South Tipperary Arts Centre is delighted to announce the second edition of Finding a Voice – a celebration of women composers for International Women’s Day.

For our 2019 concert series, due to take place from Friday 8th to Sunday 10th March 2019, Finding a Voice will again focus on the music of women composers through the ages, building and expanding on our highly successful inaugural series in 2018.

In 2019 the concerts will focus in particular on celebrating the anniversaries of three significant women composers: the 400th anniversary of the birth of celebrated Italian baroque composer Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677); the 200th anniversary of the birth of German romantic composer Clara Schumann (1819-1896); and the 70th birthday of renowned Canadian composer Alexina Louie (b. 1949), who will travel to Ireland for the very first time to be present for a concert of her music.

Commissions
This year, we are delighted for the first time to commission a new work to mark the bicentenary of Clara Schumann’s birth.  Reflections on a Theme by Clara Schumann for solo piano – a companion piece for Clara Schumann’s own Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann – will feature six of Ireland’s leading women composers (Jane O’Leary, Rhona Clarke, Siobhan Cleary, Marian Ingoldsby, Amanda Feery and Anna Murray) each of whom will write a short ‘reflection’ on a theme from Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio. The seventh reflection will comprise the winner of the Finding a Voice Composition Competition for emerging Irish women composers.

Concerts
On Friday 8th March (International Women’s Day), rising star Ellen Jansson (piano) and guests will present ‘BeyondTime: The Music of Alexina Louie’ featuring solo and chamber music by one of Canada’s most sought after composers. Alexina Louie, whose 70th birthday falls in 2019, will be in attendance, on her first ever visit to Ireland.  South Tipperary Arts Centre will also host an exclusive composition masterclass with the composer herself.

In the evening, the Irish Baroque Orchestra will celebrate the vocal music of 17th century Italian composer, Barbara Strozzi, marking the 400th anniversary of her birth, alongside that of her female contemporaries including Francesca Caccini, Isabella Leonarda, and Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre. 

Saturday 9th March will be dedicated to one of the best-known women composers of all time, the inspiring Clara Schumann. The lunchtime concert ‘Clara Schumann and friends’, will feature one of Ireland’s most celebrated singers, soprano Mary Hegarty, who wowed audiences last year with her opening night performance and who returns to perform a programme of romantic lieder alongside music composed and inspired by Clara Schumann. This lunchtime concert will also feature the world premiere of Jane O’Leary’s Clara (2012-13) for clarinet and speaker, with Paul Roe and Aideen Wylde.

On Saturday evening, leading international piano trio, the Fidelio Trio will continue the tribute to Clara Schumann with a concert of music for solo piano and piano trio by Clara Schumann, as well as trios by Rebecca Clarke and others. This concert will feature the world premiere of the Finding a Voice commissioned work Reflections on a Theme by Clara Schumann performed by renowned pianist Mary Dullea. 

On Sunday, Cork-based experimental music group, the Quiet Music Ensemble will bring their unique sonic art to Clonmel in a lunchtime programme featuring music by Irish and international women composers. 

We will finish with a ‘Soirée Musicale’ with the PRISM Ensemble, a chamber music group featuring outstanding members of the National Symphony Orchestra alongside one of Ireland’s foremost pianists and a specialist in French music, Thérèse Fahy (piano).  The concert will feature solo and chamber music by 19th- and early 20th-century French composers including Cécile Chaminade and Germaine Tailleferre, before finishing with one of the series highlights, Louise Farrenc’s virtuosic Piano Quintet No.1

For more information, visit the link below.