A new work by Rachel Holstead, Thar an bhfarraige gheal, receives five performances in Kerry in September. As most composers know only too well, achieving the first performance of a new work is difficult enough, but achieving the second and subsequent performances can be an insurmountable hurdle. However the enlightened work of violinist Juliet Jopling and her Rossbeigh-based Chamber Music in Retreat Lodges festival is not only providing these multiple performances, but a residency for the composer as well. Rachel Hostead, herself from Ventry, is using her own Kerry background to combine threads of poetry spoken and sung by Áine Uí Laoithe with the different voices of traditional and classical string instruments played by Aoife Granville, Malin Broman, Chris George, Claudia Ajmone-Marsan, Juliet Jopling, Ylvali Zilliacus, Jesper Svedberg and Simon Crawford-Phillips.

The residency also includes workshops in secondary schools in Dingle, Cahirciveen and Kenmare in which Holstead, together with Juliet Jopling and Aoife Granville, will work with students to create music inspired by the Blasket Islands. Their compositions will be played alongside the professional works in the concert tour.

The premiere of Thar an bhfarraige gheal takes place in the Great Blasket Centre, Dingle, on 4 September with further performances in Killorglin, Killarney, Kenmare and Waterville in the days following (details in our Calendar). The programme also includes works by Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart and Schumann.