The Irish Chamber Orchestra imports one of Germany’s most talked-about musicians, clarinettist and composer Jörg Widmann …. The Irish Chamber Orchestra’s newly appointed Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Partner Jörg Widmann presents an introductory showcase that highlights his many talents as a clarinettist, composer and conductor.  As one ofGermany’s best exports, Widmann has performed with such
greats as András Schiff,Christoph von Dohnányi,KentNagano and many more. 

The brilliant Widmann has already achieved the unthinkable in many respects. An award-winning composer, performer and professor of music he has even dabbled with the visual arts by collaborating with his compatriot Anselm Kiefer on a widely acclaimed installation. His works have been recorded by some of the contemporary music scene’s leading labels and performed by respected instrumentalists.  The BBC talks to him regularly and the Guardian writes about him. A continuously growing audience listens to his oeuvre, which expands to opera, chamber music, rich orchestral works and solo instrument compositions. He has managed all of this without staging a revolution, preaching a new style or creating a scandal.

Widmann first worked with the Irish Chamber Orchestra in 2007 and went on to takeBerlinby storm with them that year.  He has continued to work with the orchestra since then and, now as Artistic Partner, has great plans for its future.

His April programme features the first of Mendelssohn’s five great symphonies written by the prodigious fifteen-year-old.    It is the epitome of youth as it bursts with energy.  Widmann presents two of his own compositions Insel der Sirenen (Island of the Sirens) for Violin and String Orchestra, which is a kaleidoscope of sonic brilliance, with Katherine Hunka (ICO Leader) as featured soloist.  He performs his virtuosic Fantasie, inspired by commedia dell’arte, has been described as ‘the most beautiful circus music ever written’.  Mozart’s ever popular Clarinet Concerto, KV662 in A major is best remembered from the soundtrack of the movie “Out of Africa” and is one of the composer’s finest works.  

Don’t miss a richly varied programme from Jorg Widmann and the Irish Chamber Orchestra on Thursday 19 April at UCH, Limerick and Saturday at the RDS Concert Hall, Dublin on Saturday 21 April.

 

For further information,

Charlotte Eglington, ICO Press Office, Irish Chamber Orchestra,

 

 ICO Studio, University of Limerick, Castletroy, Limerick

 

T: 353 -61-202583 F: 353-61-202 6217  E: charlotte.eglington@ul.ie

 

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MEDIA RELEASE   22nd March 2012

The Irish Chamber Orchestra returns to the stage with the dynamic maestra from Lisbon, Joana Carneiro, who has been taking the world by storm.   

On Thursday 29^th March at University Concert Hall, the great Carneiro makes her debut with the ICO conducting a pot-pourri of delights featuring one of Mozart’s remarkable symphonies. The jewel-like perfection of Symphony No.29 in A major (K.201) is energetic, nostalgic and witty, imbued with spirit and was one of his first masterpieces. Mozart was fully in control of his craft when writing with an unmistakably individual 18-year old voice, espousing the musical values that were to underpin his later symphonies.

The revolutionary composer Arnold Schoenberg saw himself as the next composer in a line extending from Mozart to Beethoven to Brahms. His early work Transfigured Night was inspired by Brahms and written in a lush late Romantic style. Named after Richard Dehmel’s poem, the music is powerful and ultimately comes to a happy conclusion. Another must-hear work!

Elaine Agnew’s Twilight, is an atmospheric work commissioned by the Irish Chamber Orchestra. Elaine studied composition at Queen’s University Belfast and at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Her many works have been commissioned, performed and broadcast worldwide by artists with many being recorded for commercial release.

The orchestra welcomes the stunning Portuguese maestra Joana Carneiro who stands tall in a male dominated world. Music Director of the prestigious Berkeley Symphony, she succeeds the great Kent Nagano and is also guest conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra. Prior to this Joana was Assistant Conductor with the celebrated Los Angeles Philharmonic working with Esa-Pekka Salonen. 

Don’t miss another great spring offering from the Irish Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Joana Carneiro at University Concert Hall, Limerick only. Call 061-331549 or www.irishchamberorchestra.com

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MEDIA RELEASE   1st March 2012    

MOZART BY MOONLIGHT 

From the capable hands of Gábor Tákacs-Nagy and great acclaim for John Kinsella’s world première, the Irish Chamber Orchestra returns to the stage with yet another celebrated conductor for their next performance at University Concert Hall, Limerick on Thursday 29 March. 

 

A female guest conductor taking the podium is a rare enough event for the Irish Chamber Orchestra – mainly because there are so few.   The stunning Portuguese conductor Joana Carneiro is recognised as one of the most outstanding young conductors on the world circuit.  Currently Music Director of the Berkeley Symphony, she succeeded Kent Nagano in becoming only its third music director in the 40-year history of the orchestra. She is also guest conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra.   Prior to this Joana was Assistant Conductor with the celebrated Los Angeles Philharmonic working with Esa-Pekka Salonen.  

Lisbon-born Carneiro is one of nine siblings who all studied music (not surprising given their father was Robert Carneiro, former Minister for Education).  She studied viola before turning her attention to conducting.  Joana pursued her Master’s degree from Northwestern University studying with Victor Yampolsky and Mallory Thompson, and subsequent doctoral studies at the University of Michigan, with Kenneth Kiesler.

The Irish Chamber Orchestra look forward to working with Joana in a delightful programme that features Mozart’s popular and prodigious Symphony 29 in A major, K.201 written by an18-year-old composer. Both tentative and graceful, it captures the fire and beauty of Mozart’s spirit with its expressive range and technical sophistication placing this symphony in a class of its own.  Other nocturnal works feature from the ICO’s Night Moves CD.  Discover Schoenberg’s early masterpiece for strings Transfigured Night and hear how the composer used Richard Dehmel’s expressionist poem as the template for one of the musical icons of German late romanticism.  Elaine Agnew’s thought-provoking Twilight will also seduce audiences.

