Programme: 

Liszt arr. Saint-Säens – Orphée (Poème Symphonique)

Martin O’Leary – Bluescape

Chausson – Piano Trio in G Minor Op. 3

On Wednesday 8th July 2015, The Fidelio Trio return to St Patrick’s College Drumcondra for their Summer Evening Concert, hosted by the Kodály Society of Ireland and marking the culmination of this year’s artistic residency by the trio at the College. Admission will be free.

Passionate promoters of new Irish music, the Fidelio Trio will perform Bluescape by Martin O’Leary, written for them in 2007 and recorded for the Contemporary Music Centre’s Contemporary Music from Ireland compilation series. Saint-Säens’ orchestration skills are shown to full effect in his arrangement of Liszt’s Orphée (Poème Symphonique), while the programme finishes with Chausson’s beautiful but little-known early piano trio, which will also feature in the trio’s upcoming French Series at St John’s Smith Square London next season. 

The ‘virtuosic’ Fidelio Trio (Sunday Times) are comprised of Darragh Morgan (violin), Adi Tal (Cello) and Mary Dullea (Piano). Performing diverse repertoire, the trio are particularly known for their work in promoting contemporary music, frequently premiering new works and working closely with leading composers such as Donnacha Dennehy, Ed Bennett, Joe Cutler, Gerald Barry, Simon Bainbridge and Beat Furrer.

They have performed at venues and festivals including London’s South Bank, Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, Purcell Room, City of London Festival, Cheltenham Music Festival, Huddersfield Festival of Contemporary Music, West Cork Music, Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, Princeton University and MIT Boston.

Performance highlights of this year’s artistic residency at St Patrick’s College have included February’s hosting of Master of the Queen’s Music Judith Weir, as well as December’s Winter Chamber Music Festival. This week sees The Fidelio Trio record a new CD of Irish music by John Buckley, Rhona Clarke, Fergus Johnston and Seóirse Bodley for Métier Divine Art. Immediately after this concert, the trio embark on a major concert tour of India with soprano Patricia Rozario.

Born in Dublin, Martin O’Leary began composing at the age of fourteen. He holds a PhD from Trinity College Dublin for an extended study of three orchestral works of the English composer Havergal Brian, and since 1 991 he has lectured at Department of Music in NUI Maynooth.

He has written an extensive series of works covering most genres, and his compositions have been heard throughout Europe, as well as in Israel and the USA.  His more recent works include Blue Toccata. commissioned for the 2012 AXA Dublin International Piano Competition, Avanti (2012) for the Wisconsin based Muzika Trio, Shades and Shadows (2014), written for the Maynooth Guitar Ensemble, and Lúireach Phádraig (2015), commissioned by the Maynooth Chamber choir, and which is to feature on an upcoming CD.

Martin O’Leary performs regularly in solo repertoire and chamber works as a pianist, and has premiered works by John Buckley, John Casken, Rhona Clarke, Peter Michael Hamel, Paul Hayes and Kevin O’Connell. He is a committee member of the Association of Irish Composers and a director of the Irish Composition Summer School.