WORD

May 9-12, 2013

Info & Booking: www.galwayearlymusic.comTickets also in An Taibhdhearc and at door

Which came first, Words or Music?

PLAY

Galway Early Music would like to thank its sponsors and friends, without whose support the

Festival would not happen.

Delo CollierMichael & Claire Cuddy

Tom GrealyRiana & Pat O’Dwyer

MEDIA SPONSORS

SILVER PATRONS

SUPPORTED BY

Adare Guesthouse Kimberly LoPreteGOLD PATRONS

WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO

The Rector & Vestry of St Nicholas Collegiate Church, withheartfelt thanks to Catherine Moore-Temple

The director and staff of the Galway City Museum, with specialthanks to Brendan Mc Gowan

See our general Festival Promo on Youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fveRZSI1pi8

or scan this QR code:

Seán & Lois TobinSt Anthony’s & Claddagh

Credit UnionAnn McDonagh

Galway Early Music #gwy_earlymusic

WORD

Which came first? Words or Music?

PLAY

From 17th-centuryRoman music to the performance of EarlyIrish poetry and a play-ful look at the dark sideof fairytales, join us fora rich tapestry of medieval, renaissanceand baroque vocal andinstrumental music.

With a chicken-and-egg sort of theme, thisyear’s festival looks at the relationship between words andmusic in areas as diverse as recitative, sacred choral music,poetic performance, theatre, & storytelling.

CONCERTS

Songs for the SoulSt. Nicholas Schola CantorumReading Male Voice Choir

Thursday, May 9, 8:00 pmSt Nicholas Collegiate Church

Galway Early Music is proud to begin this year’s festival withthe St Nicholas Schola Cantorum and their guest choir The ReadingMale Voice Choir to help raise funds for the Schola Cantorum.

In 1557 a choir school was established by the Corporation and The Collegiate Church of St Nicholas. The Warden was instructed to trainfour choir boys as choristers and provide board for them: “that foure boiesfor the augmentacion of Godes Devine Service shalbe assistinge and helpinge tosinge dayly at the quere ….the vicars and Colladge allwayes gyvinge the saidchildrin meat and drinke contynuallye”.

Due to political and historical upheavals, this choir schoollapsed. In 2012, under the direction of Mark Duley, StNicholas Church established a new Schola Cantorum, consisting of up to 14 young choral scholars.

The READING MALE VOICECHOIR is a premier concert malevoice choir in Berkshire, Englandwith a unique and varied repertoirebased on arrangements by musicaldirector, Gwyn Arch.

GWYN ARCH founded the Reading Male Voice Choir in 1971. Hewas Director of Music at Bulmershe College of Higher Education until his retirement in 1985. A Composition Fellow of TrinityCollege, London, and a Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music, hewas awarded the MBE for services to music in Berkshire in the 2006Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

CONCERTS

Adrian Mantu was born in Bucharest and is apost-graduate of the University of Music inBucharest. His studies continued at the BanffCentre for the Arts in Canada, Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Royal Academy of Music inLondon, Escuela Superior de Musica ReinaSophia in Madrid and European Academy ofMusic in Aix-en-Provence. In 2003, after an international audition, Adrian and his colleaguesfrom ConTempo became Galway’s first Ensemble-in-Residence and remain at the heart

of the residency today. Adrian has recently become interested in performingbaroque music. He is now the proud owner of a baroque cello with whichhe is discovering historical performance techniques.

Described by the Washington Post as 'Ireland's leading classical guitarist' andby Michael Dervan in the Irish Times as 'a trailblazer...when it comes to theguitar and guitar-playing in Ireland', John Feeley studied at Trinity College,Dublin, Queens College of the City University, New York, and The NationalUniversity of Ireland, Maynooth, where he graduated with a PhD in music.He currently holds the post of Senior Lecturer at the Conservatory of Music,Dublin Institute of Technology. In addition to his solo and chamber musicconcerts, Feeley has performed widely with orchestra and recently has teamedup with Adrian Mantu for a number of performances.

