Organised in collaboration with the National String Quartet Foundation
The concert is supported by the Arts Council, Cork County Council and RTE Lyric FM
Venue: St. Barrahane's Church, Castletownshend, P81 AH51, 8pm
Tickets €20
Online, at the door, at Thornhill Electrical Skibbereen or text/call 086 226 4797
The Lir Quartet
Siobhán Doyle, violin
Kirsty Main, violin
Ed Creedon, viola
Killian White, cello
PROGRAMME
Fanny Mendelssohn: String Quartet in E flat major
J.S. Bach: Chorale Prelude BWV668
Harry O'Connor: Summer Idyll
Brahms: String Quartet in C minor Op.51 No.1
This year’s NSQF summer tour of Cork and Kerry welcomes back the wonderful Lir Quartet with an exciting and varied programme. Fanny Mendelssohn’s 1834 string quartet remained unpublished until 1988 but is now a core and much-loved work in the quartet repertoire. Harry O’Connor is a graduate of MTU Cork School of Music and is continuing his composition studies at Oxford where the Castalian Quartet premiered his fine ‘Summer Idyll’ earlier this year. Brahms’ C minor quartet is one of the greats, its dramatic and impassioned outer movements contrasting with the sublime beauty and lyricism of the Romanze and the relaxed musings of the third movement.
The Lir Quartet was formed in 2016 at the Clandeboye Festival. In summer 2024 the quartet will work as Fellowship Quartet at the ConCorda chamber music course, followed by this five concert tour around Cork and Kerry and a further national tour in October.
Siobhán Doyle
Siobhán Doyle is an Irish violinist currently based in Amsterdam. She has performed extensively both at home and on international stages, encompassing solo, chamber music and orchestral playing.
A former member of the European Union Youth Orchestra, Siobhán was one of the soloists with the orchestra in The Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in 2020, performing Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins. She has also performed as a soloist with the Dublin Symphony Orchestra and the Orlando Chamber Orchestra.
Siobhán has enjoyed musical collaborations with Alexei Grynyuk and Mairéad Hickey as part of the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, and she has performed with leading Irish musicians as part of the Spotlight Chamber Music Series, NCH Chamber Music Gathering, and the Ortús Festival.
As a recipient of a full scholarship to the Royal Northern College of Music, she completed her Bachelor’s degree with Leland Chen before furthering her studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart with Nurit Stark.
Siobhán became a member of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra in 2019 under the musical leadership of Gordan Nikolic.
Kirsty Main, violin
Violinist Kirsty Main was born in Edinburgh where she attended St Mary’s Music School, before moving to Manchester to earn her Bachelor’s degree at the Royal Northern College of Music studying with Benedict Holland. Kirsty went on to gain a Master’s degree in Historically Informed Performance Practice at the University of Glasgow (in conjunction with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) under Huw Daniel and Cecilia Bernardini, supervised by Professor John Butt.
Now based back in Edinburgh, Kirsty enjoys the variety of freelancing as an orchestral and ensemble musician and has recently performed with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Manchester Camerata and Scottish Ballet. As a baroque violinist Kirsty was a Britten-Pears Young Artist in 2018 and has since played with the Dunedin Consort, including at the BBC Proms 2023 for both television and radio broadcast, and Ensemble OrQuesta, whose production of Alcina at Grimeborn Festival was named in the Guardian’s ‘Top 10 classical music performances of 2021’. Session work has included live and recorded performances at the Royal Albert Hall and BBC Maida Vale studios.
Ed Creedon, viola
Ed Creedon enjoys a varied career as a viola player, performing chamber music, in recitals and as an orchestral musician. Recent performances include the National Concert Hall Chamber Music Gathering, tours throughout Ireland with the Lir String Quartet, tours to Finland, France, Spain and India with Camerata Ireland as well as solo performances with Camerata Ireland and Barry Douglas.
Since 2016 he has performed regularly with The Vanbrugh. Other chamber music highlights include appearances with the Ficino Ensemble in Dublin, the Piatti Quartet in the U.K., at the Ortús Festival in Cork, and repeat invitations to the Clandeboye Festival in Northern Ireland and the Killaloe Festival of Chamber Music.
