Music for Galway has announced its 2024–25 season of concerts, beginning on 27 September. Launched by RTÉ Lyric FM presenter Lorcan Murray at the new Bonham Quay complex in Galway this week, the season’s theme is ‘Irish Connections’, reflecting the range of Irish artists involved and also the programming. ‘Quite organically, a theme emerged as the season took shape,’ said MfG Artistic Director Finghin Collins. ‘There were either Irish-based artists or an Irish historic connection or composer in almost every concert.’ Among the groups and artists featured this year are the Fidelio Trio, Cassiopeia Winds and the Vanbrugh as well as the Britten Oboe Quartet, violinist Simone Lamsma, and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott.

Music for Galway held its major Cellissimo festival in May, which explored themes of migration and the climate crisis. Those themes continue through the upcoming season: Cellissimo has, the promoter says, ‘set the organisation on a trajectory in which sustainability is part of the whole decision-making process: from the choice of artists, programme, production of marketing materials, to the delivery of the concerts themselves.’

Commenting on the programme, Anna Lardi, CEO of Music for Galway, said:

Delivering Cellissimo has proven to be transformative for Music for Galway. It was hard graft, a privilege, and ultimately the festival itself turned into pure joy. This brings us to our 43rd season feeling invigorated and with renewed resolve to inspire you with a treasure trove of ambitious programmes.

Season concerts
The new season opens on 27 September at Leisureland with an Irish sports themed event: the RTÉ Concert Orchestra conducted by Gavin Maloney and presented by RTÉ sports presenter Marty Morrissey. The concert will consist of orchestrated sports tunes and songs with accompanying footage from sporting wins and iconic moments over the years.

On 10 October, Italian pianist Maurizio Baglini will perform Liszt’s arrangement of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and the Sonata Op. 27 No. 1 at the Emily Anderson Concert Hall at the University of Galway. This concert honours the life of Galwegian Emily Anderson (1891–1962) who collected, translated and edited the letters of Beethoven – nearly sixteen thousand of them written between 1787 and 1827 – and published them in several volumes.

Cassiopeia Winds – featuring Matthew Manning, Catriona Ryan, Deirdre O’Leary, Cormac Ó hAodáin and John Hearne – will perform at the Genesys Building of Bonham Quay on 23 October. Their programme will include Hindemith, Nielsen, Briccialdi, Adele O’Dwyer’s Three Chromatic Miniatures and American composer Valerie Coleman’s Umoja. As part of MfG Encore, which aims to bring visiting artists to the wider Galway region, this concert will be repeated the following day in Kilcummin Church, Oughterard.

Free lunchtime concerts
Beginning on 31 October, there will be a series of free lunchtime concerts at the University of Galway in association with Arts in Action. Artists include Adam Buttimer (tuba) on 31 October; soprano Aimee Banks and pianist Dearbhla Collins on 14 November; pianist Laoise McMullin on 13 February; and Cahal Masterson (piano) and Rebecca Murphy (soprano) on 27 March performing KRAINA by Anselm McDonnell.

On 7 November at the Hardiman Ballroom, Finghin Collins, clarinettist John Finucane and mezzo-soprano Sharon Carty will mark the centenary of Charles Villiers Stanford’s death with a selection of his songs and the Sonata for clarinet and piano, Op. 120. Collins and Carty recently released the album Cushendall on the SOMM label that features a number of the songs. The programme will also include Brahms, Schumann, Muriel Herbert and Rebecca Clarke.

Musici Ireland will perform their new work A Mother’s Voice on 22 November at Nun’s Island Theatre. This multi-disciplinary piece, commissioned by the ensemble, is a collaboration between artists and living survivors of the mother and baby homes in Ireland, shedding light on Ireland’s recent history.

Music for Galway’s annual Midwinter Festival takes place on 17–19 January and the theme this year is the music of the French composer Ravel. In three concerts at the Town Hall Theatre, audiences will hear a range of his chamber music and songs. On the final day there will be a rare four-hand piano version of his famous work Bolero with new choreography by Galway-based dance artist Diarmuid Armstrong Mayock, commissioned in partnership with Galway Dance.

The Fidelio Trio – Darragh Morgan, Mary Dullea and Tim Gill – will perform at the Hardiman Ballroom on February 17th, presenting a programme of piano trio repertoire by Beethoven and Schubert, and, on 27 February, the National Symphony Orchestra, Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma and conductor Alexander Shelley will perform Brahms’ Violin Concerto and Schumann’s ‘Rhenish’ Symphony at Leisureland.

The Britten Oboe Quartet, led by Nicholas Daniel, will perform at St Joseph’s Church on 11 March and, as part of the MfG Encore series, repeat their concert at Campbell’s Tavern in Headford on 12 March. The programme will include Mozart, Elizabeth Maconchy and Ernest Moeran, the latter two composers deeply influenced by Irish culture. The Vanburgh and friends – Keith Pascoe, Marja Gaynor, Simon Aspell, Ed Creedon and Christopher Marwood – will play St Joseph’s on 30 March with a programme featuring Mozart’s Quinet in C Major, and a version for string quintet of Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115.

Mark Duley will conduct Collegium for a Music for Good Friday concert on 18 April, and the season will conclude with American pianist Anne-Marie McDermott on 7 May. McDermott will be in Ireland as a member of the jury of the Dublin International Piano Competition and will give her Galway debut at the Emily Anderson Concert Hall with a programme of Bach, Busoni and Brahms.

For further details on all concerts and booking, visit www.musicforgalway.ie.

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