Lost InnocenceAdrian Mantu (baroque cello)

John Feeley (guitar)

Friday, May 10, 1:00 pmDruid Lane Theatre

Who has not dreamt at least once of escapingthe stress of modern life by seeking refugein the tranquillity of the countryside,or in the solitude of the wilderness?The more urbanised, complex andself-aware a society becomes, themore it seems to look for its ‘lost in-nocence’: a dream-time of purity,simplicity, and harmony with theforces of nature. No symbol of sucha mythical Golden Age has beenemployed by poets and musiciansmore often than the pastoral world:ever since Greek and Roman Antiquity,shepherds have been portrayed as theguardians of poetic sensibility, sincere emotions, uncorrupted life. This theme repeatedly influenced intellectuals andartists of the French and Italian Renaissance, reached its highest point offormal perfection in Baroque France, and in many ways it still speaks tous today as it did many centuries ago.

Music includes pieces by Marais, Bach and Vivaldi. The music will beinterleaved with poetry and prose praising the pastoral ideal.

Pastoral Music & Poetry through the Ages

Laoise O'Brien has a growing reputation as avirtuosic performer and imaginative concertprogrammer. She studied recorder at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam having completed an undergraduate degree on modern flute at the College of Music in Dublin.She also holds a Masters degree in Performanceand Musicology from NUI Maynooth. Laoiseenjoys both solo and ensemble playing and performs repertoire from the 12th to the 18thcenturies. She has performed with all the majorearly music groups in Ireland and with international ensembles. She appears regularlyin concert series and festivals throughout Ireland and Europe.

Lorna Donlon is a textile artist living and working in Kilkenny. Her maininterest is in tapestry weaving. In recent years Lorna has worked collaborativelywith musician Laoise O 'Brien. For her, the process of responding visuallyto music, and texts is one which is constantly interesting and surprising, andmakes the business of making a piece of work a constant voyage of discovery!

Inspired by the fairy tales collected by theGrimm brothers, Hans Christian Anderson, Giambattista Basile andCharles Perrault, this concert takes a lookat the dark side of fairy tales. We are usedto the modern re-tellings where everyonelives happily ever after – but in the original stories, things weren’t so rosy!Often the themes of abandonment, loss,neglect and impossible challenges are answered by cleverness, humour andhope. But not always - Little Red RidingHood is gobbled by the wolf (to warnyoung women to beware of all types ofwolves!).

This multi-media concert illustrates thesegrim(m) fairy tales with a surprising variety of music, from ageless nurseryrhymes and anonymous Nordic, Arabicand Irish tunes to compositions by Adamde la Halle, John Dowland, FrançoisCouperin, and Purcell, not forgettingbaroque ballads and dances.

A magical journey through the historyand symbolism of centuries-old talesusing music, art and craft.

CONCERTS

Sonnets for the CradleLaoise O’Brien (director & recorders), Lorna Donlon (art), BrendanLong (baritone), Siobhán Armstrong (harps), Sarah Groser (bass viol),Eamon Sweeney (5-course guitar), Francesco Turrisi (percussion), Bob

Kelly (actor), Ben Rawlins (sound), Peter Canning (lights)

Friday, May 10, 8:00 pmAn Taibhdhearc

Music elevated and transformed theeloquent verse of 17th-century Roman poets into sensual and ecstatic narratives of repentance, martyrdom, extremegrief and eroticism. This excess ofemotion and expression in all thearts came to be known as ‘Baroque’,and it was Rome and the counter-Reformation where the style wasfirst awakened.

Erin Headley and her award-winning ensemble Atalante, whose members come from Ireland,Germany, Sweden, Greece and Great Britain, join Ireland’s premier professional choir Resurgam, directed by Mark Duley,in this outstanding concert. The inspiration for Atalante is thelirone, that ethereal-sounding multi-string bowed instrumentsaid to ‘transport the soul and elevate the spirit’. Its true realmwas the lament, a genre embracing the whole spectrum ofhuman emotions, in the dramatic narratives of classical andChristian heroines such as Mary Magdalene, St Catherine, Helenof Troy and Artemisia. Atalante’s luxurious continuo band oftriple harp, chitarrone, harpsichord and lirone lend an other-worldly ambiance to this extraordinary vocal repertoire of 17th-century Rome, including music not heard for over 300 years.