Recent projects include a national tour with the Solas Quartet, recording an album of contemporary chamber music works with Crash Ensemble and performances in Ireland and Scotland with the Irish Chamber Orchestra.
Killian White, cello
Killian White is the first cellist to be awarded the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) Music Bursary, the single largest annual classical music award in Ireland, and one of the largest in Europe. Killian was described as “an outstanding winner who impressed with a superb performance and a crystal-clear sense of purpose,” by John O’Kane (RTE) and, “undoubtedly a performer with a very exciting career ahead of him” by Michael Duffy (RDS CEO). In addition to being awarded the bursary, Killian has been the recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including the Phillip Crawshaw Memorial Prize at the Royal Overseas League International Competition, the Fr Frank Maher Award (2017), the Aileen Gore Cup and RTE Lyric FM Award at ESB Feis Ceoil, the National Concert Hall Young Musician Award, the Flax Trust Award and the Audience Prize at Camerata Ireland Clandeboye Music Festival.
Born in 2000, Killian studied first with Martin Johnson, principal cellist with the NSOI, and then with Christopher Marwood at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. He recently completed his bachelor’s degree at the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin, with Professor Frans Helmerson. Since commencing his studies in Berlin, he has enjoyed a busy concert schedule – performing many times in Germany while also engaging in solo performances in London, Berlin, the NCH in Dublin, and numerous other venues throughout Ireland.
His career has led him to play as soloist with many orchestras, including the Staatskapelle Halle, Camerata Ireland, the RTE Concert Orchestra, RTE Symphony Orchestra, Kaunas Symphony Orchestra, the Hibernian Orchestra, Dublin Symphony Orchestra, the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, and the New York Concerti Sinfonietta at Carnegie Hall.
Killian has a fierce passion for chamber music and has performed in Quartets and throughout Europe and Ireland. Highlights include performances at the Bartok Memorial House, Budapest, the Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin, and at the National Concert Hall in Dublin.
Orchestral playing has been an important part of his career since taking part in the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra from 2015-2017. Since then, he has gone on to perform on numerous occasions as part of the Pierre Boulez Ensemble and as principal cellist of several orchestras, including the Irish Chamber Orchestra for an Irish tour in 2022. Killian’s life as an orchestral musician has culminated this year in becoming a member of the prestigious Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (RCO) Academy, where he performs regularly as a part of the orchestra.
Not afraid to go beyond the boundaries of the classical genre, Killian has also recorded a full-length feature film score for solo cello and has composed and performed features on songs for several Dublin-based songwriters.
He is performing on a 2020 Gruszow-Baumblatt Cello, supported by Music Network’s Music Capital Scheme, funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. Music Network is funded by the Arts Council.
ConCorda is an exciting international chamber music course for young string musicians supported by the Irish Association of Youth Orchestras, the Irish Chamber Orchestra and The Arts Council. Founded by the late Hugh and Tricia Maguire, ConCorda is now in its 27th year and provides a rare platform for students from fourteen years upwards to discover and explore all aspects of string chamber music in a non-competitive and inspiring environment.
The course, hosted this year in Newtown School in Waterford, offers an inspiring and transforming musical experience in chamber music, string orchestra and music improvisation. Participants study chamber music intensively at a high level with a staff of Irish and international tutors.
As well as members of the prestigious Irish Chamber Orchestra, tutors have included renowned violinist, Marc Danel, the award-winning French quartet Quatuor Varese and Oscar Valsecchi, an actor and mime artist, who is in much demand across Europe’s most exciting theatre companies.
During the course students:
- Develop ensemble awareness, techniques and skills through working with other advanced string players from Ireland and abroad
- Participate in daily lunchtime concerts
- Receive professional coaching and direction in preparation for a public concert
- Participate in daily improvisation and rhythm workshops, exploring music through composing and body movement
- Rehearse and perform with the ConCorda String Orchestra
- Build relationships with their colleagues by participating in a wide range of extra sport, social and leisure activities
For more information visit www.concorda.ie.