This weekend sees the start of a series of Chamber Music concerts at Portico in Portaferry. With Lottery Project Funding support from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Portico has been able to programme a range of high quality performers.
Further information: Verity@porticoards.com 07751 660 564
This Saturday (22 Jan) pianist Ruth McGinley and mezzo-soprano Carolyn Dobbin join forces to explore songs from the North of Ireland. The programme is drawn from Carolyn’s ‘Northern Songs Project’, which documents and celebrates songs from Ulster not often recorded elsewhere, and includes pieces by Hamilton Harty, Howard Ferguson, Joan Trimble, Dorothy Parke and Charles Wood.
French, Spanish and South American influences arrive in February with classical guitarist Thibaut Garcia and accordion player Félicien Brut. Their programme explores the common histories of the two instruments and the mixed roots of the players in what they describe as a captivating “Vol de Nuit” (Night Flight) including waltzes, tangos and fandangos!
In March, the multi-award winning Sitkovetsky Trio will perform Beethoven’s Trio No. 2 in G major, Perkin’s Freakshow and Schumann’sTrio no 3 in G minor. Violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky, pianist Wu Qian and cellist Isang Enders have toured extensively to enormous critical acclaim: Gramophone noting, “The playing is at once virtuoso and even-handed, textures and counterpoint beautifully clear … a really beautiful performance.”
Piano duets from Amandine Savary and Coraline Cuenot are set to enthrall audiences in May, with a programme including Ravel’s Ma Mere l’Oye, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, Debussy’s Petite Suite and a selection of waltzes from Brahms. Amandine has won many prizes including First Prize at the Osaka Chamber Music Competition and the Frankfurt Commerzbank Piano Trio Competition and special Prize of the Vienna Chamber Music Competition. Coraline enjoys innovative and unusual projects such as this concert for piano duets.
To find out more please visit porticoards.com