CONCERTS

Eloquent & ElevatedAtalante:

Nadine Balbeisi (soprano), Theodora Baka (mezzo-soprano),Siobhán Armstrong (arpa doppia), Jörg Jacobi (harpsichord),

Erin Headley (director, viola da gamba, lirone)Resurgam: Mark Duley, director

Saturday, May 11, 8 pmSt Nicholas Collegiate Church

This concert is part of the EUPresidency Cultural Programme

Atalante is named in honour of Leonardo da Vinci’s friendand pupil Atalante Migliorotti, inventor of the lirone. Thatmagic and ethereal bowed instrument has been ErinHeadley's domain for the past 30 years, through an astonish-ing number of performances and recordings that have beenacclaimed worldwide

Resurgammakes a unique and distinctive contribution toIreland’s musical life, and is widely acknowledged to be oneof the country’s most accomplished vocal ensembles. Thechoir is particularly known for its presentation of the greatsacred repertoire of the renaissance and baroque periods.

DAY BY DAY

Friday, May 10

8:00 pm

1:00 pm Lost InnocencePastoral Music & Poetry Through the AgesAdrian Mantu / John FeeleyDruid Lane Theatre€15 / €12 conc / €5 youth

Sonnets for the CradleLaoise O’Brien, Director / Lorna Donlon, Artist€18 / €15 / €5 (under 16 yrs)An Taibhdhearc, Middle St

8:00 pm Songs for the SoulSt Nicholas Schola Cantorum & Reading Male Voice ChoirSt Nicholas Collegiate Church€10 / €5

A Bronze-Age MusicianAncient Music IrelandMoore Institute, NUI, Galway

4:00 pm

Thursday, May 9

Smartphone Musical Tour of Medieval GalwayThroughout the City CentreInstruction sheets in City Museum. Guides for getting started in museum on Saturday.

TICKET BOOKINGOnline: www.galwayearlymusic.com

From 15 April: An Taibhdhearc, Middle StAt door of concerts

FESTIVAL TICKET: €55 / €45 concession(includes all concerts. Bus to Aughnanure not included)

From May 9 and throughout the Festival

Anytime

Sonnets for the Cradle Art ExhibitionAn Taibhdhearc

May 10 - 17

Official Opening of the Festival by JamesHarrold, Galway City Arts OfficerSheridan’s Wine Bar, Church Lane

6:30 pm

6:00 pm Official Opening of the Art Exhibition: Sonnets for the CradleAn Taibhdhearc, Middle St

PROGRAMME

Sunday, May 12

11:00 am

MUSIC & MAGIC IN THE MUSEUMGalway City Museum, Spanish Arch

1:30-2:30 Renaissance Music and Dance3:00-4:00

1:30 - 4:00 Close Magic with Nemo le Magician(with breaks)

1:30, 2:30, Smartphone Musical Tour of 3:30 Medieval Galway

Guides to get you started!

1:30 - 4:00

A Medieval MagicianNemoThe Ruby Room, Kings Head PubFree Admission

Saturday, May 11

8:00 pm Eloquent & ElevatedAtalante & ResurgamSt Nicholas Collegiate Church€18 / €15 / €5

Walking Tour of Medieval GalwayWilliam HenryStarting at The City Museum

4:30 pm

5:00 pm &7:00 pm

Guth Binn & Téada ÓirAnn & Charlie Heymann, Simon O’DwyerAughnanure Castle, OughterardIncludes refreshments, tour of castle.€15 / €12 / €5

Have a meal at

The Bridge Mills, Bridge StFestival Hospitality Sponsor

4:00 pm &5:00 pm

Bus for concert in Aughnanure CastleLeaving from the Cathedral car parkBooking at www.galwayearlymusic.com or 087 930 5506. €5

