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SUNDAYS @ NOON CONCERT SERIES at CITY HALL

2009-06-08T16:30:18Z

[quote:9b69270f28]ADMISSION FREE

[size=18:9b69270f28]Sunday June 14th 2009 at Noon[/size:9b69270f28]

Sunday concerts return to Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane in June.
For a limited period solo performances will take place in the Sean Scully Gallery.

Ronan Guilfoyle acoustic bass guitar

‘Ronan Guilfoyle’s solo performances cover a wide variety of material, from completely improvised to pieces from the jazz standard repertoire, from groove oriented workouts to explorations of the sonic possibilities of the instrument, from humorous spiky miniatures to lyrical dark-hued compositions. Jazz itself has been described as ‘the sound of surprise’ and Ronan’s solo performances espouse the sentiments of this philosophy completely. These performances reveal the acoustic bass guitar’s ability to encompass the entire range of expressive possibilities and provide a vehicle for creative and satisfying music.’

Ronan Guilfoyle
Ronan Guilfoyle is a major figure on the Irish jazz scene and has developed an international reputation as a performer, teacher and composer. He began his career with Louis Stewart's group in the early 1980's and studied at the Banff Centre for the Arts in 1986 and 1987 where his teachers included John Abercrombie, Dave Holland, and Steve Coleman. Performing on the acoustic bass guitar since the early 1980s, Ronan is now one of the instrument's leading exponents, and is now much in demand as a bassist, both in his native Ireland and on the international jazz scene. Among the people he has performed with are Dave Liebman, Kenny Werner, Joe Lovano, Kenny Wheeler, Keith Copeland, Brad Mehldau, John Abercrombie, Larry Coryell, Benny Golson, Jim McNeely, Sonny Fortune, Andrea Keller, Andy Laster, Emily Remler, Simon Nabatov, Richie Beirach, and Tom Rainey. He has also been leading his own groups since the mid 1980s, and his groups have toured extensively in Europe, Asia, and North America. He has recorded extensively both as a sideman and as a leader and his output includes the award winning "Devsirme" in 1997. Ronan has been composing for classical ensembles since 1993, specialising in compositions which feature both improvised and written music. He has had great success in this field and has now a large body of work that ranges from solo piano pieces, to chamber works, to orchestral compositions. He has had commissions from a wide range of ensembles and organisations including the RTE Concert Orchestra in Dublin, The Opus 20 String Orchestra in London, and the European Jazz Youth Orchestra. He has also been commissioned to write works for many great soloists including the saxophonist David Liebman, the violinist Michael D'arcy and the virtuoso accordionist Dermot Dunne.Ronan has also acquired a formidable reputation as a composer in the world of contemporary jazz, and his music has been performed by such jazz luminaries as Dave Liebman, Kenny Werner, Kenny Wheeler, Keith Copeland, John Abercrombie, Andy Laster, Simon Nabatov, Richie Beirach, Tom Rainey, Julian Arguelles, Rick Peckham, and Sonny Fortune. In 1997 he won the Julius Hemphill Jazz Composition Competition in the United States. Over the past 10 years Ronan has become very well known for the teaching of advanced rhythmic techniques for jazz improvisation and his book, "Creative Rhythmic Concepts for Jazz Improvisation" which covers such areas as metric modulation and odd metre playing, is now seen as the standard text for this area. He has been invited to teach this subject at many schools around the world including Berklee College of Music, The New School, and is an associate Artist of the Royal Academy of Music in London, and has also lectured on it for the International Music Congress (UNESCO) in Copenhagen. Ronan is the founder of and head of the jazz department at Newpark Music Centre in Dublin, the only school offering post-secondary jazz education in Ireland.

http://www.ronanguilfoyle.com/

For further information contact
Gavin O’Sullivan
ph: +353-87-2456971
address: DUBLIN CITY GALLERY HUGH LANE, PARNELL SQ., DUBLIN 1, IRELAND.
email: gmusic@indigo.ie
website: www.hughlane.ie

The Sundays @ Noon Concert Series is funded by Dublin City Council and grant aided by The Arts Council/ An Chomhairle Ealaíon.[/quote:9b69270f28]

Kronos with Wu Man

2009-06-08T16:24:02Z

Louth Contemporary Music Society in association with Louth County Arts Office and Dundalk Arts office present The Kronos Quartet with special guest Wu Man in the Irish premieres of Tan Dun’s Ghost Opera & Terry Riley’s Cusp of Magic in An Tain Theatre Dundalk on 13 July 2009. Both works were specially written for the Kronos Quartet and are available on cd recordings from Nonesuch records.

