Venue: St. Matthew's Church, Baltimore, P81 YC80
Tickets €20
Online (booking fee applies), at the door, at Thornhill Electrical Skibbereen or text/call 086 226 4797
PROGRAMME
The programme will be including music from their album to be released in 2025
Szymanowski - Songs of a fairytale princess
Lonely Moon
Golden Slippers
A Dance
Song of the Wave
Chopin - Polish songs op.74
Sad River
Out of my Sight
Warrior
McDonnell - Traverser la blancheur
Berlioz - le spectre de la rose
Faure - les roses d'Ispahan
Jonathan Nangle – Snáth (second song in cycle)
Trad. arr. Hughes - Shule Agra (unaccompanied)
Rebecca Murphy and Cahal Masterson are frequent collaborators on the Song and Concert platform, having met in 2020 to record Anselm McDonnell's second album Kraina. The duo then developed a love for bringing new music to audiences across Ireland and beyond. In recent years they have developed a fascination with performing in languages that reflect the identity and culture of their native Northern Ireland in the twenty-first Century : English, Irish, and Polish. This album reflects Rebecca's own journey with the themes of escapism, travel, and nostalgia through music. Having fallen in love with the dream-like songs of Szymanowski, the poignant imagery of loneliness explored through Chopin, and the weaving melodies of longing experienced in Jonathan Nangle's Snáth, this selection felt like the perfect fit for this, her debut album.
Rebecca Murphy
Northern Irish Soprano, Rebecca Murphy, hailed by Opera Journal for her ‘stunning delivery’, is making waves across the UK and Europe on both the concert and operatic platforms. She was a member of the Internationales Opernstudio at Oper Köln from 2020-22, and previously was a member of the Northern Ireland Opera Studio (2018-19). She is also a regular guest with the Ulster Orchestra and the Belfast Ensemble.
Rebecca’s recent roles on the operatic stage include Zerbinetta Ariadne auf Naxos for Garsington Opera, Najade Ariadne auf Naxos for Nederlandse Reisopera, Janine/Ofwarren The Handmaid’s Tale for English National Opera, Blonde Die Entführung aus dem Serail for Oper Köln, Frasquita Carmen, Sandmännchen/Taumännchen Hänsel und Gretel, Pünktchen Pünktchen und Anton, Woglinde Das Rheingold für jung und alt, Dritte Norn/Woglinde Götterdämmerung für jung und alt, and Helmwige Die Walküre für jung und alt – all for Oper Köln.
Also a lover of contemporary music, she works regularly with Irish composers including Anselm McDonnell, Conor Mitchell, and Ian Wilson. Her debut album – Traverser (funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland), is influenced by this style, as well as a heavy focus around Polish repertoire – another area of interest. Working closely with duo-partner, pianist Cahal Masterson, she has also featured on Anselm McDonnell’s album Kraina, and has premiered the material at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris. Rebecca and Cahal also appear this season at Queens University Belfast Lunchtime concert series, Music for Galway, and Barrahane Festival Cork.
Rebecca is the recipient of the Arts Council Northern Ireland Young Musicians Platform Award (2022).
http://www.rebecca-murphy.com
Cahal Masterson
Award winning Armagh pianist Cahal Masterson has developed an impressive performing profile in Ireland and internationally, with recent performances at the Centre Culture Irlandais Paris, the National Concert Hall Dublin, Belfast International Arts Festival, and Cork Orchestral Society. In addition to soloist, vocal repetiteur and chamber work that has taken him throughout Europe, North America, and Suzhou, China, Cahal is dedicated to championing exciting new works by Irish composers. He has collaborated on the premiere of solo piano & chamber works, song cycles, and a new ballet commission with composers including Anselm McDonnell, Stephen Gardner, and Amelia Clarkson.
In 2021 Cahal recorded to great critical acclaim, the piano suite Ceaselessly Into The Past by current Séan Ó Rioda competition winner Anselm Mc Donnell. Also that year he designed and delivered a comprehensive programme geared towards the upper-primary level with Music for Galway. This culminated in a combined performance of iconic childhood themed music inter-twinned with kids’ responses to music via art and poetry. In April 2024 he gave the world premiere of The Brahmdel Variations for solo piano by CMC composer Stephen Gardner at Rosemary Street First Church, a work he gave repeat performances of for Music in Fermanagh last November. More recent album collaborations have included Kraina by McDonnell and debut album Traverser by Rebecca Murphy.
Cahal is co-founder of the brilliant chamber ensemble Trio Cantaré, whose debut recital in Drogheda Classical Music festival wowed audiences. Trio Cantaré have performed in festivals across the island of Ireland and will make their international debut in Monteverdi Tuscany this April. Other upcoming engagements include performances and workshops in Galway and Cork.
https://www.cahalmasterson.com