Don’t miss the Irish Chamber Orchestra at University Concert Hall.  Call 061-331549 or www.irishchamberorchestra.com

 

For further information:

Charlotte Eglington, ICO Press Office, Irish Chamber Orchestra, ICO Studio, University of Limerick, Castletroy, Limerick

T: 353 -61-202583 F: 353-61-202 6217  E: charlotte.eglington@ul.ie

 

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Media Release, Feb 2012

Mozart By Moonlight

The ICO welcome the brilliant Portuguese conductor Joana Carneiro, Music Director of the Berkeley Symphony and guest conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra.

 International highlights include appearances with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Norkopping Symphony, Prague Philharmonia and the Orchestra Sinfonica del Teatro la Fenice at the Venice Biennale, as well as the Macau Chamber Orchestra and Beijing Orchestra at the International Music Festival of Macau. In the Americas, she has led the Sao Paulo State Symphony, Puerto Rico Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony, Grant Park Music Festival and Manhattan School of Music, among others.  In addition to her Cincinnati Opera debut, Joana conducted John Adams’ A Flowering Tree with the Chicago Opera Theater and at La Cité de la Musique in Paris. She also led performances of Peter Sellars’s stagings of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex and Symphony of Psalms at the Sydney Festival, which won Australia’s Helpmann Award for Best Symphony Orchestra Concert in 2010. Prior to this, she served as assistant conductor to Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Paris Opera’s premiere of Adriana Mater by Kaija Saariaho and led critically-acclaimed performances of Philippe Boesmans’s Julie in Bolzano, Italy.

“Carneiro and the orchestra dug into the music with zest, evoking rugged, earthy life and passion, calm respite and mystical ceremony”Los Angeles Times

LISTINGS

Elaine Agnew  Twilight
Mozart  Symphony No. 29 in A major, K. 201 (186a)
Schoenberg  Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) Op.4

How to book

Limerick: Tel: 061 331549 or http://www.uch.ie/

€20, €18 conc and €10 students

www.irishchamberorchestra.com

 

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Media Release, Jan 2012

The ICO performs a world première of a new work by Irish composer John Kinsella.

The Irish Chamber Orchestra welcomes 2012 as newly appointed Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Partner Jörg Widmann programmes his first season with the orchestra.

The opening concert on Thursday 9^th February at University Concert Hall features the world première of John Kinsella’s Tenth Symphony which he has dedicated to the Irish Chamber Orchestra.  Kinsella has been described as “the most significant Irish symphonist since Stanford,” by BBC Radio 3.   As a prolific Irish composer he has written more than 21 compositions for orchestra including nine symphonies – works which over the years have been performed by the ICO including Triptych, Hommàge a Clarence, Nocturne and Symphony No. 9 among others.  In 1988 he retired from his position as Head of Music in RTÉ to concentrate on composition.  2012 marks a very special year for John as he celebrates his 80^th birthday with this much anticipated new work.

Hungarian violinist-turned-conductor Gabor Takacs-Nagy was founder of the Takács Quartet and is currently music director at Manchester Camerata.   As guest conductor of the Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, he has worked with the ICO over many years and opens the season inLimerick.  He is professor of chamber music at the Geneva Conservatory, the Ecole Supérieur de Musique in Sion and gives masterclasses at numerous international academies, including theVerbierFestivalAcademy, where he plays an active role.

Gabor returns to his native Hungary, home of Liszt, one of the country’s finest exports.   His Angélus! Prière aux Anges Gardiens (Angelus! Prayer to the Guardian Angels) is the first movement of the final volume of Années de Pèlerinage (The Years of Pilgrimage), a piano work that spanned much of Liszt’s rich life, created in instalments across four decades.

The ICO continues to explore the genius of Beethoven this season with his breath-taking, seldom-performed Fourth Symphony, his sunniest work which is the equivalent of Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony.  The freshness and spontaneity of the themes, the lack of tragic motives and the perfection of the form triggered the enthusiasm of his contemporaries.

L’Horloge de Flore, is a delightful piece inspired by the vastly influential work of the great Swedish botanist Linnaeus, who named a series of flowers according to the hour at which each one blooms. If arranged in the sequence of flowering over the day they constitute a type of floral clock or horologium florae. This idea was further developed by the witty French composer Jean Français in his composition as he lists the hour of the day, the French, botanical and English names of the plants he chose to represent in this delightful work.  Featured soloist is Daniel Bates, Principal Oboe with the Irish Chamber Orchestra.

Don’t miss another exciting performance with the ICO on Thursday 9^th February at University Concert Hall, Limerick and again on Saturday 11^th February at the RDS Concert Hall.  Telephone 061-331549 for bookings.

LISTINGS

FEBRUARY 2012                   WORLD PREMIÈRE

Irish Chamber Orchestra

Gábor Takács-Nagy Conductor

Daniel Bates Oboe

Liszt                   Angelus! Prière Aux Anges Gardiens

Beethoven          Symphony No. 4, Op. 60, B-flat Major

Jean Francaix     Suite for Oboe and Orchestra The Flower Clock

Kinsella               Symphony No. 10 (World Première)

Thursday 9 February                University Concert Hall, Limerick @ 8pm   www.uch.ie

Saturday 11 February                RDS Concert Hall, Dublin @ 8pm   www.ticketmaster.ie