Tan Dun’s Ghost Opera
Ghost Opera is an acclaimed work for string quartet and pipa (Chinese lute) from Tan Dun (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) Tan Dun’s Ghost Opera is written for string quartet and pipa (Chinese lute) and features Grammy winning Kronos Quartet with acclaimed Chinese instrumentalist Wu Man. Stephen Pettit of the London Times said Tan Dun is master of effect. Ghost Opera is a five movement theatrical work that mirrors an ancient Chinese funeral custom in which the performer engages in a dialogue between his past and future. Ghost Opera is beguiling and moving. It is a colorful as well as a touching meditation, garnished by sounds of clashing stones and cymbals, the Chinese one-stringed lute and pipa, and small bells. . .wonderfully atmospheric.”
Tan Dun’s (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) Ghost Opera is a five movement work for string quartet and pipa, with water, metal, stone and paper. Ghost Opera is written for string quartet and pipa with paper, shadow, and water gong basins placed around the performing space. The performers’ movements reflect the back-and-forth between spiritual realms that is characteristic of the ‘ghostopera’ tradition. In composing Ghost Opera, Tan was inspired by childhood memories of the shamanistic “ghost operas” of the Chinese peasant culture. In this tradition, which is over 4,000 years old, humans and spirits of the future, the past, and nature communicate with each other. The work employs elements from the European classical concert tradition, Chinese shadow puppet theatre, visual art installations, folk music theatre and ritual.

Terry Riley’s Cusp of Magic
Terry Riley’s six-movement piece, The Cusp of Magic was described by the Los Angeles Times “with its lullabies and entrancing Chinese songs and sweet disposition, brims with joy.” The Cusp of Magic was commissioned by Kronos on the occasion of their longtime friend and collaborator Riley’s 70th birthday, the piece features the Quartet joined by Wu Man on pipa (a Chinese plucked string instrument, similar to a lute) and vocals, with all musicians also playing a variety of percussion instruments, toys, and noisemakers. Kronos Artistic Director and Violinist David Harrington says, “No composer has been as much a part of Kronos as Terry Riley. We first met at Mills College in 1978, and he has written 23 works for us so far. We knew Terry was turning 70 in 2005, and it seemed like a perfect time to commission another new piece from him. I was sure he would spend the time and take the care needed to bring his knowledge of the pipa up to the point where he could write an amazing work, and over a period of more than a year, he learned about the instrument from Wu Man. “One day I was talking with him and he said he wanted this piece to be ‘magical.’ My granddaughter Emily was an infant at the time. We had little toys and noisemakers around the house, which we would play as I carried her around. Of all the experiences I’ve had, that is the most magical. ‘Why don’t you just come over, and we’ll play some of Emily’s toys?’ I said. So he brought over his computer and recording equipment, and we played all of her toys while she was taking a nap.”
Riley adds, “In this work, the different timbre and resonance of the Chinese pipa and the Western string quartet highlight the crossover regions of cultural reference, so that the Western musical themes might be projected with an Eastern accent and vice-versa. My plan was to make these regions seamless so that the listener is carried between worlds without an awareness of how he/she ends up there.”

The Kronos Quartet with special guest Wu Man are presented by Louth Contemporary Music Society in association with Louth County Arts Office and Dundalk Arts office. The performance of Ghost Opera and the Cusp of Magic is funded by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon and financially supported by the Dundalk Arts Office, the Louth Arts Office and Fáilte Ireland.

