Finding a Voice 
Music by women composers from the 12th century to the present day
5–8 March 2020
Clonmel, Co. Tipperary 

Finding a Voice is a four-day concert series based in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary that focuses exclusively on music by women composers through the ages, in celebration of International Women’s Day - 8th March.  

Located in the beautiful venues of the Main Guard and Old St. Mary’s Church, Finding A Voice features performances from leading Irish and international musicians.

Founded in 2017 by sisters Roisin Maher (Curator - Lecturer at CIT Cork School of Music) and Clíona Maher (Administrator - Director of Clonmel Junction Arts Festival), over the past two years the concert series has featured music by more than fifty women composers, from the 12th century Hildegard of Bingen to newly commissioned works.

Pre-festival event
Saturday 29 February, 2pm
Music Workshop for 12 - 18 year olds with Irish Baroque Orchestra as part of Finding A Voice concert series
Tipperary Museum of Hidden History
Mick Delahunty Square
Clonmel 
Reserve a place

Full Festival Programme, 5–8 March

Thursday 5 March, 7pm, Old St. Mary’s Church, Clonmel
Finding A Voice - All that Jazz!
CSM Jazz Big Band, conductor Cormac McCarthy
Big band jazz comes to Clonmel in an hour-long opening concert that will definitely have a “wow” factor! With music by jazz greats including Mary Lou Williams and Maria Schneider, as well as rising Irish star, Aine Delaney and many more. 
Tickets

Friday 6 March, 1pm, Old St. Mary’s Church, Clonmel
Andreea Banciu (viola) and Aileen Cahill (piano)
Romantic music for viola and piano by including Rebecca Clarke’s glorious Viola Sonata, alongside music by Clara Schumann, Amy Beach and others. 
Tickets

Friday 6 March, 7.30pm, Old St. Mary’s Church, Clonmel
RTÉ Con Tempo Quartet , Aileen Cahill (piano)
Music for string quartet and piano quintet by Fanny Mendelssohn, Amy Beach and more.
Tickets

Saturday 7 March, 1pm, Old St. Mary’s Church, Clonmel
Miriam Kaczor (flute) and Isabelle O’Connell (piano)
A wonderful eclectic programme of music for flute and piano from around the world, including France, Hungary / Croatia, Australia, Cuba and, of course, Ireland. Featuring festival-favourite Isabelle O’Connell on piano and rising star, Miriam Kaczor, flautist.
Lili Boulanger - Nocturne
Anne Boyd - Goldfish through Summer Rain
Mélanie Bonis - Sonata
Alyson Barber - Bόthar na Siog
Tania Leon - Del Caribe Soy!
Dora Pejacevic - Slavic Sonata 
Tickets

Saturday 7 March, 7.30pm, Old St. Mary’s Church, Clonmel
Isabelle O’Connell, piano
Programme of contemporary piano music including a world premiere of a new work by Irish composer Gráinne Mulvey
Sofia Gubaidulina - Chaconne
Caroline Shaw - Gustave le Gray
Gráinne Mulvey - new york [World premiere]
Mary Kouyoumdjian - Aghavni
Siobhan Cleary - Chaconne 
Tickets

Sunday 8 March, 1pm, Main Guard
Anne-Marie O’Farrell, harp
Renowned harpist and composer Anne-Marie O’Farell celebrates the harp’s recent designation by UNESCO as having a unique place in Irish cultural life with a fabulous concert of music for traditional Irish harp and pedal harp with a Celtic and Gallic twist ! Featuring music by Sally Beamish, Elinor Evans, Caroline Lizotte alongside that of Irish composers Ailís Ní Riain, Eibhlís Farrell and Anne-Marie O’Farrell. The concert also includes the first performance of Beyond the Lake by Rose Connolly, winner of the Finding a Voice Composition Competition for Emerging Women Composers.
Tickets

Sunday 8 March, 1pm, Old St. Mary’s Church, Clonmel
Free concert by Imogen Gunner, Rose Connolly and Emma Maguire
Imogen Gunner and Rose Connolly are multi-instrumentalists, composers and vocalists. They perform a set of original work, comprising instrumentals and songs, with beautifully blended harmony vocals, and instrumentals informed by trad, jazz, old-time and improvisation. They are joined by Wicklow fiddler and composer Emma Maguire.
Imogen Gunner: Fiddle, vocals
Rose Connolly: Piano, guitar, banjo, ukulele
Emma Maguire: Fiddle
Reserve a place

Sunday 8 March, 7pm, Main Guard
Irish Baroque Orchestra
Irish Baroque Orchestra is an early music ensemble based in Ireland. The Irish Baroque Orchestra is acclaimed as Ireland’s flagship period music ensemble and delivers historically-informed performances to the highest standards at home and abroad

Opening with twelfth-century mystic, Hildegard of Bingen, this concert sees the supremely talented Irish Baroque Orchestra bring the music of seventeenth-century French and Italian composers back to vibrant life. Including the music of Francesca Caccini, Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre and Antonia Bembo, as well as Ursuline nun Isabella Leonarda, whose 400th anniversary is being celebrated in 2020. 

Hildegard von Bingen - Ave generosa
Francesca Caccini - Maria, dolce Maria
Isabella Leonarda - Sonata Op.16 no.7, Ave sauvis dilecto, Sonata Op.16 no.1
Elizabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre - Pieces de clavecin, Trio Sonatas in G minor and B flat major
Antonia Bembo - Détourne tes regards, Mi basta cosi, Je t’eusse offert Seigneur
Tickets 

For further information and tickets, visit www.findingavoice.ie.