There will be a free concert at Ballintubber Abbey on Sunday October 16 at 8pm. Ian Wilson’s Still Life in Green and Red is performed by the ConTempo Quartet and inspired by the people of Mayo.
As part of the Mayo County Council Landmark public art programme, composer Ian Wilson’s residency has involved him working with and meeting large numbers of the local community since the commissions began. Ian’s residency documents how people are dealing with the current economic climate – particularly how people are being positive and proactive – and then to create a large-scale piece of music which clearly reflects this notion and gives a snapshot of Mayo just now.
To that end, songs have been produced from pupils’ poems, and recordings made of the children singing them. Another song was inspired by the way the children themselves first said the lines – identifying and emphasising the changes in pitch and rhythm that the children naturally use when speaking. A choir from Mount St Michael in Claremorris prepared a song Wilson wrote specially for them, a setting of a Japanese nature-haiku, in phonetic Japanese.
All the music from the schools and all the interviews he is making with people during the residency period will go to form a soundtrack, which will be the basis of a 40-minute work for the ConTempo Quartet from Galway. There will be a performance at Lough Lannagh in spring 2012 when the Landmark programme officially launches, in addition to this special free performance at Ballintubber Abbey on October 16. A limited edition CD will be produced and will be free for people to avail of throughout the Spring Landmark programme. To reserve places at the concert, contact the Mayo County Council Arts Office on 094 904 7561, or email: [email protected] or [email protected]
