Guitarist Thibaut Garcia and cellist Isang Enders will premiere a new commission by composer Benjamin Dwyer as part of their upcoming Music Network national tour, 22 April – 1 May.

Born in Toulouse, Garcia is a current BBC New Generation artist, and in 2016 released his debut album Leyendas on the Erato record label, described by BBC Music Magazine as ‘outstandingly played’. At the age of twenty, Isang Enders became the youngest section leader in Germany when appointed principal cellist of the Dresden Staaskapelle, and collaborates regularly with chamber musicians such as Igor Levit. He has released two albums on Berlin Classics, of Bach’s Cello Suites and cello and piano works by Schumann and Isang Yun. 

The new work by Irish composer and guitarist Benjamin Dwyer, who is currently Professor of Music at Middlesex University, is titled sin títolo  (‘without title’), and is based on a madrigal by Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa (1566–1613). Writing about the new work, Dwyer said:

The nature of a cello and guitar duet is completely different to a five-part vocal work; however, the cello part does absorb melodic lines drawn from the vocal parts – sometimes from the base, sometimes from the soprano and alto lines. The complex, interrelated nature of Gesualdo’s madrigal writing refuses a simplistic reduction to mere melody and accompaniment, and thus the very nature of the original is radically transformed. 

The duo will also perform music by Stephen Goss (b. 1964), Heitor Villa-Lobos, Johann Sebastian Bach, Enrique Granados, Gaspar Cassadó and Dušan Bogdanović (b. 1955).  

The tour will visit Wexford (22 Apr), Castlebar (23 Apr), Dublin (25 Apr), Cork (26 Apr), Waterford (27 Apr), Tralee (29 Apr), Clifden (30 Apr) and Dún Laoghaire (1 May). For tickets and further information, visit www.musicnetwork.ie. 

Programme:

Dušan Bogdanović (b. 1955)
4 Pièces Intimes
1. Prière
2. Mouvement
3. La harpe de David
4. Chant

Gaspar Cassadó (1897-1966)
Suite for Solo Cello:
1. Preludio - Fantasia
2. Sardana - Danza
3. Intermezzo e Danza Finale

Enrique Granados (1867-1916)
12 Danzas Españolas Op. 37, Vol. 2 No. 5, ‘Andaluza’
Intermezzo from the Opera “Goyescas” H. 65
12 Danzas Españolas Op. 37, Vol. 1 No. 2, ‘Oriental’

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004

 Benjamin Dwyer (b. 1965)
‘sin títolo’ – New commission by Music Network

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)
Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, Mvt. I, Ária: Cantilena 

Stephen Goss (b. 1964)
Park of Idols
1. Jump Start
2. Cold Dark Matter
3. Fractured Loop
4. Malabar Hill
5. The Raw
6. Sharjah