The Vanbrugh with Michael McHale
From 1st to 10th February, pianist Michael McHale will join The Vanbrugh to perform piano quartets in Cork, Wexford, Tullynally Castle, Enniskillen, Clifden, Listowel, Waterford, Limerick and Dún Laoghaire.
A programme of contrasting works will feature Mozart’s dark and dramatic piano quartet from 1785, Piano Quartet No.1 in F major by Charles Villiers Stanford, very much under the towering influence of Brahms and Schumann, and Antonin Dvořák’s Piano Quartet No.1 in D major Op.22 from his lyrical world of Slavonic song and dance.
The Vanbrugh has emerged from the legacy of the legendary Vanbrugh Quartet. Over three decades the ensemble has given close to three thousand concerts, presenting the chamber music repertoire to audiences throughout Ireland, UK, Europe, the Americas, and the Far East. Commercial recordings include more than thirty CDs of repertoire, ranging from the complete Beethoven string quartets to numerous contemporary Irish works. Their Lifetime Achievement Award (2016), from the National Concert Hall, acknowledged their continuous contribution to music in Ireland for over thirty years.
Keith Pascoe (violin), Simon Aspell (viola), and Christopher Marwood (cello) of the quartet continue to carry the torch together as the nucleus of The Vanbrugh. In 2018 they present works from the piano quartet repertoire in collaboration with the acclaimed pianist Michael McHale.
Winner of the Terence Judd / Hallé Award in 2009, Belfast-born Michael McHale has established himself as one of Ireland’s leading pianists and has developed a busy international career as a solo recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician. He has performed as soloists with orchestras in American, Russia, Japan and Europe. Michael collaborates regularly with Sir James Galway, Michael Collins, Barry Douglas, Patricia Rozario, Dame Felicity Lott, the McGill/McHale Trio and Camerata Pacifica. He has an extensive discography, most recently a recording of Strauss’s ‘Burleske’ with the BBC Symphony Orchestra on Chandos.
The tour is funded an Arts Council Touring Award and the National String Quartet Foundation.
Details are on www.classicallinks.ie
Tour details:
Thursday 1 February 8pm Cork Orchestral Society
Curtis Auditorium, CIT, Cork
€20 (€15) | €15/€10 COS members | €5 Students
www.corkorchestralsociety.ie
Friday 2 February 8pm Music for Wexford
St.Iberius Church
€17 ( €14) €5 Students
www.musicforwexford.ie
Saturday 3 February 8pm Derravaragh Music society
Tullynally Castle, Co.Westmeath
€20 (€10 children under 15 and students
Tom Birmingham Mans Shop, 37 Oliver Plunket Street, Mullingar
or Murray’s, Castlepollard. By phone from Mrs. Bridget Taylor
T: 044 9666 344 or email: loughbawn [at] eircom.net
Monday 5 February 8pm Music in Fermanagh,
Ardhowen Theatre, Enniskillen
£15 (U-25s £10) T: 0044 28 6632 5440
Tuesday 6 February Clifden Arts Society
Station House Clifden
€15 T: 087 3315 109
Wednesday 7 February
St. John’s Theatre, Listowel
€15 (€12) T: 068 22566
Thursday 8 February 7.30pm Waterford-Music
Large Room City Hall, Waterford
€15 (€5 Students) at door. www.waterford-music.org
Friday 9 February 8pm
Belltable, Limerick
€17 (€15) T: 061 953400 www.limetreetheatre.ie
Saturday 10 February 8pm
Pavilion Theatre, DunLaoghaire, Co.Dublin
€18 (€16) T: 01 231 2929 www.paviliontheatre.ie