform at the Linenhall Arts Centre on Tuesday April 28 at 8pm.
Gary Robinson exhibition
Continuing at the Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar for the month of April is In-between Lines and Circles, an exhibition of recent landscape paintings by Longford-based artist Gary Robinson. In Robinson’s own words, “These new paintings are an attempt to simplify our already overflowing visual memory. I would like to involve the viewer in looking at landscapes, streetscapes, and inscapes through portals and openings that can easily go unnoticed.” The Linenhall Gallery is open to the general public Monday to Friday from 10am to 5pm, Saturday from 11am to 5.30pm. Admission to exhibitions is free.
