Kirkos Ensemble is planning a series of concerts played in darkness

Fri 10 Apr 2015
Kirkos Ensemble Kirkos Ensemble

The series by the Dublin-based ensemble, entitled Blackout, combines music, food and darkness, and takes place between May and July at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin.

The central themes of war and darkness inform the programming, with the first two concerts centring on Messiaen’s Quartet for the end of time and Reich’s Different Trains.

In response to these works, Irish composers have written new pieces for the project: Kevin Volans, Raymond Deane, Roger Doyle, Ed Bennett, Seán Clancy, Tom Lane and Robert Coleman. A work by Gráinne Mulvey - perihelion-aphelion - also features because of its resonances with Reich’s Different Trains.

The third concert features a new large-scale work for quartet (flute, horn, cello, piano) written by Kirkos founder Sebastian Adams. This eight-movement work will be all about the futility of war, taking the reluctant WWI hero Harry Patch as a figurehead. This will be surrounded by rarely heard solo pieces for the instruments involved.

The group is currently running a Fundit campaign to raise funds towards the costs of the series, which finishes on 13 April. More details on it here.

Concert 1 :: May 8/9 :: Quatuor pour la fin du temps by Olivier Messiaen
Concert 2 :: June 12/13 :: Different Trains by Steve Reich
Concert 3 :: July 17/18 :: Harry Patch by Sebastian Adams

More information on Kirkos here.