Oranmore soprano, Helen Hancock is delighted to present “The Lark in the Clear Air” in the Mick Lally Theatre this St. Patricks Weekend, on Saturday 18th March at 8pm. She is excited to welcome Dublin based pianist Annalisa Monticelli and clarinettist Berginald Rash to Galway to join her in Galway in a programme which will feature Schubert’s “Shepherd on a Rock” along with Arnold Cooke’s Songs of Innocence, both for soprano, clarinet and piano. Strauss and Clara Schumann songs for soprano and piano will feature as will Paul Reade’s Victorian Kitchen Garden Suite for clarinet and piano. A selection of Irish airs will round off the evening.

Helen is a busy recitalist with interests in chamber music, art song and baroque music. Her career highlight of 2022 was her Arts Council Agility Award which funded trips to Berlin for specialist lieder and Baroque Opera coaching where she also performed at the Ulysses 100 Celebration at the Embassy of Ireland, Berlin in June 2022. She was also a recipient of a Galway County Arts Office Artist Bursary in 2021 which funded a concert in the 2021 Galway Early Festival.

Annalisa Monticelli is a highly sought-after international musician, she has worked as an Italian coach for numerous opera productions and masterclasses including the recent INO production of Cenerentola and Boheme. She is Italian diction coach and vocal coach at the Royal Irish Academy Dublin and a Programme Director at the DkIT Dundalk.

Comfortable as both a chamber musician and soloist, Berginald Rash is Co-Founder & Artistic Director of Vivre Musicale and has collaborated with members of many orchestras has been a featured soloist at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, Ireland.

Helen is very grateful to her sponsors: hospitality sponsor: Armorica, Oranmore and print sponsor: Printmore, Oranmore.