National Concert Hall Announces Female Composer Series
The National Concert Hall has announced the details of its 2018 Chamber Music Series, including a Female Composer Series co-curated by Sounding the Feminists (STF).
The Female Composer Series will be part of the five-year initiative, announced in March 2018, to increase the presence of female composers at the NCH. This also includes a commissioning scheme and an extensive programming strand.
As part of the series, six concerts will take place between November 2018 and April 2019, featuring composers such as Lili Boulanger, Clara Schumann, Rebecca Clarke, Fanny Robinson, Sofia Gubaidulina, Jane O’Leary, Unsuk Chin, Jane O’Leary, Barbara Strozzi, Louise Farrenc and more. See the full programme details below.
Performers in the series include the Fidelio Trio, Réamonn Keary (piano) and Annette Cleary (cello), Sharon Carty (mezzo soprano) with Fionnuala Hunt (violin) and Úna Hunt (piano), Concorde Ensemble, the Irish Baroque Orchestra, and Mirian Roycroft (cello) with Lance Coburn (piano).
The 2018 Chamber Music Series will also feature a series exploring the evolution of the trio sonata with the Irish Baroque Orchestra (25/27/29 September), a Sunday String Quartet Series running on Sundays at 3pm from October to December, and a Couperin 350th Anniversary Series curated by Malcolm Proud in November.
All events in the Chamber Music Series take place in the Kevin Barry Recital Room. For further details visit www.nch.ie.
Female Composer Series Programme:
Fidelio Trio
Thursday, 1 November, 7.30 pm
Clara Schumann – Piano Trio in G minor Op.17 (1846)
Joan Trimble – Phantasy Trio (1940)
Lili Boulanger – Nocturne for violin and piano (1911)
Rebecca Clarke – Piano Trio (1921)
Réamonn Keary, piano | Annette Cleary, cello
Thursday, 15 November, 7.30 pm
Fanny Robinson – Selection of piano pieces (1850s-1870s)
C.V. Stanford – Cello Sonata No.2 (1889)
Nadia Boulanger – Trois pieces for cello and piano (1914)
Leokadiya Kashperova – Cello Sonata No.1 in G major (c.1905)
Sharon Carty, mezzo soprano | Fionnuala Hunt, violin | Úna Hunt, piano
Thursday, 24 January 24, 7.30pm
France in La Belle Époque: Songs and piano music by Fauré and Debussy coupled with the prominent female composer Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944) and Franco-Irish composers: Augusta Holmès (1847-1903), Adela Maddison (1862-1929) and Hope Temple (1859-1938).
The music of Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) is celebrated with her Deux Morceaux (Nocturne and Cortége) for violin and piano coupled with Debussy’s violin sonata, the composer’s last completed work before his death in 1918.
Concorde | Jane O’Leary, director
Thursday, 7 February, 7.30pm
‘Trailblazers’
Thea Musgrave – Orfeo I (1975)
Sofia Gubaidulina – De Profundis (1978)
Marta Ptaszyńska – Moon Flowers
Jane O’Leary – between 2 waves of the sea (2016)
Nicola LeFanu – Isobirthday (2002)
Kaija Saariaho – Cendres (1998)
Unsuk Chin – Alice in Wonderland: Advice from a caterpillar (2007)
Joan Tower – Amazon I (1977)
Irish Baroque Orchestra
Thursday, 7 March, 7.30pm
‘Donne Barocche’
Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre – Sonatas for violin & continuo
Barbara Strozzi – Serenata ‘HorforApollo’ & Arietta ‘Miei pensieri’
Antonia Bembo – Cantata ‘Lamento della Vergine’
Rosa Giacinta – Badalla Mottetto ‘Non plangete’
Isabella Leonarda – Sonata duodecima for violin solo and continuo (from Sonate a 1, 2, 3, 4, istrometi Op. decima sesta)
Presented in association with Finding a Voice
Miriam Roycroft, cello | Lance Coburn, piano
Thursday, 4 April, 7.30pm
Louise Farrenc – Cello Sonata in B flat Major Op. 46 (1859)
Vítězslava Kaprálová – April Preludes, Op. 13 (1937)
Ethel Smyth – Cello Sonata in a Minor Op.5 (1887)
Luise Adolpha Le Beau – Cello Sonata in D Major Op.17 (1882)
Henriëtte Bosmans – Sonata (1919)