The 9th Fidelio Winter Chamber Music Friday 26th of Nov - Sunday 28th of Nov 2021
The 2021 programme features premieres by Kevin Volans, Irene Buckley and Anna Clyne and a focus on Igor Stravinsky’s music to commemorate 50 years since the composer’s death.
Presented by GlasDrum and Music at DCU.
GLASDRUM, a north Dublin voluntary organisation dedicated to bringing high quality arts events to Glasnevin and Drumcondra, reunites with Music at DCU to present the FIDELIO TRIO WINTER CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL 2021 from Friday, November 26th to Sunday November 28th in Belvedere House, St Patrick’s Campus DCU and the National Botanic Gardens.
Now in its ninth outing, this iconic winter weekend which is now a staple in the Irish classical music calendar sees the renowned Fidelio Trio - Darragh Morgan (violin), Tim Gill (cello) and Mary Dullea (piano) – appear in the intimate 18th century surrounds of Belvedere House for three invigorating programmes as well as venturing beyond Belvedere to offer a free lunchtime performance at the National Botanic Gardens.
The Trio are joined for this edition of the WCMF by Guest Musicians Francesco Paolo Scola (clarinet), Fiachra Garvey (piano) and Featured Young Artist Angus McCall (cello).
In a programme spanning the classical and contemporary music repertoire, the Fidelio Trio welcome audiences back through stunning offerings commemorating Stravinsky and Saint-Saëns, a World Premiere by Irene Buckley and Irish premieres by Kevin Volans and Anna Clyne as well as rarely-heard gems by Galina Ustvolskaya, Ruth Crawford-Seeger and Guillaume Lekeu.
The festival is supported by the Arts Council Festivals Investment Scheme.
The Festival opens on Friday November 26th (7.30pm) with an exciting concert FROM RITE TO RAGTIME commemorating the extraordinary musical legacy of Igor Stravinsky 50 years on from his death, the Irish premiere of Baobab for violin solo by Kevin Volans, Galina Ustvolskaya’s darkly atmospheric Clarinet Trio featuring guest artist Francisco Paulo Scola (clarinet) alongside the iconic masterpiece Sonata for Cello and Piano in D Minor Op. 40 by Dmitri Shostakovich. (Approx duration 1hr 50 mins with 30-minute ventilation break)
On Saturday November 27th the Festival visits the National Botanic Gardens for a special free lunchtime concert (1.00pm) FROM BACH TO BERIO. The programme features Berio’s seminal Sequenza IX for Clarinet back to back with JS Bach’s Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor. The artists at the helm of the lunchtime rendezvous are celebrated soloists with exceptional mastery at their craft. Francesco Paolo Scola is Principal Clarinet of the Ulster Orchestra and Angus McCall is a name to watch out for, working across the art form as soloist, chamber, and orchestral cellist. Enjoy a walk through the iconic gardens followed by new and old music played by these extraordinary musicians in this special performance in partnership with the National Botanic Gardens and the Office of Public Works.
The evening concert on Saturday November 27th (7.30pm) - FROM FOLK TO SCREEN - features the World Premiere of A Piper in the Meadow Straying by Irene Buckley - a new piano trio written especially for the 2021 Winter Chamber Music Festival. The focus on the New World weaves together cinematic moments in Korngold's Piano Trio Op 1 with Ruth Crawford Seeger's remarkable 1926 Sonata for Violin and Piano. Most known for his iconic Adagio, Samuel Barber's romantic influenced cello sonata was composed in 1932, only 6 years after the Crawford Seeger Sonata. Approx duration 2hrs.
A THOUSAND MORNINGS brings the 2021 edition of the festival to a close (3.00pm) showcasing the Fidelio Trio’s “consummate musicianship”- (The Observer). Opening with a theme that Saint-Saëns described as 'black with notes and black in mood', the unusual 5-movement long Piano Trio No. 2, of which the Fidelio Trio's recording was lauded by Gramophone Magazine as Editor's Choice, rounds of the finale of this year's Festival, marking the centenary of Saint-Saëns death. The programme also features the exciting Irish premiere of a substantial new trio A Thousand Mornings by one of the most celebrated composers of our time, Anna Clyne, written for the Fidelio Trio. Lekeu's gorgeous Violin Sonata, originally composed for the acclaimed violinist Eugène Ysaÿe, completes this programme.
