Irish pianist, Maria McGarry, performs in the Palais des Nations in Geneva on 28 June.

The concert, which marks the end of Ireland's Presidency of the European Union, is being organised by Ireland's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in cooperation with the United Nations Office in Geneva and the Department of Foreign Affairs, Dublin. The Palais des Nations is the United Nations building and Mr Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General of the United Nations in Geneva, will be patron to the event.

The concert will take the form of a piano recital by the Maria McGarry, one of the younger generation of Irish musicians gaining a reputation abroad. During the hour long performance, Ms McGarry will perform a selection of pieces including compositions by the early nineteenth-century Irish composer John Field. Her programme also includes contemporary composer John Kinsella’s Reflection II.

The concert is one of many cultural events organised at the Palais des Nations throughout the year. UN Geneva's cultural policy is expressed principally through exhibitions, gifts and concerts to make the Palais des Nations a centre for encounters and the tolerance that art promotes.

The concert will begin at 6.30pm with introductory speeches by Director-General Ordzhonikidze and Irish Ambassador Mary Whelan. Invitations will be sent to all the Permanent Missions to the UN in Geneva; the Heads of all the UN agencies in Geneva and senior UN staff; and senior members of the Government of the Canton of Geneva.

The concert will take place in Hall XIV, which is situated behind the grand Assembly Hall in the Palais des Nations. The Hall is a large room with floor to ceiling windows looking out on the gardens of the Palais. It seats approximately 300 people.