Klezmer and Beyond is the title of the next Music for Galway concert on 13 May.
The second last concert of the current Music for Galway series carries the intriguing title Klezmer and Beyond: the Soul of the Clarinet. Paul Roe promises to deliver a powerful demonstration of the spectacular range the clarinet has to offer, with a little help from his friends from Galway Ensemble-in-Residence, ConTempo Quartet, on Thursday 13 May in St. Nicholas’ Collegiate Church, Galway at 8.00pm.
The evening opens with a work from 2007 for clarinet and string quartet by Jane O’Leary, Soundshapes II. Written in several short movements, the work explores the wide variety of timbres possible on the instruments.
Nick Roth’s Quintet for Klezmer Clarinet and String Quartet was written especially for these musicians and is to be premiered on the night. The quartet then will take centre stage with Music In Square by Romanian/Canadian composer Maya Badian, before moving on to the core piece of the night, an absolutely gripping quintet for clarinet/bass clarinet and string quartet by Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov, The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind. It was inspired by the composer’s time spent in Israel and the mystic Isaac the Blind who believed that all happens as the result of combinations of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The Boston Phoenix praises Golijov’s work as ‘an unusually passionate synthesis of traditional Jewish folk and religious musics well seasoned with Latin and classical accents.’
Having spent some months in New York on a Fulbright scholarship in 2008 for the sole purpose of immersing himself into the sound world of Klezmer, Dublin-born clarinetist Paul Roe is certainly the man to present this concert. He will be known to many through his numerous appearances in Galway as principal clarinet with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra - a position he held for many years before becoming a freelance musician and teaching at the Music Department of DKIT - with Irish contemporary ensemble Concorde, and most recently at the Music for Galway Schubert January Festival at the Town Hall Theatre in 2008.
Resident in Galway since 2003, ConTempo Quartet do not need any introduction to Galway or indeed Ireland any longer. During their Galway residency, ConTempo have performed throughout the city and county and have given workshops in hundreds of schools. They work with local orchestras and choirs as well as individual musicians, both classical and traditional. Through the residency's extensive education programme, the quartet works with young string players and other musicians at the Galway Ensemble’s annual Autumn School.
The project was re-launched on April 15th as The Galway Music Residency. Beside their residency they continue to pursue their career as a string quartet on an international level, touring throughout Europe and especially the UK and Italy. In 2008, ConTempo performed for the first time at New York's Carnegie Hall as part of the Contemporary Music Centre’s celebration of new Irish music.
This concert will also be presented on Sunday 16 May as part of the Sundays@Noon Series at the Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane.
KLEZMER AND BEYOND - THE SOUL OF THE CLARINET
Thursday 13 May, 8.00pm. St. Nicholas’ Collegiate Church, GalwayTickets €20; Members & Concessions €16; Students €6 from Music for Galway: 091 705 962 or Opus II, The Cornstore, Galway, or online. ________________________________________________________________
‘Roe capped the ensemble with suave and wistful melody-making.’ - The Irish Times
Music for Galway gratefully acknowledges the support of the Arts Council.