4:00 pm A Medieval MagicianAughnanure Castle, Oughterard(Admission to Castle will be charged)

CONCERTS

Guth Binn 7 Téada ÓirAnn & Charlie Heymann

Simon O’Dwyer

Sunday, May 12, 5:00 pm & 7:00 pmAughnanure Castle

Bus to AughnanureLeaving the Cathedral car park at

4:00 pm and 5:00 pmBook at www.galwayearlymusic.com or

091-930 5506

Early poetry was often per-formed to the accompani-ment of lyre or harp, andthis was nowhere moretrue than in Ireland, wherethe high status poet andharper worked together tocreate a performance fortheir patron and his follow-ers. Manuscripts have pre-served a rich storehouse ofthe texts of these bardicpoems, but we have no

musical notation for the music that accompanied them, nor anyidea how that accompaniment related to the words.

This concert presents possibilities for the performance of early Irish& Scottish poetry with their unique harp, and compares this to traditions from Wales and Europe. It features gold-stringed EarlyIrish harps, horse-hair Welsh harp, lyres and early Irish horns.

A fitting concert for Aughnanure Castle!

Ann Heymann is one of the pioneers of the historical study of theGaelic harp, which was the high-art instrument of the Gaelic areasof Scotland and Ireland from at least the 10th to the 17th c. Withher multi-instrumentalist husband Charlie Heymann, Ann hasworked on the techniques and performance practices, repertoire,construction, strings and string materials ofthis harp. She and Charlie have recentlycompleted a Moore Institute fellowship atNUI, Galway researching the historical per-formance of Gaelic harp and poetry in theEarly and Middle Irish periods.

FREE EVENTS

A Bronze-Age MusicianAncient Music Ireland

Simon & Maria O’Dwyer

Thursday, May 9, 4:00 pmMoore Institute, NUI, Galway

Ancient Music Ireland is delighted to present the FIRST EVER publicviewing of an interpretation of a Late Bronze Age hoard from WestClare. The original bronze items including parts of a horn, chain,

sword, axes, rings and disc pin wererecovered from a bog at Boolybrien, Co. Clare in 1930.We will include our interpretation of the items asparts of an outfit worn by a musician in the Bronze Age.The presentation will discuss thelinks between spoken and musical

performance and occasion throughthe examination of the decorative

aspects of the hoard. This event willalso include detailed images of the

items; practicaldemonstration using

accurate reproductionsand tunes composed for and

played on Bronze Age horns.

Simon O’Dwyer and Maria Cullen O’Dwyer are Ancient Music Ireland. Their work is the culmination of twenty-five years reproducingand musically exploring Irish instruments from prehistory. The instruments range from late Bronze Age horns to the great Celtic trumpets of the middle Iron Age and wood wind instruments from earlyChristianity. As no written or oral music survives from these times wecan never be sure what was played by the musicians or the circumstancesin which instruments were used. Their work has however indicatedstrong possibilities as to the reasonswhy horns and trumpets were designed and how they may havebeen played. It is remarkable thata bronze horn cast 3,000 years agoretains its integrity as a professionalinstrument and continues to function as a means to evoke thehuman emotions which are theessence of the universal timelesslanguage that is music.

FREE EVENTS

FAMILY EVENT

A Medieval MagicianSaturday, May 11, 11:00 am - Kings Head Pub

Sunday, May 12, 4:00 pm - Aughnanure Castle

Nemo le Magician welcomes the spectators into his magic work-shop. As his apprentices are away, he invites the audience to helphim out. He then tells them his own story, a story with a bit ofdarkness, a bit of humour, and a lot of magic! A show for all thefamily.

Nemo brings the audience into his medieval world through storytelling and magic illusions that combine to tell a thrilling taleof mystery, wonder and suspense. Live music makes the show atruly unique experience.