Tickets €20 on sale from www.centralticketbureau.com
0818 205 205 UK: 0870 850 2896 International: ++353 1 8721122

An Tain Theatre Box Office Crowe St, Dundalk.
00 353 42 9392919.
Email: antain@dundalktown.ie

Kronos has become one of the most celebrated and influential ensembles of our time, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than 45 recordings of extraordinary breadth and commissioning more than 600 new works and arrangements for string quartet. Kronos’ work has also garnered numerous awards, including a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance (2004) and “Musicians of the Year” (2003) from Musical America.

SUNDAYS @ NOON CONCERT SERIES at CITY HALL

2009-06-02T01:44:54Z

DUBLIN CITY GALLERY THE HUGH LANE

SUNDAYS @ NOON CONCERT SERIES

ADMISSION FREE

Sunday June 7th 2009 at Noon

Concerts Return to the Hugh Lane Gallery

Sunday concerts return to Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane on June 7th.
For a limited period performances will take place in the new Sean Scully Gallery.

Ioana Petcu-Colan solo violin

Telemann: Fantaisie no. 1 in G Major
Telemann: Fantaisie no. 4 in D Major
Telemann: Fantaisie no. 7 in E-flat Major
Bach: Sonata in A Minor BWV1003

Ioana Petcu-Colan is an established soloist and chamber musician travelling to perform from her current home in Barcelona. As soloist, Ioana has appeared with several orchestras in Ireland and abroad in performances of Shostakovitch, Bruch, Beethoven, Mozart, Khatchaturian and both Prokofiev Violin Concertos under the batons of William Eddins, Niklas Willen, James Lockhart, David Brophy, Neil Thomson, Prionnsias o'Duinn and Robert Houlihan. Other solo appearances with orchestra include works by Mozart, Saint-Saens and Sarasate and three concertos by Bach performed both on modern and baroque violin. Ioana has recorded the Bruch Violin Concerto with the RTE Concert Orchestra to critical acclaim featuring on both the LyricFM Lunchtime Choice 2 and 4x4 cds. An accomplished chamber musician, Ioana performed the complete Beethoven Piano and Violin Sonatas while still pursuing her studies and for seven years she toured, recorded and coached as former 1st violin and founder member of the Callino Quartet. Participation in festivals such as the Cheltenham, Bergen, Heidelberg Fruhlungs, West Cork Chamber Music, Ryedale, Clandeboye and Sligo New Music Festivals has seen Ioana collaborate with a wide variety of artists - violists Bruno Giuranna and Rivka Golani, violinist Chee Yun, cellist Richard Lester, double bassist Edgar Meyer, pianists Gilbert Kalish, Julius Drake and Barry Douglas, jazz guitarist John Abercrombie and members of the Alban Berg, Vanbrugh and Vogler Quartets and of the Paris-Bastille Wind Octet. Ioana is currently a member of piano trio Ensemble Avalon and of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. Ioana is deeply committed to performing new music and to raising awareness of living composers and their work. She has played contemporary works at the West Cork Chamber Music, Sligo New Music, Clandeboye and Cheltenham Festivals and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, RTE Lyric FM and Irish national television. Ioana has enjoyed many commissions, among the most recent being Donnacha Dennehy's 'Elastic Harmonic' for violin and orchestra with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland for broadcast on national television, performance during the Sligo New Music Festival and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 of Nono's 'La Lontananza Nostalgica Utopica Futura' and collaborating with renowned traditional duo Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill on the world premiere of 'Music for the Departed' by David Flynn - specially commissioned for the 2006 Masters of Tradition Festival. Ioana Petcu-Colan graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London with a first-class Honours degree. She holds a first-class MA in Performance from the Cork School of Music having obtained the highest mark of her year as well as the Medaille d'Or (Premier Prix) a l'Unanimite which she was awarded from Nantes Conservatoire, France, at the age of sixteen. Ioana has studied with such renowned musicians as Hermann Krebbers, Mauricio Fuks, Lydia Mordkovitch, Erich Gruenberg, Mariana Sirbu, Gregory Ellis, Stefan Gheorghiu and Pierre Wallez. As a chamber musician, she has been coached by Ferenz Radosc, the RTE Vanbrugh, Skampa, and Panocha Quartets, also members of the Borodin, Alban Berg, Cleveland, Hagen and Amadeus Quartets. Ioana plays an Italian violin built by Goffredo Cappa in 1695.

