The 2007 West Cork Chamber Music Festival features premieres by Ian Wilson and John Kinsella.

John Kinsella’s virtuosic Prelude and Toccata for String Quartet has been written to ‘show off the many skills’ of the festival’s creators, the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet, for whom Kinsella wrote his Fourth String Quartet in 1991-93. It will be heard for the first time in Bantry House, Cork on July 1 when it opens a concert that will also include Grieg’s greatest but largely over-looked song-cycle Haugtussa (The Mountain Maid) and Schubert’s Death and The Maiden.

The Vanbrugh Quartet return to Bantry House for Ian Wilson’s re:play on July 3. Employing ‘striking rhythmic and melodic motifs’ gleaned from the text of Samuel Beckett’s Play, it is a substantial 22-minute work with a strong improvisatory accent and will also involve saxophonist Cathal Roche, pianist Hugh Tinney and Malachy Robinson on double bass.

Other festival highlights in a year dominated by artists from former Soviet Union states will be appearances by pianists Elisabeth Leonskaja and Polina Leschenko and the mezzo-soprano Lyudmila Shkertil. And new this year is a series of virtuoso lunchtime concerts that will include violinists Isabelle Faust, Catherine Leonard and Liza Ferschtman.

The West Cork Chamber Music Festival runs from June 24 to July 8 in Bantry House, Bantry, Co. Cork. For full programme details, see: www.westcorkmusic.ie

Posted: 22 June 2007