his year’s Westport Festival of Chamber Music takes place in Westport House on Friday September 9 at 8pm, and on Saturday September 10 at 12 noon, 8pm, and 10.30pm in the Town Hall Theatre. It will come to a close on Sunday September 11 at 3pm in Holy Trinity Church. The three venues are ideal for chamber music, providing intimate acoustic experiences. Artistic director Hugh Tinney said: “Our Westport Festival has grown in the past three years into a cultural event that fits seamlessly into the Westport autumn, yet with an atmosphere and a following all of its own. Everything plays its part in this collaborative sharing between musicians, audience members, venues, organisers and other local supporters.”
The musicians will arrive on Tuesday evening, creating a temporary community of musicians in Westport. They will avail of the wonderful facilities in the Town Hall Theatre, preparing their vibrant programme of music, and working in all possible musical permutations. Leonard and Tinney will open the festival in Westport House, performing a highly gripping work by Achill-born Raymond Deane. The musicians then join forces in different combinations of solo, duo, trio and quartet over the weekend, playing music by Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann, Brahms, Dvorák, Chopin, Dohnanyi, Ravel, Poulenc and Dukas.
The Young Musician Invitation Concert at 12 noon on the Saturday will present young Cork pianist Kevin Jansson, winner of many prizes. Most recently in February he was the youngest participant and joint winner of the Thierry Scherz prize at the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad Festival in Switzerland. Kevin will play music by Ravel, Rachmaninov and Liszt. The Far Flung Trio (Katherine Hunka (violin ), Dermot Dune (accordion ) and Malachy Robinson (double bass ) will perform their eclectic mix of genres, including a surprise (or two ) in the late night concert on Saturday night.
Full details are on www.classicallinks.ie
