MUSIC21 returns to the National Concert Hall with five exciting concerts running throughout August and September at the John Field Room.
‘Agile, incisive and impassioned,’ was how BBC Music Magazine described the dynamic collaboration between leading Irish pianist Mary Dullea and the provocative British visual artist Julia Bardsley. They combine video work and virtuosic piano playing in a programme of music by such diverse composers as George Crumb, Jo Cutler, Conlon Nancarrow, Joe Kondo among others, that opens up a fascinating extra dimension of colour and sound. Opening the MUSIC21 Festival on Monday, August 31st at 8pm, this is a unique visual and aural experience not to be missed.
Described in the Irish Times as ‘the most polished young string quartet that Ireland has recently produced’, the Callino Quartet feature strongly in MUSIC21 this season. They join forces with two leading exponents of their instrument - pianist Hugh Tinney and guitarist/composer Benjamin Dwyer.
On Tuesday, September 1st at 8pm., Hugh Tinney and the Callino Quartet offer a concert of two halves - the first explores British music with the String Quartet Op. 94 of Benjamin Britten (his third) followed by the Piano Quintet by Thomas Adès (widely considered to be Britten’s heir). The second half of the concert presents great Russian music with Alfred Schnittke’s powerfully emotional Piano Quintet preceded by the extraordinary Chaconne for solo piano by Schnittke’s contemporary Sofia Gubaidulina.
In their second concert for MUSIC21 on Friday, September 18th at 1.05pm., the Callino Quartet will play the Guitar Quintet by Benjamin Dwyer joining the composer in this work inspired by the Spanish poet and dramatist Federico García Lorca. The programme also includes the celebrated beautiful and exotic quartet Mugam Sayagi by Azerbaijan composer Franghiz Ali-Zadeh with its extraordinary mixture of Eastern and Western influences.
Described in the Independent as ‘a charismatic and intriguing new voice in contemporary music’ London-based Irish composer Deirdre Gribbin is profiled in a concert given by the Fidelio Trio on Friday, September 11th at 1.05pm. In a programme built around her piano trio - How to make the water sound - the Fidelio Trio will also present Gribbin’s Rothko Chord (for piano) and two Irish premières - The Blue Poet (solo cello) and Seeking the whirlwind secrets (for violin and piano).
Dublin-based Japanese pianist Izumi Kimura has been making a powerful impression on the Irish scene in the last few years and, in combination with the renowned Irish flautist Susan Doyle, will no doubt continue to astonish in this programme of Japanese (and Japanese-inspired) music presented on Friday, September 4th at 1.05pm. The programme offers an intoxicating mix of exotic flute and piano music from Japan featuring eminent composers such as Toru Takemitsu, Kazuo Fukushima, Somei Satoh and Akira Miyoshi. The programme includes a world première performance of Erotic Japanese Texts - a new work for amplified bass flute and piano by Irish composer Benjamin Dwyer.
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