Music fans are in for a real treat on Wednesday April 29, when the Rastrelli Cello Quartet bring their mix of classical, jazz and Latin American music to Ballina Arts Centre. The Quartet - Kira Kraftzoff, Kirill Timofeev, Misha Degtiareff, Sergio Drabkine, all cello – present a heady mix of styles and genres. With pieces by Astor Piazzolla, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sulchan Zinzadze, Billy Strayhorn, Alfred Schnittke, Jimmy Forrest and Modest Mussorgsky amongst others, the result has to be heard to be believed.
Since they were founded in Stuttgart in 2002, the quartet have released three CDs on the German label, Ars Verona, while between them the four cellists have garnered an impressive collection of prizes. While remaining true to the great Russian tradition of big-toned, soulful cello playing, the ensemble takes the instrument into unknown waters, often playing transcriptions of music not intended to be performed on the cello.
Music Network is the national music development agency, which aims to make high quality live music available and accessible to everyone in Ireland, while supporting the professional development of skilled Irish and international musicians. Further information is available at www.musicnetwork.ie Admission: is from €10 to €12. Doors open: 7.30pm, concert starts at 8pm.
A Mythical Army: Sheila Gorman exhibition talk at Ballina Arts Centre
In conjunction with her A Mythical Army exhibition, artist Sheila Gorman will give a talk on her work at Ballina Arts Centre on Thursday April 30 at 7pm. Dublin-based Gorman describes the theme of the works: “Military uniforms were designed to make an army appear ordered, disciplined, powerful and vigorous and so dispirit and intimidate their enemy. Uniforms were often more decorative than protective. As weapons progressed from bows and arrows to guns and missiles, soldiers became increasingly vulnerable.” Free admission. All are welcome to attend.
Ballina Film Club: Shotgun Stories
Ballina Film Club’s Spring programme gathers pace this month with Shotgun Stories, at Ballina Arts Centre on Tuesday Apri l 21, at 8pm. A measured and sobering meditation on violence and discontent, distilled through a blood feud that ruptures two sets of half-brothers, Jeff Nichols’ film is a highly intelligent and accomplished first feature that makes palpable the suffering, loss and wanton destructiveness of vengeance.
The story is set in the American South, in the evocative region near Little Rock, Arkansas and is something of an Oedipal story in reverse. Hayes (Michael Shannon ) and his two brothers, Boy (Douglas Ligon ) and Kid (Barlow Jacobs ), abhor their father’s abandonment of the family, his embarrassment and disrespect seen as his refusal to grant his sons proper names. Their barely repressed anger surges at the contested man’s funeral, where Son curses the man’s name, an act that unleashes the fury of the father’s second family, the group of four sons dominated by the hot tempered Mark Hayes (Travis Smith ).
Ballina Film Club is affiliated to access>CINEMA. Adm: €7 (seasonal membership rates available ). Ballina Arts Centre is open from 10am to 5pm Monday to Friday, and 10am to 3pm on Saturdays. For information / booking, contact Ballina Arts Centre, Barrett St., Ballina, Co. Mayo. Tel: 096 73593, e-mail: [email protected]. www.ballinaartscentre.com