Close Magic with NemoNemo will be at the Galway City Museum on Saturday, May11 between 1:30 and 4 pm (with breaks) doing the tricks thata wandering musician might have done at a country fair. Youcan get close to the magic and seeing is believing!

FREE EVENTS

Sonnets for the Cradle ExhibitionMay 10- 17, 10:00 am - 5:00 pmAn Taibhdhearc Rehearsal Room

Tapestry artist LornaDonlon’s beautifullycrafted collages andimaginative itemshighlight the hiddenmessages in the fairy-tales and nurseryrhymes of Sonnets forthe Cradle, the c o l l a b o r a t i o n between musicianLaoise O’Brien &

Lorna Donlon. Inspired by the folktalescollected by the Brothers Grimm, Giambattista Basile and Charles Perrault,this project looks at the dark side of fairytales. Whimsy, humour, courage andgrief are the universal themes of these tales,expressed so beautifully in this exhibition.

Dancing WordsSaturday May 11, 1:30 and 3:00 pm

Galway City MuseumMusicians were not alwaysaround when the dancingstarted. In our danceworkshops this year, Lise Carrel will teach a song todance to, and the dancethat goes with it! Jacopo Bisagni will be onhand with his bagpipes, aswell, to give our voices arest. We have to limit thenumber participating thisyear, but there’s plentymore to see while you’rewaiting to join in!

FREE EVENTS

Smartphone Musical Tourof Medieval Galway

Saturday May 11, 1:30, 2:30 and 3:30 pmGalway City Museum

Bring your fully charged smartphoneand your good earphones to the Museum and let our friendly ITguides get you started on thisunique walking tour of Galway.

Captain Moreno, a Spanishsailor who has just arrived in his favourite city, takes you, his shipmate, to see his favouriteplaces in Galway. As you visit thesites, you hear the music that youmight have heard 400 years ago.

When words failSaturday May 11, 1:30 - 4:00 pm

Galway City Museum

Mark Duggan will exhibit medieval armour and weapons and, weather permitting, give demonstrations of medieval swordplay with members of theIrish School of Historical Combat.

Hand-to-hand combat was the way to decide an argument where words failed. Inspite of modern sensitivities, it remains anarea of fascination!

The Smartphone Musical Tour of Medieval Galway is alwaysavailable. You can do the tour whenever you want!

Medieval CombatIrish School of Historical Combat

Irish Historical Martial ArtsTuesdays, 8-10 (over 18s only)

Leisureland, SalthillContact Adam at 089 458 5291

Historical Harp Society of IrelandPromoting Ireland's forgotten national instrument

EARLY IRISH HARPTuition • Rental Harps • Summer School

On-line Shop • Members’ Library

www.irishharp.org

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historyShor tA

Galway Early Music was founded when a group of Galway musicians travelled to Lismore, Co Waterford, for the Lismore Early Music Festival.It was there that the idea was born: why not bring this rich and sometimes exotic music to the medieval city of Galway - what bettervenue? The first festival was in 1996 and this is our 18th.

Through the years the Festival has been proud to present such excitingensembles and performers as Jordi Savall, Andrew Lawrence-King andThe Harp Consort, Red Priest, Ensemble Unicorn, The Irish Baroque Orchestra, Resurgam, Ensemble eX and many, many more. The Festivalis known for its lively programming and its attention to the place of Irishmusic and musicians in the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque European music scene.

Galway Early Music is run by a voluntary committee.

More Informationwww.galwayearlymusic.com tel. +353-(0)87-930 5506

e-mail: info@galwayearlymusic.com

1. Druid Lane Theatre2. An Taibhdhearc3. St Nicholas Collegiate Church4. Kings Head Pub

5. Moore Institute, NUI, Galway6. Galway City Museum7. Cathedral Car Park

Venue Map

Aughnanure Castle: If you are driving, head towards Oughterard onthe N59. The right turn down to the castle is well signposted. Thereis a parking lot near the castle.

Bus to Aughnanure: Leaves from the Cathedral car park at 4:00 pmand 5:00 pm promptly!

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