The premiere of a new work by Benjamin Dwyer is one of the many highlights taking place during this year's Handel Festival in April.

Passacaile: an 18th-Century Stroll is commissioned by Temple Bar Cultural Trust, with the selection process for the commission administered by the Contemporary Music Centre. The work, which is based on the Passacaille movement from Handel’s Suite No.7 in g minor, will be premiered at St Audoen’s Church, Dublin on Sunday, 15 April in a concert given by the Irish early music group, Trio Quattro.

Trio Quattro consists of Jenny Robinson (recorders), Anita Vedres (baroque violin), and Malachy Robinson (violone). The group will also perform music by Handel, Telemann and Quantz alongside the new work by Dwyer.

The Contemporary Music Centre is also involved in organising the popular Handel Talk and Walk with Dr Barra Boydell as part of this year's festival. The talk, ‘Handel’s Visit to Dublin 1741-2’, will be followed by the annual performance by Our Lady’s Choral Society of excerpts from Messiah outdoors on Fishamble Street, organized by Temple Bar Cultural Trust. At 2.30pm CMC will host a walking tour of Handel’s Dublin, again led by Dr Boydell, visiting a number of locations associated with Handel and with music in mid-18th century Dublin.

The walking tour commences in Fishamble Street outside the site of the first performance of Messiah on 13 April 1742. From there it will pass Christ Church Cathedral, which provided a number of singers for Handel’s concerts and beside which some of Dublin’s leading music shops were located, and cross the Liffey to St Michan’s church which contains an important organ built in 1725 and which Handel is likely to have played. The tour passes Abbey Street where Handel lived while in Dublin before returning across the Liffey to visit sites associated with the great Italian composer Geminiani, who lived for many years in Dublin where he died in 1762. Visiting Crow Street and Smock Alley theatres, both important venues for concerts during Handel’s time, the tour ends where it started in Fishamble Street.

On Tuesday, 17 April, CMC's library will be the venue for a talk by Nicholas Carolan, Director of the Irish Traditional Music Archive, on Handel's publishers, John and William Neal, and Irish Traditional Music.

The lecture and walking tour take place on Friday, 13 April 2007 at 11.00am and 2.30pm in the Contemporary Music Centre, 19 Fishamble Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 8. The concert with Trio Quattro takes place on Sunday, 15 April at 2.30pm in St Audoen's Church, High Street, Dublin 8. The talk on Tuesday, 17 April 2007 will take place in the Contemporary Music Centre at 2.00pm. All events are part of the Handel Festival presented by Temple Bar Cultural Trust.

For further information and to book tickets for the Handel Walk and Talk contact Karen Hennessy, Promotion Manager, The Contemporary Music Centre, 19 Fishamble Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 8. Tel: 01 673 1922 Email: khennessy@cmc.ie

For further information on the Handel Festival and to book tickets for the concert in St Audoen's Church and the talk on 17 April contact Roisin McCarthy, Temple Bar Cultural Trust. Tel: 01 677 2255 Email: rmccarthy@templebar.ie

Posted: 29 March 2007