Ivernia to make début Concert in Manchester

MANCHESTER’S FIRST IRISH ORCHESTRA – A GRAND EVENT!

Pictures by www.markwaugh.net

'Ivernia', Manchester's new Irish orchestra, will make its début in a concert on Sunday 11th March in the elegant setting of Manchester Cathedral.

This special concert, called ‘Beyond the Shamrock: Music from Ireland’ is one of the highlights of this year’s Manchester Irish Festival, now celebrating its 17th year as one of Europe's biggest celebrations of Irish culture.

The Ivernia Orchestra is an electrifying group of Irish classical musicians based in Manchester and the UK whose name is derived from Ptolemy’s name for Ireland. The group, from the four corners of Ireland, have come together under the direction of Galway conductor Sinead Hayes, to celebrate the island’s vibrant musical past, present and future.

Sinead said: “This is a very exciting project for me. As well as being a conductor of classical music, I have played and listened to traditional Irish music all my life - it is thrilling to bring the two worlds together to a wider audience. We are very grateful for the support of everyone who made this possible”.

The concert will feature works by Elaine Agnew, Ailís Ni Ríain, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin and Irish symphonist John Kinsella. The orchestra is also joined by award winning Manchester traditional flute virtuoso Michael McGoldrick.

Lawrence Hennigan from the Manchester Irish Festival said "We are delighted to be involved in helping to support such a historic cultural event. With such a talented group of classically trained professional Irish musicians, it promises to be an unforgettable evening."

Tickets for the concert are priced at £10/£7 (concs.) and available from Quay Tickets on 0843 208 0500 or on the door. To contact the orchestra visit www.facebook.com/IverniaOrchestra or e-mail on iverniaorchestra@yahoo.co.uk

Ticket direct link
http://tinyurl.com/Ivernia-McGoldrick-March-11th

About Sinéad Hayes:

* The driving force behind the concert is Sinead Hayes - a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music, where she received her Masters degree in conducting. She has conducted orchestras all over the UK and in Europe, recently making her London opera debut conducting British Youth Opera’s production of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. For a complete biography visit www.sineadhayes.com.

* The orchestra’s name ‘Ivernia’ is derived from Ptolemy’s name for Ireland, and references the island’s rich culture of international scholarship, while looking forward to a bright future for Ireland and its diaspora.

* Pictures available

About Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin:

* Quote from Prof. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin about the forthcoming Ivernia debut concert:

"he idea of an initiative that pulls together the Irish voice in classical music in Britain - not least with an ear to the traditional voice - seems to me to have enormous resonance with the North/South/East/West energies between both islands at this time."

* Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin is one of Ireland's best know musicians. He has over ten CD recordings on release of his own compositions and arrangements performed by Irish Chamber Orchestra under his direction. As a pianist he is widely acknowledged as having originated a unique Irish piano style out of an Irish traditional music base.

* He studied with composers Aloys Fleischmann (1910 - 1992) and Sean O Riada (1930 - 1971) in University College Cork, and with ethnomusicologists John Blacking and John Baily at Queens University Belfast. As an educator, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin has been the single most important catalyst in the integration of Irish traditional music and Irish traditional dance into the Irish Higher Education system.

* In 1994, Ó Súilleabháin founded the Irish World Music Centre at UL which has rapidly become the most active research centre in Irish traditional music and dance in the world as well as establishing a suite of nine MA taught programmes across a wide range of disciplines (including contemporary dance performance, chant performance and ritual song, music therapy, community music, and classical string performance).

About Michael McGoldrick:

* Manchester born flute and whistle player Michael McGoldrick is much in demand as a performed both nationaly and internationally. In 1994 he was awarded the BBC Young Tradition Award, and in 2001 he was given the Instrumentalist of the Year award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

* He has been a member of numerous groups and bands including Toss the Feathers, Flook, Capercaillie, Lunasa and most recently the Future Trad Collective and his many albums have met with widespread acclaim.

About Ailís Ni Ríain:

* Born in Cork, the composer, playwright and pianist Ailís Ní Ríain studied piano under Miss Bridget Doolan at the Cork School of Music winning first prize for her performance of Berg's remarkable Piano Sonata. She studied music at University College Cork, where she was taught by Professor Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin in her first year, graduating in 1996.

* She left Ireland in 1996 to focus on the study of contemporary classical composition with Nicola Le Fanu at the University of York. She graduated with a Masters in Composition from York in 1998 and with an MPhil in Composition from the University of Manchester in 2001. She was then awarded a scholarship to study Composition at the Royal Northern College of Music and subsequently offered a further scholarship in the position of Junior Fellow in Education graduating in 2004 with both a PCRNCM and PGDip in Composition.

* Since that time she has been composing for a wide variety of genres including music-theatre, opera, concert music, public realm sound-installation including works for a Lighthouse, a K6 telephone box, a former retail unit in a shopping centre, a disused textile mill and a street in Temple Bar, Dublin. Her influences and interests are broad and varied and she enjoys collaborating with artists across artforms.

About John Kinsella:

* Born in Dublin in 1932, John Kinsella balanced two careers until 1988, when he resigned as RTÉ’s Head of Music to devote his time fully to composition. Since then he has written nine symphonies, a second violin concerto, a fourth string quartet and many solo and chamber works.

* He has received commissions from, among others, The Irish Chamber Orchestra, Concorde, the Guardian Dublin International Piano Competition, the Arts Council of Wales and RTÉ.

* John Kinsella is a member of Aosdána, Ireland’s state-sponsored academy of creative artists and is a recipient of the Marten Toonder award. His music has been recorded on the Chandos and Naxos labels.

About Elaine Agnew:

* Antrim born Elaine Agnew studied composition at Queen’s University Belfast and at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama with Kevin Volans and James MacMillan. In May 2008, Elaine was appointed as the first RTÉ lyric fm Composer-in-Residence in association with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra.

* Elaine's many works have been commissioned, performed and broadcast worldwide by artists such as the Vogler Quartets, the European Union Chamber and Irish Chamber Orchestras and pianists Angela Hewitt and Romain Descharmes. Her works have featured at major festivals including BMIC Cutting Edge, the RTÉ Horizons Series, the Belfast Festival at Queen’s and Spitalfields.

* Recent premieres include Gesture by the Skampa String Quartet celebrating the Belfast Music Society’s 90th Birthday and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Carlow Choir Aspiro premiered What Did you See? at the new Visual Contemporary Arts Centre and the Irish Chamber Orchestra premiered Twilight during their 2010 Autumn Irish Tour.