JOACHIM ROEWER

Joachim Roewer worked as the Artistic Director of the Killaloe Chamber Music Festival since it’s inauguration in 2013 until 2020. In 1994 Joachim moved to Ireland to become principal viola with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, a position which he has held ever since. He is also frequently invited to lead the viola section of the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.

On numerous occasions he appeared as soloist with the ICO and other orchestras. He performed Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante alongside violinist Anthony Marwood with the Irish Chamber Orchestra and Berlioz’ “Harold in Italy” with the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland.

He is a passionate teacher and a busy chamber music player. He is a member of the Esposito String Quartet and has been frequently invited to perform with the Vogler Quartet, the Vanbrugh Quartet and the Contempo Quartet. He teaches viola and chamber music at the MA in Classical String Performance at the University of Limerick.

Born in East Germany, Joachim Roewer graduated from the Hochschule für Musik “Franz Liszt” Weimar and the Orchesterakademie of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, having performed frequently with this world class orchestra in Berlin and internationally. During that time he was also principal viola of the International Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under Claudio Abbado.

KATHERINE HUNKA

Born in London, Katherine Hunka grew up under the musical guidance of teacher Sheila Nelson, she performed chamber music at London’s South Bank and the Royal Albert hall, was soloist with the City of London Sinfonia and led the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.  Katherine was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music where she studied with Gyorgy Pauk and then furthered her studies in the USA at Indiana University where she also acted as teaching assistant to her professor Mauricio Fuks. This instilled in her a great love of teaching. She has since returned to Indiana as a guest Professor and been made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music.

Katherine is Leader of the Irish Chamber Orchestra since 2002 and regularly directs from the leader’s chair. As director and soloist with the ICO she has toured Germany, China and Singapore, appeared at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, and more recently at the Kilkenny Arts Festival. 

Katherine directs ICO national tours, which take the orchestra all over Ireland and enjoys collaboration with contemporary composers.  She has directed premieres with many Irish composers.  As leader, she has also enjoyed performing solo concertos and chamber music with Jörg Widmann, Pekka Kuusisto, Anthony Marwood and Nigel Kennedy amongst others.

Katherine performs regularly, as a chamber musician and soloist, at festivals throughout Ireland and the UK. At the Aldeburgh Festival she premiered Benjamin Britten’s rediscovered Double Concerto. She has been a regular at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival and the Killaloe festival. Her trio, Far Flung, with accordionist Dermot Dunne and bassist Malachy Robinson, delights audiences with its light-hearted approach.  Their repertoire spans from Bach to Klezmer with anything in between. They have recently released their first album. 

Katherine has been a guest leader with the Manchester Camerata, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and  the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She has also been guest soloist with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra and Concert Orchestra.

She is currently a Professor at the CIT Cork School of Music and the Irish World Academy of Music. She plays a Grancino violin and her bows are by Irish maker Gary Leahy.

MATTHIEU ESNULT

Matthieu Esnult is a young and vibrant French pianist. He has recently performed in over 50 countries on 6 continents.

Among his latest concerts were a performance of Heiner Goebbels's Surrogate Cities at the Royal Festival Hall (broadcast on BBC 3) for its UK première and the opening of the London Olympic Games celebrations at the Southbank Centre and two acclaimed recitals at New York Carnegie Hall, with Soprano Beatrice de Larragoiti and violinist Kehan Zhang.

Matthieu Esnult has given solo recitals in the major concert halls of China.

Alongside his solo piano career, Matthieu is a very in demand accompanist and chamber musician. His chamber music work has seen him perform several times at the Wigmore Hall.

He has featured in broadcasts and interviews on TV and radio networks such as BBC Radio 3, France Culture, France 3, Chinese National TV and Radio.

After studying at the Ecole Normale Alfred Cortot in Paris, he studied in London with Mikhail Kazakevich, obtaining a Master in piano with Distinction in 2013, and the Artist Diploma with Distinction in 2015 at Trinity Laban, where he is now a staff accompanist.

Passionate about arts and humanities, Matthieu also holds Masters's degrees in Music, in Literature and in Philosophy from the Sorbonne University.

CHRISTIAN ELLIOTT

Canadian cellist Christian Elliott enjoys a varied career as chamber musician, orchestral musician, and soloist. He was appointed Principal Cellist of the Irish Chamber Orchestra in 2016, with whom he has appeared as soloist and director. He is also cellist of the Phoenix Piano Trio, whose upcoming discs feature works by Robert and Clara Schumann, Niels Gade, Brahms, and Mendelssohn.

