Saturday, September 24
Ursuline Church, 7.00 p.m.
Concert of the VBE Patrons Club
Ensemble Dagda Clodagh Kinsella, soprano Caitríona O'Mahony, baroque violin Leonie Curtin, baroque violin Norah O'Leary, baroque cello Kieran Finnegan, harpsichord
Programme:
A Musical Grand Tour
Ivan Šibenčanin Responsorio di S. Antonio di PadovaGeorg Philipp Telemann Gulliver Suite
Intrada. Spirituoso
Lilliputsche Chaconne
Brobdingnagische Gigue
Reverie der Laputier, nebst ihren Aufweckern. Andante
Loure der gesitteten Houyhnhnms / Furie der unartigen Yahoos
Pietro Castrucci Ciaccona iz/from op. 2
George Bickham T’amo Tanto iz/from The Musical Entertainer
Francesco Geminiani Sonata u d-molu/in d minor op.1 no.2
Adagio
Allegro
Adagio
Allegro
Matthew Dubourg Eileen Aroon
Georg Friedrich Handel Rejoice greatly iz oratorija Mesija/from Messiah
Tommaso Giordani Caro mio ben
About the performer:
Rising Irish early music group Ensemble Dagda were formed in 2014 by baroque violinist Caitríona O’Mahony and cellist Norah O’Leary, and are based in Cork. Popular with audiences for their engaging and communicative performances, in recent years they have championed lesser-heard works by seventeenth-century composers and in particular works by women composers of the Baroque era. Their programmes highlight this rarely heard section of the Baroque repertoire and contextualise the forgotten history of women composers against their background in the mainstream canon, and their contributions to the development of varying musical forms - exploring works from the music-making nuns of northern Italy to the women composers of Versailles. They have attracted acclaim in national and international press, described in 2019 as ...full of promise, [Michael Dervan, Irish Times].
The group are regularly invited to play in Irish festivals including the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, East Cork Early Music Festival, Finding a Voice Festival, Clonmel, Skibbereen Arts Festival, and the Kaleidoscope Night Series, Dublin. In varied incarnations they have played in the Encanto Salon Music Festival Helsinki, in the American Irish Historical Society New York, the Liszt Academy Budapest, the National Gallery of Ireland, and Dublin Castle.
Their particular love is in bringing concerts to venues outside major city venues in varying places around the Irish countryside, from newly built arts centres to some of Ireland’s most historic and atmospheric churches. The ensemble are passionate about education and making music accessible and engaging to everyone. They have brought workshops to primary and secondary schools around Ireland, introducing students to historical instruments, and the style and contexts of music they play.
They take their name from Irish mythology, and were inspired by the magical harp which was played by Dagda, the king of the Tuatha de Danann.
Ensemble Dagda are grateful for the support of Culture Ireland.