Don’t miss the return of the internationally renowned Fidelio Trio to Belvedere House, Drumcondra for the 11th Winter Chamber Music Festival. The Trio, Darragh Morgan (Violin), Mary Dullea (Piano), Tim Gill (Cello) and guests Fiona Kelly (Flute), Anna Devin (Soprano), Francesco Paolo Scola (Clarinet), and Jane Atkins (Viola), once more bring an enchanting and beautiful programme to this intimate neighbourhood festival.

Join us from Friday 24th to Sunday 26th November for four wonderful concerts in the eighteenth century library of Belvedere House and the scenic upper room in the Botanic Gardens. Discover new and intriguing works for these amazing performers and their guests from Ireland and abroad. Hear well-known favourites in new and revealing ways for chamber ensemble. Connect with music and nature in our free Botanic Garden lunchtime concert. Come to meet the composers and listen to the story of how music is specially made for these performers, creating a repertoire of works that travel the world with the trio, bringing Irish composers’ music to the far reaches of the globe (if you are an emerging composer watch out on the cmc.ie website to apply for the composers workshop). In our following concert you will feel you have travelled to distant lands yourself with music that evokes the mood and spirit of warmer climes. Beethoven and Mozart bring a fitting close to the festival with works that match the spirit of the 18th-century library in which it is set.

While this year we will look back at the new music commissioned by the festival and the Trio over it’s 11 years, there will be no lack of new music and world premieres. Watch out for the premiere of four captivating new pieces which form the centrepiece of our Saturday lunch-time concert, specially made to connect with the beautiful Botanic Gardens in which the works will be performed.

‘Symphony in Miniature’ is our opening concert on the evening of Friday 24th November at 7.30pm. It features large works for small ensemble – Mozart’s much-loved Symphony No. 40, Chabrier’s evocative ‘España’, and Schoenberg’s well-known Chamber Symphony No 1. The Fidelio Trio are joined by London-based Irish flautist Fiona Kelly and clarinettist Francesco Paulo Scola for this special concert in the intimate setting of Belvedere House Library.

Our second concert moves to the National Botanic Gardens with music inspired by the teeming life of the gardens. Entitled ‘Species’, this free lunchtime concert on Saturday 25th November at 1pm features four entirely new works especially written for the violinist Darragh Morgan, evoking nature with solo violin and electronics. These pieces have been made possible by the Arts Council Music Project Award and we are delighted to be collaborating with locally-based composer Fergal Dowling who has coordinated this project in conjunction with Irish composers Siobhán Cleary, Seán Ó Dálaigh, and Gráinne Mulvey. This special event draws us from the twenty-first, through the twentieth, to the eighteenth century with String Trios by Alfred Schnittke and the Italian composer Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen.

‘A Kaleidoscope Snapshot’ is our pre-concert event at 6:30pm on Saturday evening. The Fidelio Trio will be joined by some of Ireland’s most renowned composers, each of whom have created new music for the trio over the eleven years of this festival. This track record of commissions is testament to the Fidelio Trio’s amazing work as ambassadors for Irish music. Hear the stories of these pieces that have travelled the globe. You won’t want to miss this inspiring event.

The evening concert ‘Andalusian Echoes’ will follow at 8:30pm. The Trio are joined once more by the violist Jane Atkins. Escape the frosty winter and journey to the warmth of Spain, with Manuel De Falla’s luscious ‘Suite Populaire Espagnole’ and Isaac Albéniz’s evocative ‘Triana’. These stunning pieces will lead us to Belgium to revel in the expressive sounds of Guillaume Lekeu’s Piano Quartet.

Return for our final concert at 3pm on Sunday 26th November for a feast of classical favourites in Belvedere House. Fidelio Trio are joined by soprano Anna Devin for five of Beethoven’s captivating Irish folk songs, followed by his magnificent ‘Archduke’ Piano Trio. The concert closes with Mozart’s exquisite L’Amerò sarò costante from his opera ‘Il Re Pastore’. This finale promises to leave us whistling the melodious tunes of these classical titans as we depart Belvedere House.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Fidelio Trio Winter Chamber Music Festival for an enriching three days of music-making.

Festival Programme

Friday 24 November, 7.30pm – ‘Symphony in Miniature’ [Belvedere House]
Fidelio Trio with Fiona Kelly (Flute) and Francesco Paolo Scola (Clarinet)