Programme announced
Friday 25 June - Saturday 3 July 2010
"In almost a quarter of a century of chamber music playing, this is by far the most evocative, artistically valid and humanly touching festival I have attended."
Claus -Christian Schuster of the Altenberg Trio
"The most spellbinding performances of the year came from the young Russian violinist Alina Ibragimova playing solo violin music and concertos by Bach at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival"
Michael Dervan, Irish Times, December 2009
Music lovers are invited to beautiful Bantry this summer to celebrate all that the 15th West Cork Chamber Music Festival has to offer - the world's finest musicians playing glorious music against the backdrop of breathtaking Bantry Bay.
The 15th West Cork Chamber Music Festival will be celebrating theworld of the string quartet with top international ensembles performing core works from the heart of the repertoire. The quartets that join the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet this year have all had fantastic success recently. The Artis Quartet from Vienna, won the Midem Classical Award 2009,the Danish Quartet from Copenhagen were winners of the 2009 London International String Quartet Competition and the Pacifica Quartet from California won a Grammy award and were then named 2009 Musical America Ensemble of the Year.
Star violinist Alina Ibragimova, whose performance at last year's Festival was billed by the Irish Times as one of the highlights of the year, returns with her period instrument Chiaroscuro Quartet for performances of Haydn's Quartet in D major, Mozart's Quartet in A major and, in a special candlelit late night recital, Schubert's Quartet in A minor.
Six glorious quartets that Mozart dedicated to his friend and mentor Joseph Haydn are paired with single string concertos by Vivaldi, Telemann and Johann Sebastian Bach while the unmissable Late Great Show each evening will feature Late Great Masterworks by Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms.
Making her Bantry debut will be the dazzling violinist Nicola Benedetti. The BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2004, she has taken the classical music world by storm since then. Still only 22 years old, she recently released her 4th CD Fantasie. Amongst the works that she will be performing will be Schumann's Piano Trio No. 3 and Rachmaninov's Piano Trio in D minor.
Other Festival soloists will include Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman, Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto, French pianist Philippe Cassard, Russian pianist Kirill Gerstein, who was recently named the recipient of the 2010 Gilmore Artist Award, British-Ukrainian pianist Alexei Grynyuk, German violist Hartmut Rohde, German cellist Leonard Elschenbroich, British oboeist Nicholas Daniel, Irish recorder player Kate Hearne and Dutch bassoonist Bram van Sambeek.
The Festival welcomes Jörg Widmann as the 2010 Composer in Residence. Recently awarded The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's Elise L. Stoeger Prize in recognition of significant contributions to the field of chamber music, Jörg will direct the Young Composer's Forum, the workshop for winners of the Young Composer's Competition and has a number of his own works performed during the week including his masterly Octet for clarinet, oboe, bassoon and string quintet and his outstanding Etudes for solo violin.
Well known broadcaster and musician Evelyn Grant will be introducing each day with a morning talk with one of the musicians performing that day. Among those in conversation with Evelyn will be Vadim Gluzman, Nicola Benedetti, the Artis Quartet, Pekka Kuusisto, the Pacifica Quartet, Philippe Cassard and Alina Ibragimova.
A new feature of the Festival will be a visit by the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland and Irish Youth Choir with a performance of Brahms' German Requiem in St Finbarr's Church, which will complement the Festival's long-standing commitment to Ireland's best young musicians.
The Festival's reputation for programming unusual works will be furthered by performances of Don Giovanni arranged for string quartet, quartets by Viennese composers Weigl and Wellesz, rarely played quartets by Enescu and Moeran, Preludes for Violin and Piano by Lera Auerbach, Quintets by Widmann, Vierne and Boris Tchaikovsky and a memorial concert of works written by the banned composers of Theresienstadt concentration camp.
The West Cork Chamber Music Festival is generously supported by the Arts Council and Failte Ireland.
Friends Priority Booking opens 10 March
Patrons Priority Booking opens 31 March
General Booking opens 14 April
For more information, please contact West Cork Music
+353 (0) 27 52788
www.westcorkmusic.ie
"This is quite simply the most magical Festival of its kind I've had the good fortune to participate in."
Andrew Keener, Record Producer
West Cork Music promotes the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, the West Cork Literary Festival and the Masters of Tradition Festival, as well as a year round concert series and Music In Schools projects in partnership with Cork County Council.