Upon the recommendation of cellist Steven Isserlis and after a brief trial period, Christian joined the Zehetmair Quartet in March 2014, renowned for its performances from memory. He has played with the Quartet at Wigmore Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus, Concertgebouw, Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Palau de la Música Catalana, Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, the Lucerne Festival, Zurich Tonhalle, and the Edinburgh International Festival.

As a composer, Christian premiered his own string sextet composition at Wigmore Hall in July 2012, commissioned by Steven Isserlis to commemorate the Prussia Cove International Musicians Seminar’s 40th anniversary. Other commissions include a work for the Francoise-Green Piano Duo, and a solo viola work for Ruth Killius.

CONOR PRENDIVILLE

Conor Prendiville is a tenor who recently graduated with a masters degree from the Royal Irish Academy of Music where he studied with Owen Gilhooley and Dr. Dearbhla Collins. Last summer Conor performed the roles of Tamino in 'Die Zauberflöte' and Don Basilio/ Don Curzio in 'Le Nozze di Figaro' at the Lyric Opera Studio in Weimar. He then performed in the role of ‘Rinuccio in Lunchbreak Opera’s production of Puccini’s ‘Gianni Schicci’ in London. With the Royal Irish Academy of Music he performed the role of the Captain in Stephen McNeff’s ‘Banished’. Last year Conor was a company artist at the Cork Opera House where he took part in their productions of 'Le Nozze di Figaro', 'Pirates of Penzance' and ‘Tosca’. Conor has performed as a soloist in various concerts including Handel’s ‘Messiah’, Britten’s ‘Rejoice in the Lamb’, Bach’s ‘John Passion’ and ‘Actus Tragicus’, Mozart’s ‘Coronation Mass’ and the Kevin O Connell ‘Mass’ and ‘Aifreann’. In January he will return to Weimar to perform the role of Don Ottavio in Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’ followed by returning to the Cork Opera house to perform the role of Beppe in their production of ‘Pagliacci’. In March he will perform Britten’s ‘Winter Words’ and ‘Canticle II’ at the Hugh Lane Gallery. Conor is very excited to perform the role of ‘Dr S’ at the Killaloe Chamber Music Festival as part of Opera Collective Ireland’s production of Micheal Nyman’s ‘The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat’. 

DANIEL BATES

Daniel Bates (MA CANTAB, FRSM, FTCL, ARAM, AGSMD) is principal oboe with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia and co-principal oboe of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Previously, he also held the principal oboe position with the Royal Northern Sinfonia at the Sage, Gateshead. He has played guest principal for all the major UK orchestras as well as various international orchestras such as the National Orchestra of Colombia, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. As a session musician he has recorded for numerous pop acts and films, including the Harry Potter franchise and for Barbra Streisand, Mary J Blige, Rihanna and Stevie Wonder.

Born in London, Daniel attended the Purcell School of Music. He was subsequently offered scholarships to every music college in the country and chose to study at the Royal Academy of Music under Celia Nicklin and Dougie Boyd. This was followed by a music scholarship to study at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he read Music and the History of Art.

When he was eighteen years of age he became the youngest ever winner of the Royal Overseas League Competition. Daniel also won two other major international competitions; in Italy and Romania and an English Speaking Union scholarship, enabling him to study at the Banff Music Centre in Canada.

He has performed solo concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the Brasov Filharmonica, the Turin Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Mozart Players and the English Chamber Orchestra. Solo recitals include venues such as the Wigmore Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Usher Hall and the Purcell Room. Internationally, he has given solo recitals in venues such as the Pushkin Museum in Moscow and at various European festivals partnered with musicians of international renown including Jörg Widmann, Elizabeth Leonskaya, Joan Rodgers and Anthony Marwood.

As an actor, having studied classical acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, his credits include the title role in The Picture of Dorian Gray (Vienna’s English Theatre), Fedotik in The Three Sisters (alongside Kristen Scott Thomas and Eric Sykes in the West End) and Adrian Green in Casualty (BBC TV).

Daniel is the founder and Artistic Director of FitzFest (www.fitzfest.co.uk), a community chamber music festival, based in Fitzrovia, central London.

He has run the London Marathon twice, in aid of Barnado’s charity, and has a cat called Tolstoy.

