IRISH Chamber Orchestra takes to road early July for an 8-venue tour of the country, July 9th to 19th with a programme called The Four Seasons Twice.
The orchestra will perform in Navan (9 July), Mullingar (10 July), Birr (11 July), Roscommon (15 July), then Kilkee on Thursday July 16 in Cultúrlann Sweeney, Waterford (17 July), Monkstown, Dublin (18 July) and return home with a final concert in Rathkeale. This will take place Sunday July 19 at St Mary’s Church.
Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ has undergone many reincarnations since first performed by the talented orphans of the Ospedale della Pietà in 18th-century Venice. Vivaldi was their teacher.
Katherine Hunka directs his great classics along with Astor Piazzolla’s ‘Four Seasons of Buenos Aires’, written 200 years later.
“Vivaldi’s ‘Seasons’ are among the boldest music of the baroque era and remain ever popular,” observes Charlotte Eglington, marketing manager with ICO.
“The guttural rasp on the viola in the central movement of ‘Spring’ might represent the barking of the shepherd’s faithful dog but birdsong, storms and zephyrs come across clearly, as does the shepherd’s weeping in Katherine’s plaintive ‘Summer’ solo and the peasant’s inebriated lolling in ‘Autumn’”.
In counterpoint, “Piazzolla’s ‘Four Seasons of Buenos Aires’ are exciting evocations of the vibrant changing seasons in Argentina. When it is Summer in Vivaldi’s Venice, it’s Winter in Piazzolla’s Buenos Aires. ‘Spring’ is just electric and propels this earthy work to a brilliant conclusion”.
Booking is through individual venues throughout, with the July 19 concert in St Mary’s Church, Rathkeale being in aid of charities, The Butterfly Club and Street Children of Bucharest. See www.irishchamberorchestra.com
