About Roscommon Chamber Music Festival
Featuring the Irish premiere of Carrot Revolution by American composer Gabriella Smith.

A wonderful and varied programme of music awaits audiences at the Roscommon Chamber Music Festival, funded by Roscommon County Council Arts Office and Arts Centre together with the Arts Council of Ireland. Designed to delight and astonish, concerts take place from 7th to 9th June 2024 in Roscommon Arts Centre and King House, Boyle.

Under the direction of pianist Peter Regan from Roscommon, the festival will present four exciting concerts of song, quartets and trios featuring the lush folk-dance inspired music of the Czech tradition by Dvořák, Janáček and Smetana; the angular brilliance of Stravinsky, Adès and Milhaud; alongside firm favourites by Brahms, Mendelssohn and Strauss.

Composer Gabriella Smith’s Carrot Revolution for String Quartet will bring a fresh perspective to the programme on Saturday evening at Roscommon Arts Centre. Commissioned in 2015, Smith envisioned the piece as a celebration of new ways of looking at old things, such as the string quartet – a 250-year-old genre – as well as some of her musical influences (Bach, Perotin, Gregorian chant, Georgian folk songs, Joni Mitchell, Simon & Garfunkel and Celtic fiddle tunes).  These inspirations come together in unexpected ways, and will be an eagerly awaited performance at Roscommon Chamber Music Festival.

The impressive artist line-up assembled by Peter Regan, now based in the UK, features some of Ireland and the UK’s most accomplished young performers - Amy Ní Fhearraigh, soprano; Phoebe White, violin; Killian White, cello; Anna Webster, clarinet; the Treske Quartet; Peter Regan, piano and Artistic Director.

On Opening Night, Friday 7th June at 8pm in King House, join the complete collection of festival artists for a rich and varied programme including Mendelssohn’s haunting F Minor String Quartet, Brahms’s sublime Clarinet Trio, sumptuous songs by Strauss and the startling Court Studies by Thomas Adès.

Saturday’s concerts take place in Roscommon Arts Centre. 1pm features pianist Peter Regan, soprano Amy Ní Fhearraigh, violinist Phoebe White, cellist Killian White and clarinettist Anna Webster in a refreshing programme of Dvořák’s folk-inspired “Dumky” trio and “Gypsy Melodies”, Suk’s lush Elegie for Piano Trio, and Milhaud’s scintillating Suite for Violin, Clarinet and Piano. 

8pm sees the Treske Quartet, one of the UK’s finest emerging ensembles, perform Gabriella Smith’s rock-and-roll Carrot Revolution and Stravinsky’s spiky Three Pieces for String Quartet. Hot off the heels of her Royal Opera House debut in Covent Garden, soprano Amy Ní Fhearraigh offers sublime beauty in Brahms’s Five Songs Op. 105. For the grand finale, Treske Quartet and pianist Peter Regan join forces for Dvořák’s Piano Quintet No. 2 – a firm favourite among musicians and audiences alike.

The weekend winds down to a close on Sunday 9th June at 2pm in King House, where Phoebe White, Peter Regan and Treske Quartet perform the final strains of this Bohemian themed festival, including Janáček’s Violin Sonata, Smetana’s string quartet “From My Life” and the sweetness of Dvořák’s Silent Woods.

To find out more about the music, the musicians and to purchase tickets for a feast of concerts to satisfy aficionados and newcomers alike, visit  https://www.roscommonchambermusicfestival.com/ or https://roscommonartscentre.ie/ where tickets can also be purchased in person at the Box Office or by telephone (0)90 66 25 824. Tickets will also be on sale on the doors at Roscommon Arts Centre and King House.

For full details visit the link below.