THE DANU QUARTET

The Danu Quartet is a dynamic ensemble of students from CIT Cork School of Music. They are tutored by Simon Aspell and Christopher Marwood. They made their debut as part of RTÉ Lyric FM’s live broadcast in December 2018. They have performed concerts in the Triskel Arts Centre and the Belltable Theatre in Limerick under the National String Quartet Foundation, and in The Crawford Art Gallery as part of the “Music at Midday” series. They played a number of concerts alongside the Vanbrugh as part of the National String Quartet Foundation’s 2019 Autumn Season. The Danu Quartet took part in the West Cork Chamber Music Festival’s masterclass programme and Young Musicians Platform in 2019, where they received masterclasses from Keith Pascoe, Marc Danel, and the Dahlkvist Quartet. They have subsequently been invited to return for the 2020 festival.

DIANE DALY

Diane is a solo violinist and chamber musician. She has been a member of the Irish Chamber Orchestra since 1997.

She has toured the world with a number of prestigious ensembles including The Academy of St Martin in the Fields, The European Union Chamber Orchestra, and the BBC and Liverpool Philharmonic orchestras.  

In other genres she has performed alongside and recorded with Sir Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, The Corrs, Bono, Shania Twain and Katie Melua. She is a member of a gypsy jazz trio and is course director of the MA in Classical String Performance at the University of Limerick. 

ELAINE MCDAID

Elaine McDaid is a Northern Irish soprano, based in Barcelona. She was a Young Artist at Northern Ireland Opera Studio 2018-19, an Associate Artist at the Barcelona Opera Studio 2019, and a Barefoot Opera Young Artist in 2017, where she sang Musetta in an 8-show tour of La Boh è me across England. Elaine currently studies with Kathryn Harries, former director of the National Opera Studio, in London.

In 2019, Elaine covered the role of Adele in Die Fledermaus at the Grand Opera House Belfast, debuted with the Ulster Orchestra singing the Soprano Solo in Mendelssohn’s Elijah at the Ulster Hall, and made her Spanish debut singing Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen at the Palau de la Musica with Barcelona Opera Studio. She was also asked jump-in to sing the role of Micaela in a concert performance of scenes from Carmen at the Petit-Palau under the baton of Xavier Puig in April of the same year.

In 2020, she will make her solo debut in the Republic of Ireland singing Mrs P in Opera Collective Ireland’s production of Michael Nyman’s The man who mistook his wife for a hat , and is also joining Opera Sabadell’s ensemble for their Catalan tours of Verdi’s Macbeth and La Traviata.

Elaine has performed the roles of Alexis (L’isle de Tulipatan, NI Opera Studio), Musetta (La Boh è me, Barefoot Opera), Pamina ( Die Zauberflote, North Dublin Opera), as well as having sung the following roles in scenes: Marguerite (Mephistofele), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Imogene (Il Pirata), Gretel (Hansel & Gretel), la Virtu/Venere (L’incoronazione di Poppea). Elaine has also worked with Associació d'Amics de l'Òpera de Sabadell chorus, NI Opera chorus, Lismore Opera Festival chorus, RTE Concert Orchestra Chorus, DIT Operatic Society, and City of Derry Civic Choirs, at the last night of the BBC Proms.

Elaine acquired a Bachelor in Laws degree from Trinity College Dublin, before graduating with honours from the Masters in Music Performance degree at DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama where she studied with Sinead Campbell-Wallace & Aoife O’Sullivan.

GERALDINE O'DOHERTY

Geraldine O'Doherty studied the harp at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and the Hochscule fur Musik in Zurich with Catherine Michel. During her studies, she won the Reinl International Harp Competition in Munich and the Kiwanis Music Prize in Zurich.

An active chamber musician, Geraldine has recorded five CDs of new arrangements for harp violin and cello, and an album of works for flute, viola and harp with the group "Triocca" on the Lyric FM label. In 2019, her recording of Ravel's Introduction and Allegro with the Ficino Ensemble was released on the Ergodos label to critical acclaim. She also performed at the BBC Proms as Principal Harp with the John Wilson Orchestra, with whom she tours regularly. Her playing has featured on many film soundtracks, most notably "Albert Nobbs", "Room" and the "The  Little Stranger". Other playing highlights include regular performances with the John Wilson Orchestra in the UK and the  UCD Choral Scholars in Dublin.  

Geraldine is Principal Harpist with the RTE Concert Orchestra in  Dublin and teaches at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

LINDA KITCHEN

Born in the North of England, Linda Kitchen, studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and at the National Opera Studio. Having served her apprenticeship at Glyndebourne Festival, she became a principal soprano at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Linda sang a range of roles, including Susanna, Drusilla, Zerbinetta, Pamina, Despina, Gretel and Magnolia in Showboat both in UK, Ireland and across Europe.

