NSO present: A Celebration of International Women's Day I, featuring music by Ina Boyle

Nil Venditti, conductor 
Catriona Ryan, flute
Presented by Paul Herriott, RTÉ lyric fm

To mark International Women’s Day on March 8, the National Symphony Orchestra celebrates with the first of two concerts, this evening a celebration of seven distinctive, very different pioneering female voices from Ireland, Europe and the United States, with rising star conductor Nil Venditti leading the NSO.

The NSO’s own principal flute, Catriona Ryan, steps into the spotlight for Cécile Chaminade’s exquisitely romantic, eloquently French-sounding Concertino for Flute. Closer to home, Ina Boyle’s The Magic Harp evocatively conjures the Irish myth of the durd-alba, the sinuously, sensually moving wind among apple trees in blossom, in a ravishing rhapsody for orchestra. Fast emerging from the long shadow of her brother Felix, Fanny Mendelssohn’s only known orchestral work, the charming Overture in C, boasts well-mannered modesty, wit and charm as fresh as a spring stream. Voices from the New World including Joan Tower’s thrilling, brass-led Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No.1, Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw’s intricate, beautifully crafted kaleidoscope of ever-changing contours and jewel-like colours, Entr’acte, and the cinematic sweep and grandeur of London-born, US-resident Anna Clyne’s exuberant, glistening Masquerade. A more antique accent is heard in the ornate Classical splendour of the Overture to the once influential 26-year-old Vienna-born Marianna Martines’ oratorio, Isacco, figura del Redentore, a rousing introduction to a Biblical tale heralding the approach to Easter celebrations. 

Programme

Fanny Mendelssohn - Overture in C
Cécile Chaminade -  Concertino for Flute
Marianna Martines - Overture to Isacco, figura del Redentore
Joan Tower - Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 1
Ina Boyle - The Magic Harp
Caroline Shaw - Entr’acte
Anna Clyne - Masquerade

Tickets

Tickets available via the National Concert Hall, click HERE.