http://www.ioanapetcucolan.com/

For further information contact
Gavin O’Sullivan
ph: +353-87-2456971
address: DUBLIN CITY GALLERY HUGH LANE, PARNELL SQ., DUBLIN 1, IRELAND.
email: gmusic@indigo.ie
website: www.hughlane.ie

The Sundays @ Noon Concert Series is funded by Dublin City Council and grant aided by The Arts Council/ An Chomhairle Ealaíon.

SUNDAYS @ NOON CONCERT SERIES at CITY HALL

2009-05-24T12:05:13Z

SUNDAYS @ NOON CONCERT SERIES

ADMISSION FREE

June 2009

Free Sunday morning concerts return to the Hugh Lane Gallery in June.
Following 3 months of concerts in Dublin’s City Hall the Sundays at Noon Concert Series returns to the Hugh Lane Gallery.

3 solo recitals will take place in the Sean Scully Gallery.

• June 7th Ioana Petcu-Colan solo violin
Bach and Telemann

• June 14th Ronan Guilfoyle acoustic bass guitar
‘Bass and the Abstract Truth - Alone with Four Strings’

• June 21st Malachy Robinson double bass
Schattentiefe by Ian Wilson

For further information contact
Gavin O’Sullivan
ph: +353-87-2456971
address: DUBLIN CITY GALLERY HUGH LANE, PARNELL SQ., DUBLIN 1, IRELAND.
email: gmusic@indigo.ie
website: www.hughlane.ie

The Sundays @ Noon Concert Series is funded by Dublin City Council and grant aided by The Arts Council/ An Chomhairle Ealaíon.

SUNDAYS @ NOON CONCERT SERIES at CITY HALL

2009-05-17T07:09:38Z

[quote:879fa0b5f4="Gallery Music"]Sunday May 24th 2009 at 12.00
[concert will take place at City Hall, located at the junction of Dame Street and Parliament Street]

On the occasion of
Day of Bulgarian Education and Culture – 24th May
the unique Eolina Quartet from Bulgaria will perform for the first time in Ireland, joined by folk singer Valya Balkanska and bagpiper Petar Yanev

Quartet Eolina (harp, flute,viola piano)

Corelli: Variations “La Folia”
de Falla: Song, Lullaby, Spanish dance
Debussy: Clair de lune
Andonov: Celtic tale
Goleminov: Tongue-twister, Harvest, Fiddler’s tune
Joplin: Ragtime Dance
Shostakovich: Waltz

Valya Balkanska and Petar Yanev (voice and bagpipe - Bulgarian kaba-gaida)

Zashti mya (Why should I) - Kitka ti viya - 3 folk songs
Mome, mome (Girl,girl) - Ripni Kalinke ( Gig, Kalinke!)

V. Andonov and Petar Yanev: Suite for Quartet and Kaba-Gaida

This concert is made possible with the kind cooperation of the Embassy of Bulgaria in Ireland