In 2004, she leapt off the stage into the role of opera director. Her directorial début was Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the ruins of a Welsh abbey. Linda’s relocation to New Zealand in 2006 gave her many opportunities to direct many productions for Opera Factory, the University of Auckland and Southern Opera as well as projects for New Zealand Opera. Her productions of The Magic Flute, L’Heure Espagnole, Suor Angelica, Albert Herring, Die Fledermaus, Messiah and Carmina Burana were a highlight of her time spent in New Zealand where she also led the Theatre and Opera Skills courses at the University of Auckland.

Linda has become known for her devised operatic comedies through her creations of Fast Forward Figaro, The Casanova Project (a hip hop version of Don Giovanni in the Pacific Island community), Flora & Dora, Trump It and Pants which played at Frome and Buxton Festival.

Linda’s book, Opera Lives, was published in 2018, and in 2019 she moved her own opera life back to our shores. She is delighted to be home and able to work alongside old friends and colleagues. Being part of a team to help the development of young artists as well as supporting singers of all ages and their audience is an important part of Linda’s life.

JULIANE BOOKHAGEN

The german mezzo-soprano Juliane Bookhagen studied with Fionnuala McCarthy (Irish soprano) at the hmt Rostock and participated in masterclasses with Hedwig Fassbender, Thomas Heyer, Siegfried Jerusalem and Thomas Quasthoff. She won the audience award winner at the International Singing Competition “Maritim Musikpreis” 2017 and was also awarded a scholarship by the Yehudi-Menuhin-Stiftung “Live Music Now”.

While studying in her Juliane sang the roles DORABELLA (Così fan tutte), ZWEITE DAME (Zauberflöte) and CLARINA (La cambiale di Matrimonio). She made her debut at Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin as DRITTER KNABE (Zauberflöte) in season 2015/16. Juliane joined the Thüringer Opera Studio since 2018/19. Her roles included Nicklausse (Les contes d’Hoffmann), followed with KRYSTINA (Die Passagirin) at the Theater Altenburg-Gera. As part of Deutsche Nationaltheater Weimar's ensemble, Juliane has gone on to sang her debut as MARCELLINA (Le nozze di Figaro), SAMIR in the world premiere of J. Arnecke's children's opera »Der Eisblumenwald« as well as HÄNSEL in a new production of »Hänsel und Gretel«.

In addition to her opera activities, Juliane regularly gives recitals and concerts, including in the context of festivals such as the Mecklenburg Festival, the Elbland Festival and the Festival Gezeitenkonzerte.

She has worked with conductors such as Daniel Huppert, Kirill Karabits, Stefan Lano, Laurent Wagner and the orchestras Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, Philharmonic Orchestra Altenburg-Gera, Philharmonic Orchestra Vorpommern, Mecklenburg Staatskapelle Schwerin, Staatskapelle Weimar.

AOIFE NIC ATHLAOICH

Dublin born Aoife Nic Athlaoich enjoys a versatile musical career, dividing her time between both modern and Baroque cello. Since moving back to Ireland in 2013 Aoife joined the Irish Chamber Orchestra and has made solo and chamber music debuts at some Ireland's leading festivals including Galway Early Music Festival, Ardee baroque Festival, Killaloe Chamber Music Festival and the East Cork Early Music Festival. Aoife is s member of the highly acclaimed Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique with whom she has toured the USA and Europe as well as performing at the BBC Proms. 

Aoife has performed with the orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, la Serenissima, the avison ensemble, Irish baroque orchestra, Scottish chamber orchestra, classical opera company and was a member of the London Mozart Players from 2010-2013.

Aoife has won prizes for solo and contemporary music performance at Feis Ceoil, Dublin as well as being awarded a Belfast Classical Music Bursary in 2007 and was awarded scholarships for her studies at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and at the Royal College of Music, London.

Aoife teaches cello at the Cork school of music, the University of Limerick, and at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin.  

DAVID HOWES

David Howes is a Bass-Baritone from Limerick where he studied with Olive Cowpar. He then moved on to the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama where he completed the Bachelor of Music degree with 1st class honours. David now studies with Robert Dean and is a graduate of the distinguished Young Artist Programme with Northern Ireland Opera.

