Sunday 18 May at 11am and 1pm
Tramway Theatre, Blessington
€15 (adult), €10 (child)
Featuring:
Irish Chamber Orchestra
Fiachra Garvey & Soo-Jung Ann / Piano
Programme
Farmyard Carnival Paul Rissmann (Composer) & Lucinda Jacob (Poet)
Bring the whole family along for the world premiere of Farmyard Carnival at West Wicklow Festival. A vibrant and enchanting new family-friendly work commissioned by West Wicklow Festival, to delight listeners of all ages! This exciting collaboration between award-winning Irish poet Lucinda Jacob and British composer Paul Rissmann promises a joyous celebration of farmyard life!
Through descriptive poetry narration and enchanting music, your favourite farm and domestic animals, from the cat to the cow, will be brought to life by the Irish Chamber Orchestra and piano soloists Soo-Jung Ann and Fiachra Garvey.
"Growing up as a pianist and farmer in West Wicklow, for quite some time now I have wanted to commission a new work inspired by the wonderful flora and fauna the Irish countryside has to offer. Having performed Saint Saens' much-loved Carnival of the Animals for many years, which celebrates exotic animals like lions, elephants, kangaroos etc. I felt it would be of enormous value to commission a work celebrating animals children in Ireland have more direct experience with: sheep, cows, horses, pigs, dogs, cats etc.In commissioning "Farmyard Carnival", I have asked Paul Rissmann to compose music for the same instrumentation as Saint Saëns' Carnival (for Chamber Orchestra with the ability for the work to upscale to include a full symphony orchestra). Carnival of the Animals is often a child’s first introduction to programmatic music, offering a playful yet profound way to explore key musical elements such as pitch, timbre, and rhythm, while sparking their imagination through its vivid characterisations of animals. Saint Saëns' work has 14 movements and our Farmyard Carnival will have 10-12 exciting movements, each accompanied by stunning new poetry from Lucinda Jacob.Farmyard Carnival will be a vital new addition to the currently very limited family friendly concert repertoire. I can’t describe in words how excited I am about this new commission, and I can’t wait for our audiences to experience the world premiere in Wicklow!"