The Quartet “Eolina” This unique Bulgarian ensemble celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Back in 1969 harp-player Vessela Geleva had the idea to unite four quite different instruments – harp, flute, viola and piano /cembalo/ into a chamber ensemble which was given the mythical name of the ancient Greek Eolian harp. The quartet brought together four talented musicians determined to find a style of their own and to bring their art to perfection. The Eolina Quartet has since then succeeded in finding its own sound and means of expression, its pictorial and emotional range. The ensemble featured refinement, delicacy, softness and the inward experience of chamber music - to the point of the personal and the intimate. The musicians apply their large-scale talented skills, emotional force and sense of freedom. The Quartet’s unique style and numerous achievements on the path to perfection are owed to the musicians’ professional dedication and hard work always flavoured with new ideas and interpretations. Throughout the years Eolina has constantly widened its repertoire which now includes music created over a span of five centuries - from the 16th century to the present. The Quartet has looked for and made popular unknown works from old masters and from unknown composers many of whom were performed by Eolina for the first time. This ensemble has also been first to play a number of modern works by Bulgarian and foreign composers. There have been more than 40 musical pieces written especially for the Eolina Quartet. Eolina has performed over 1600 concerts in more than 20 countries, and has done numerous audio and video recordings and filmed presentations. Throughout the years this unique ensemble has become a brand name for creative search and musical vitality.
Valya Balkanska, the “cosmic voice” of Bulgaria, is one of the most prominent Bulgarian folk women-singers. Born in 1942 in the Arda village near Smolian in the Rhodope mountains, she was brought up with a long-lived family tradition of authentic folk singing and later mastered the art of the traditional Rhodope folklore songs. In 1965 she became a soloist at the "Rhodope" Ensemble for Folk Songs and Dance and won a gold medal at the National Festival of Folk Arts. Her repertoire includes more then 300 traditional folk songs which she has performed extensively in numerous countries. In 1977 her ‘cosmic” voice, interpreting the Bulgarian folk song " Izlel e Delyu Haidutin", was selected by NASA to be recorded on a golden disc and sent to outer space with the Voyager spacecraft delivering a message of music and sounds from the Earth. Valya Balkanska hold numerous international music awards. In 2004 she issued her the album “Songs from Eternity”, recognized as her best collection. She has also been awarded with the highest state award of Bulgaria – the Order of “Stara Planina”. Together with the Eolina Quartet and piper Petar Yanev Valia Balkanska has created the project “Sound over the world and the Universe”. The musicians took up the challenge to combine the sound of the Bulgarian bagpipe and her voice with the classical instruments in the quartet – harp, flute, piano and viola.
Petar Yanev is a well-known emblematic Bulgarian folk musician mastering the traditional bagpipe /”kaba gaida”/ originating from the Rhodope mountains. He has played and accompanied the performances of folk singer Valya Balkanska in Bulgaria and abroad. One of his latest projects is the suite for “kaba gaida” and classical quartet in the arrangement of Vladislav Andonov from Eolina.
Vessela Geleva, harp Graduated the Bulgarian Academy of Music in Sofia and completed postgraduate studies with Prof. Vera Doulova at the Moscow Conservatory of Music. Winner of the Silver Harp and diploma at InterHarp International contest in the Netherlands. Teaches classes in chamber music and harp at the Bulgarian Academy of Music and the High School of Music in Sofia.
Nikolay Koev, flute Graduated the Bulgarian Academy of Music in Sofia. Played for Varna Philharmonic and the Sofia Opera House orchestras. Has given flute classes at the Cubanakan High School of Music in Havana, Cuba. Performed as flute-soloist on many of occasions.
Vladislav Andonov, viola Graduated the Bulgarian Academy of Music with M.A. in viola. Winner of first prizes and laureate at the Provadia National Competition and the 7th national competition for Singers and Instrumentalists in Bulgaria. Teaches viola classes at the Bulgarian Academy of Music.
Bogdan Stanev, piano (cemballo) Graduated from the Bulgarian Academy of Music with M.A. in piano. First prize winner at the Provadia National Competition and special prize winner at the International Competition “Music and Earth”. Has worked as piano accompanist at the Bulgarian Academy of Music in Sofia.[/quote:879fa0b5f4]

The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett

2009-05-16T12:43:39Z

I just picked up a book at random early this week at Waterstones, and when I started to read it, I couldn't put it down. I've never been so enthralled so much from a book since Scott Lynch's Bastard Gentlemen's series (I'm still waiting for his next book!).

You are quickly immersed in a world of magic and terror, of magical beings called corelings, intent on killing humans who venture out of their magical warded homes, cities. Tales of three very different protagonists on their journey of self-preservation (in their own way), of discovery of what they can do. Will they change the world on how many perceive the terrible magical beings that are the corelings, to be just as vulnerable as they are, and just somehow there maybe a way to defeat them?

Well, you have to read it yourself. Be warned, it's hard to put down once you start.

* Still annoyed that of all books I picked up at random, it's this one, now I have to wait till 2010 for the next release of the book!

