by Rose Rushe
KILLALOE’s 3rd annual chamber music festival takes up residence this weekend Friday June 19 to Sunday 21 at usual haunt, St Flannan’s Cathedral, but also at Wood Bros. This charming café high on Killaloe becomes the morning meeting place for ’emerging artists’ playing String Quartet KV 575 on Saturday 20 at 11am, also the Op.96 ‘American’.
Woods’ also proves a dinger as festival club for ticket holders after the Cathedral concert on Saturday 20 night, 10.30pm and again on Sunday 21.
“We are delighted to be able to extend this year’s to more concerts and to include this club,” admits the chamber music chair, John Horgan. “Late night on Saturday in St Flannan’s we have guitarists playing 10.30pm [John Walsh, flamenco; Hugh Buckley, jazz; Redmond O’Toole, classical] and at the club later. There will be complimentary snacks and wine for ticket holders, and again on Sunday”.
Lovers of music will recognise the weight and worth of these guitarists alone. Other name drops included in the programme pulled together by Joachim Roewer are Hugh Tinney, Mark Duley on organ, violinists Katherine Hunka and Diane Daly, cellists Aoife Nic Athlaoicha and Sarah McMahon. Look forward also to Irish soprano Rachel Kelly who sings with Covent Garden in London.
John Horgan references RTE lyric fm’s Paul Herriot interviewing Tinney on Saturday at 7pm before his joint concert in the Cathedral. Trish Taylor-Thompson will talk to Rachel Kelly and accompanist Caroline Dowdle on piano at 7pm on Sunday 21 before their twirl at Beethoven, Dvorak and some fella called Tchaikovsky.
“There will be plenty of tickets available on the door”, is Horgan’s final word, “as online booking at killaloemusicfestival.com closes Friday 19. I have special thanks to extend to artistic director Joachim Roewer and also to Clare TD Michael McNamara who thought up this festival three years ago and got it going”.