Highlights in oratorio include: Performing the Bass Solo in Verdi’s Requiem at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin with Co-orch Dublin, Dun Laoghaire Choral Society and Cantairí Avondale which was conducted by John Doyle. Other performances in Oratorio include: Puccini’s Messa Di Gloria (Limerick Choral Union), Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (Co-Orch Dublin), Requiems by Saint-Saens, Brahms (Dun Laoghaire Choral Society), Mozart (Belfast Philharmonic Choir and Ulster Orchestra), Stanford and Faure, Haydn’s The Creation and Handel's Messiah (Dun Laoghaire Choral Society), Dettingen Te Deum and Dixit Dominus with the Irish Chamber Orchestra.

In opera, David has performed the roles of Jack and Flynn in the world premier of Andrew Synott’s opera, Dubliners (A co-production between Opera Theatre Company & Wexford Festival Opera). Other roles include: Title role in Hans Krasa’s Brundibar (Killaloe Chamber Music Festival), Count Ceprano in Rigoletto (OTC), Buff in Der Schauspieldirektor (Irish National Opera), Marchese d'Obigny in La traviata, Prince Yamadori in Madame Butterfly (Lyric Opera, Dublin), Figaro in le nozze di Figaro (Zerere Arts Festival), Peintre and 2nd Philosophe in Charpentier’s Louise (Buxton Opera Festival), Sciarrone in Tosca (WFO), Father Truelove in The Rake’s Progress, Noye in Britten’s Noye’s Fludde, and Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

In recital, David has performed at the Kilkenny Arts Festival in a new edition of Beethoven’s Irish Airs, and also, Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzer in the John Field Room at the National Concert Hall.

Future engagements include: Dvorak’s Requiem with Dun Laoghaire Choral Society, Beethoven’s Mass in C with St. Mary’s Cathedral Choir, Limerick, and Puccini’s Messa di Gloria with Cantairi Avondale, Dublin. David is proud to be an Emerging Artist with Longborough Festival Opera for the 2020 season where he will perform the roles of Priest and Badger in The Cunning Little Vixen.

ANDREW SYNNOTT

Andrew Synnott is a Dublin-based composer, arranger, conductor and pianist. As a boy he was awarded a scholarship to the Schola Cantorum in St Finian’s College in Mullingar and from there he went on to become organ scholar in the Pro-cathedral and Christ Church Cathedral while studying Music at Trinity College in Dublin. He has conducted for Irish National Opera (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Wexford Festival Opera (Dubliners, Le Docteur Miracle), Opera Theatre Company (The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute, Il mondo della luna, Orfeo [Alcorn], Bastien and Bastienne, Xerxes, Acis and Galatea, Diary of Anne Frank, Orfeo [Monteverdi], Carmen, Susanna’s Secret, La Voix Humaine, Dubliners); Co-Opera (La traviata, Carmen, Die Fledermaus), Glasthule Opera (Die Zauberflote), and the Royal Irish Academy of Music (The Telephone, Hand of Bridge, For A Look Or A Touch, Renard, Greed, Sensational, Suor Angelica, Die Zauberflote, Vampirella, La Finta Giardiniera, Banished and DreamCatchr).

His arrangements of La bohème, Susanna’s Secret and The Magic Flute have toured extensively in Ireland and the UK.  He has conducted and been musical director for opera productions at the Buxton Opera Festival, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and in Australia, Portugal and France. Other recent conducting engagements include Banished for the RIAM, the sold-out Maria Callas and Pavarotti shows in the NCH and a concert and recently released recording of a Betty Ollivero piece for the Louth Contemporary Music Society.

Andrew has conducted and arranged several musicals, notibly the works of Stephen Sondheim (Sweeney Todd, Company, Into the Woods, Merrily We Roll Along) He is a former artistic director and conductor of Crash Ensemble, a group he co-founded in 1997. He has conducted many orchestras including the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and the RTE Concert Orchestra.

In January 2015 he conducted the premiere of his first opera, Breakdown, in the National Concert Hall in Dublin. His second opera, Dubliners, was premiered at Wexford Festival Opera in 2017 and was nominated for an Irish Times Theatre Award in the Best Opera category. His last opera, La cucina, became the first opera by a living Irish composer to be premiered on the main stage at Wexford Festival Opera 2019. He holds a PhD in composition from Dublin’s Conservatory of Music and Drama.