More information:
- http://www.petervbrett.com/news/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Painted_Man

New penalties for drivers coming in from May 1st 2009

2009-05-16T12:30:41Z

Get the Chinese version of the penalty points from: http://www.penaltypoints.ie/new_offences.php

Check-in before you arrive at airport for Ryanair

2009-05-14T06:28:50Z

After Wed, May 20th, if you re-issue a boarding card which was already printed, you'll get fined €40.

The airline has announced that from next week it will no longer accept bookings for unaccompanied minors (under 16 years). All new bookings will require passengers, including infants and those on domestic flights, to hold a valid passport or national identity card.

Also

The existing €10 airport check-in fee is being replaced by a €5 fee per person, per flight, on new bookings, except for promotional fares. Free fares and fares costing €1 or €5 will include the check-in fee in the cost.

Source - http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0514/1224246463498.html

Hong Kong Lamma "500" Dragon Boat Race

2009-05-14T01:49:20Z

Lamma Dragon Boat Race, The toughest race on the calendar 40 Men’s, Women’s and Mixed teams compete over the full international 500-metre length course in the "Lamma 500" held at the scenic Tai Wan To Beach, Lamma Island, Hong Kong. [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGvIdX4TRtY[/url]

SUNDAYS @ NOON CONCERT SERIES at CITY HALL

2009-05-09T17:33:57Z

[quote:5f3d87547d="Gallery Music"][concerts will take place at City Hall, located at the junction of Dame Street and Parliament Street]

[size=18:5f3d87547d]Eblana Trio[/size:5f3d87547d]

AISLING O’DEA violin
ALEXANDRA MACKENZIE cello
VERONICA McSWINEY piano

Mendelssohn
Trio No.1 in D minor op.49

Shostakovitch
Trio No.2 in E minor op. 67

The EBLANA ENSEMBLE was founded in 2002, shortly after Veronica McSwiney’s return to live in her native Ireland. Apart from her busy solo career it was her great ambition to form a group, which would give her the opportunity to perform the wonderful repertoire of Chamber Music that exists today. This particular TRIO has been very successful in recitals around the country. In 2009 we will commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of Mendelssohn by including one of his beautiful Trios in our programme.

AISLING O’DEA is one of Ireland’s most gifted violinists. Following her success in 1994 in RTE’s Young Musician of the Future she continued her studies in Germany and became a member of the Oriol Ensemble in Berlin, and was later appointed to the Frankfurt Radio-Symphony Orchestra for 6 years. She has toured extensively worldwide as a recitalist, chamber and orchestral musician and has notably performed as soloist with our own National Symphony Orchestra on a number of occasions. In 2007 was appointed to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and now resides in Edinburgh.

ALEXANDRA MACKENZIE is another very gifted musician and hails from London. Following her graduation from the Royal Academy she achieved a Masters Degree at Manhattan School of Music. She is an avid Chamber Musician and a passionate supporter of New Music and her perfomances have taken her from Carnegie Hall to the Southbank, from Tanglewood Music Festival USA to Ravinia in the role of both soloist and chamber musician. She now teaches at the Royal Academy London Junior Department and also is on the board of Examiners for the Associated Board.

VERONICA McSWINEY is one of Ireland’s most popular pianists and has performed worldwide as soloist and recitalist for many years. Following her studies in Dublin, Salzburg and London she has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, St Petersburg Philharmonic and Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra to name but a few. She was the first Irish Artist to be invited to perform in the USSR in 1975 and was invited back on numerous occasions. Her recording of the JOHN FIELD NOCTURNES is still regarded as the finest available to this day.

For further information contact
Gavin O’Sullivan
ph: +353-87-2456971
address: DUBLIN CITY GALLERY HUGH LANE, PARNELL SQ., DUBLIN 1, IRELAND.
email: gmusic@indigo.ie
website: www.hughlane.ie

The Sundays @ Noon Concert Series is funded by Dublin City Council and grant aided by The Arts Council/ An Chomhairle Ealaíon.[/quote:5f3d87547d]