The new development will result in a weekend of orchestral and chamber music masterworks: five concerts over three days with a line up including major conducting star John Wilson, the mesmerising German cellist Leonard Elschenbroich, the internationally acclaimed Irish pianist Finghin Collins and the Galway based RTÉ Contempo Quartet making a welcome return to the Festival.
The weekend has been designed to offer festival goers an immersive experience in some of the greatest works in classical music: two of the great symphonies by Rachmaninov and Nielsen; the magisterial ‘Emperor’ piano concerto by Beethoven; Elgar’s iconic cello concerto, late, great Schubert masterpieces and the world premiere of Kevin O’Connell’s Early Music inspired by a love affair with...early music!
Conductor John Wilson is a firm favourite with Irish audiences. He leads the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra in four works from the heart of the orchestral repertoire: the Elgar Cello Concerto with German cellist Leonard Elschenbroich taking centre stage; Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Concerto with Finghin Collins; Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony, with its heartfelt and achingly beautiful Adagio, and Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4. ‘The Inextinguishable’, a monumental testimony to ‘the elemental will to live’. Completing the orchestral mix, the world premiere of Kevin O’Connell’s homage to Early Music, a loving, lively and colourful tribute to the pristine sounds of the era before Bach, deliciously enhanced by the rich sonorities of a modern orchestra.
The RTÉ Contempo Quartet leads the weekend’s exploration of chamber music written during Schubert’s final years, works which reveal a creative spirit at the very height of its considerable powers shaped by an intense involvement with matters of the heart and, perhaps, premonitions of his own mortality. Glorious music features with the exquisite bittersweet of the Quartettsatz; the Death and the Maiden Quartet, one of the true masterpieces of the quartet repertoire; the String Quintet in C (with Leonard Elschenbroich), regarded by many as his greatest creation for chamber forces, and the expansive Octet with members of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra sharing the stage.
The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and RTÉ Contempo Quartet will perform in the Aula Maxima, NUI Galway starting with Schubert: The Quartet and Beyond 1 on Friday 17th July at 1pm; Schubert: The Quartet Beyond 2 with Leonard Elschenbroich on Saturday 18th July at 1pm; and Schubert: The Quartet and Beyond 3 with RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra musicians John Finucane, Bethan Watkeys, Hilary Sheil and Dominic Dudley on Sunday 19th July at 1pm; Orchestral Masterworks 1 will feature Leonard Elschenbroich and John Wilson on Friday 17th July at 6pm, Bailey Allen Hall, NUI Galway; and Orchestral Masterworks 2 featuring Finghin Collins and John Wilson on Saturday 18th July at 6pm, Bailey Allen Hall.
Tickets on sale here.