CANTORAL

CANTORAL is an all female vocal ensemble from the University of Limerick, Ireland. Founded by Catherine Sergent and Helen Phelan, the ensemble specializes in Western plainchant and early polyphony, with a particular interest in medieval Irish repertoire. Formed in 2008 at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, it consists of graduates, doctoral students and members of faculty from Ireland, England, France, Poland, Holland, the United States, Japan and

Mexico. The ensemble had its first international appearance in March, 2009 at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris. Other highlight performances include Imbolc, a programme of chant and Irish language song for St. Brigit premiered in New York in 2010, as well as a programme for the Galway Early Music Festival entitled …sed diabolus irrisit (‘…but the devil laughed’) in the same year. In 2011, Cantoral sang for the Dalai Lama during his visit to Ireland and in 2012 sang a programme of Irishmedieval music for Holy Week entitled Planctus for the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. In 2013, the ensemble was invited to perform at the Class of 1959 Chapel in Harvard and the Bebartolo Performing Arts Centre at the University of Notre Dame in the US. In 2014 Cantoral produced its first CD recording, Let the Joyous Irish Sing Aloud/Laetabundus Decantet Hybernicorum Cetus. The CD was recorded on location at Ballintubber Abbey, Co. Mayo with the assistance of the Keough Naughton

Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame. In September, 2015, Cantoral was invited to perform at one of France’s most prestigious early music festivals, Festival Voix et Route Romane. More recently, its programme Navigatio,featuring music inspired by the voyages of St. Brendan, has toured venues across Ireland including St. Patrick’s College Chapel, Maynooth; St. Finbarre’s Cathedral, Cork; Kylemore Abbey, Galway; St.Martin’s Fair: Festival of Medieval Limerick and the St. Brendan Festival, Kerry.

PIATTI QUARTET

The Piatti Quartet are one of the most distinguished quartets of their generation. Prizewinners at the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, they have performed in all the major venues and festivals around the U.K., and given concerts throughout the world, with national broadcasts on BBC Radio, ABC (Australia), RTÉ (Ireland) and France Musique (France).

The Piattis are renowned for their diverse programming and for passionate interpretations across the spectrum of quartet writing. World premieres are regularly performed alongside old masterpieces and the Piattis are particularly known for expanding the quartet genre through their collaborations with leading British composers. In 2020 the Piatti will record a new disc of works by Mark-Anthony Turnage (Delphian), featuring three world premiere recordings. They will also perform a new string quartet by Emily Howard at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in April 2021 (a Concertgebouw co-commission). Other current commissions and recent premieres include new works by Darren Bloom, Simon Holt, Freya Waley-Cohen and Jacques Cohen.

This year, the Piattis continued their connection to Mark-Anthony Turnage with the world premiere of his fourth string quartet, Winter’s Edge, at the Klarafestival, Brussels. Co-commissioned by the Quartet, the Wigmore Hall and Flagey ASBL, they gave the UK premiere at the Wigmore Hall. The quartet have collaborated with artists such as Ian Bostridge, Michael Collins, Krzysztof Chorzelski, Julius Drake, Charles Owen and Guy Johnston.

The Quartet previously commissioned Joseph Phibbs’ String Quartet No.1 and a recently released disc for the Champs Hill label features this work alongside the premiere recording of Turnage’s Twisted Blues with Twisted Ballad, with classics by Britten and Bridge. Amongst glowing reviews, a quote from BBC Music Magazine; “… from soothing pastorale to euphoric rock anthem, this excellent album traces an intriguing path through modern British works for quartet…The Piatti Quartet are on ferociously fine form…”.

The Quartet’s other lauded recordings have been released on the Linn Records, NMC and Champs Hill labels. Recent seasons have included debuts in Rotterdam, Istanbul, and Barcelona, and at the Aldeburgh Festival.

At the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, the Piatti Quartet won 2nd Prize as well as the St. Lawrence SQ prize and the Sidney Griller Award for the best performance of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Contusion. The Piattis are keen to pass on their passion to future generations and regularly coach chamber music at the Purcell School, Trinity Laban Conservatoire and the Royal Academy of Music. The Quartet would like to thank the Britten Pears Foundation, the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust, the Hattori Foundation, the Razumovsky Trust, the Cavatina Chamber Music Trust, and the Fidelio Trust for their support.

The Piatti Quartet takes its name from the great 19th-century cellist Alfredo Piatti, who was a leading professor and exponent of chamber music at the Royal Academy of Music.

EARLSFORT BRASS QUINTET

Earlsfort Brass is a quintet of Ireland`s finest brass players, including members of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. They have a wealth of experience of working with world class performers and conductors in the orchestral world and are also accomplished chamber musicians and soloists in their own right.

Colm Byrne (trumpet), David Collins (trumpet), Gavin Roche (trombone), Peter Ryan (French horn), Francis Magee (tuba).