Sharon Carty (mezzo-soprano) & Gary Beecher (piano)

Kildare mezzo-soprano Sharon Carty is admired by audiences for her musicality and intelligence, as well as for the warmth, clarity and agility of her voice. Sharon will perform with the acclaimed Cork pianist Gary Beecher, who in 2019 was awarded First Prize at the prestigious International Nadia and Lili Boulanger Voice-Piano Competition in Paris.

Schubert composed more than 600 songs in his short life, each a mirror to the human experience. Gary and Sharon will perform a selection of six of them, beginning with ‘Viola’, a ballad about a lovesick snowdrop, and ending with ‘An die Musik’, a hymn to the art of music, and one of Schubert’s best-known songs. Also featured are Chansons de Bilitis, Debussy’s setting of collection of poems by his contemporary Pierre Louÿs, Grieg’s Six Songs, offering a distinctly Norwegian take on German Romanticism, and closer to home, a selection of songs by English and Irish composers.

“perfectly pitches mood and emotion… sublime”. The Arts Review (on Sharon Carty)

"a subtle, sophisticated player with a maturity of both technique and interpretive outlook" Belfast Telegraph (on Gary Beecher)

PROGRAMME:

Schubert Viola, Op.123, D.786 | Die Junge Nonne, Op.43, D.828 | Du bist die Ruh, Op.59/3, D.776 | Gretchen am Spinnrade, Op.2 D.118 | An die Musik, op.88/4, D.547

Debussy Chansons de Bilitis

Grieg Six Songs, Op.48

Hamilton Harty Sea Wrack

Joan Trimble My grief on the sea

Jake Heggie The Haughty Snail King | Animal Passion

William Bolcom Amor