Kaleidoscope Night Live: The Rathdown Collective, Krishna Nagaraja and Tom Harte & Barry McCormack
Bello Bar
Kaleidoscope Nights presents a mix of Mozart, Norwegian musical wanderings with the Hardanger fiddle and the music of American Jazz icon Bill Evans arranged for 2 guitars.
Featured Musicians:
The Rathdown Collective
Krishna Nagaraja
Tom Harte & Barry McCormack
Programme
Mozart - Clarinet Quintet in A Major K581 - John Finucane (clarinet), Lidia Jewloszewicz- Clarke and Kevin Meehan (violins), Adele Johnson (viola), Martin Johnson (cello).
Tales From Norway, musical wanderings with the Hardanger fiddle - Krishna Nagaraja.
A selection of music by Bill Evans - guitar duo Tom Harte & Barry McCormack.
Tickets
Tickets available via Kaleidoscope Nights here.
Programme Note for Tales from Norway
The Hardanger fiddle is arguably the most iconic instrument in Norwegian folk music, with a repertoire tracing back to several centuries ago and still thriving today both in traditional and contemporary music. Its unique, resonant sound creates an otherworldly aura of magic that countless legends have connected with supernatural beings with the ability to bewitch humans with their tunes, a fate that seems to have befallen also to Krishna Nagaraja. Italian-Indian fiddler and composer, based in Finland and well-travelled in the Nordics and beyond, he researched Norwegian folk dance melodies and mixed them with his own other influences, as far as classical music, Indian rhythms, and progressive metal: the result is “Tales from Norway”, a Finnish Grammy-nominated CD he is going to present at Kaleidoscope Nights on September 6 th . Traditional tunes will be interpolated with Krishna’s own words about the instrument and the music, crowning the evening with the full performance of the last movement of his solo Suite for Hardanger fiddle, entitled “Vandreslått”. The genre-bending composition ventures across several musical territories, accompanied by a constant foot stomp, at times deviating from the main trail to enter oases of still, ethereal contemplation. Step by step, the pulse carries us along the winding path that leads to the end of the tale. The resonance is still in the air, though; is it really the end?
Krishna Nagaraja
Violinist, violist, composer, arranger, formerly also singer and beatboxer, Krishna Nagaraja has always approached music from many different directions. Over the years, his path led him to the baroque violin and viola, performing with renowned groups in his native Italy and abroad. His passion for folk music also steered him towards Irish, Scottish, Breton, and Nordic traditions. In 2014 he obtained a Master’s Degree in Global Music at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where in 2022 he completed an artistic PhD project on the hybridisation of Nordic folk music with other elements. Within this framework he experimented with the interaction between musical genres and styles, mixing folk with baroque and contemporary music in original arrangements and compositions. This activity produced projects such as Biviola, a viola duo performing his arrangements of Nordic folk tunes, and his main brainchild Brú, a kaleidoscopic international group whose leadership has brought him and his music to several European festivals and venues. One of his latest achievements is the CD “Tales from Norway”, published in 2022, featuring two compositions based on Norwegian folk music performed by string quartet Meta4 and himself on the Hardanger fiddle. The recording was nominated at the Finnish Grammy Awards in the category of Classical Album of the Year, and its repertoire is currently being performed in several countries both in Europe and overseas. His future research and artistic plans involve international projects around polyrhythms as structures for the composition of new pieces.