The Ulster Orchestra, Northern Ireland’s only professional symphony orchestra, launched its 2012-2013 Season (17 May), a nine-month programme that sees the music of Beethoven, Verdi and Wagner rub shoulders with The Snowman and music from stage and screen.

The UO’s 47th Season includes the work of 30 composers across 40 main season and lunchtime concerts that will involve over 30 soloists, 20 conductors and two choirs – the Derry-based Codetta and Belfast Philharmonic Choir and, as Ulster Orchestra’s Chairman Professor Sir George Bain says, “63 of the finest musicians you will find anywhere in these islands”.

“It is an eclectic mix of popular, familiar, challenging, and inspiring music that we hope will appeal not only to our subscribers, but to people who come occasionally, or haven’t yet enjoyed a symphony orchestra in full flow,” he said.

The 2012-2013 Season will honour the centenary of Benjamin Britten’s birth and bicentenaries of Wagner and Verdi’s. The Season also includes two special Burns Night concerts and popular classics like Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, Holst’s The Planets and Handel’s Messiah; also a concert of Family Film Favourites, music from hit West End shows and a Wild Wild West film night.

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Strictly dancers Camilla Dallerup and Ian Waite make a welcome return for the traditional New Year Viennese concerts and families can also enjoy a special 30th anniversary showing this Christmas of The Snowman with live orchestral accompaniment.

Roisín McDonough, Chief Executive of the Arts Council, the Ulster Orchestra’s principal funder, congratulated the Orchestra “for providing us once more with a spectacular season of inspiring symphony music. The programme shows how orchestral music is an essential ingredient in the rich and diverse tapestry of delights that the arts bring to local audiences and to our growing numbers of cultural visitors.”

In thanking all those who support and fund the Orchestra, Sir George said that the Arts Council invests a significant portion of its funding for music in the Orchestra and that was a huge responsibility for them and the Board of the Ulster Orchestra as well.

“I want to thank the Arts Council for its support; its continued recognition that a symphony orchestra is a crucial part of cultural life here, and the value it places on having a full-time professional symphony orchestra for Northern Ireland,” he said.

“We will need to do more with less, as these are tough times for everyone, but we welcome the Arts Council’s continued faith in us. We see ourselves as part of the community and are committed to bringing classical music to more people.”

Principal Conductor JoAnn Falletta said she is also looking forward to the new Season and working with the musicians, many of whom, like her, come from overseas. She also said that she is doing her bit to promote Northern Ireland by exporting the music of its finest composers back to her native United States.

The acclaimed New York conductor said, “Coming to Belfast has opened up a whole new world to me, especially the fantastic music of local Irish composers: composers such as Sir Hamilton Harty, Howard Ferguson and John Ernest Moeran. I want people in the US to enjoy these great treasures.”
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As Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic and Virginia Symphony orchestras, she will conduct Harty’s Irish Symphony in Buffalo in the autumn of 2013 and Moeran’s Cello Concerto in Virginia during its 2013-2014 Season. She also has plans to conduct Howard Ferguson’s Piano Concerto in the United States.

“People in the US have not heard these composers yet, but are excited about hearing the sound of Northern Ireland. Many of our audience members tell me how much they want to visit Belfast to hear the Ulster Orchestra,” she added.

As JoAnn takes local classical music to American audiences, she is pleased that the Ulster Orchestra’s new Season includes a number of her classical music compatriots, composers such as John Adams, Aaron Jay Kernis and the great George Gershwin.

The Ulster Orchestra’s new Season opens on 14 September 2012. Ten days earlier, at the Season taster concert ‘Your Starter for 10!’ concertgoers can get a taste of what the Season has in store for just £10.

Tickets for the 2012-2013 Season go on sale on 18 July and range from £6-£28 and are available from ulsterorchestra.com or 028 9023 9955.

Belfast will see a world record attempt for the most number of makes and models of motorcycles in a single parade. The IAM Titanic World Record Challenge will take place on Friday 22 June.

Motorcyclists from road safety charity the IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists) are inviting Ireland’s bikers to join them and ride their way into the record books. The current record is 138 makes and models at an event organised by the KillSpills Campaign in 2007.
The parade organised by the Quay Vipers Motorcycle Club, will assemble near the slipway where the world’s most famous ship Titanic was built and adjacent to the new iconic building and exhibition centre Titanic, Belfast. The attempt will follow a two-mile route to the City Hall and back again to the starting point for a bikers’ barbecue. The world record attempt will be started by local boxing hero Wayne Pocket McCullough, Olympic silver medallist and former WBC Bantamweight and Commonwealth champion.

Other sponsors of this event are Adelaide Insurance Services, Days Hotel, Stena Line and Bikesafe.
The record attempt will begin at 7pm and is part of a week-long tour of Britain and Ireland to raise awareness of road safety and money for charity.

IAM chief executive Simon Best said: “It doesn’t matter if you have a 1200cc Harley of a 50cc moped, we want to see as many two-wheelers as possible join us so that we smash the world record. It’s for a great cause and will also be a terrific night out. “
Riders can sign up for the world-record team here: http://www.iam.org.uk/worldrecordattempt

To mark 100 years since its sinking, one of Belfast’s most prominent playwrights, Martin Lynch, turns his attention to the legendary Titanic story.

The Titanic Boys, tells the true, untold story of nine young Harland & Wolff men who uniquely built, sailed and died on the RMS Titanic.

Two weeks before the Titanic sailed, designer Thomas Andrews walked into the four main trade workshops at Harland and Wolff and asked each foreman to name his best apprentice. When the bosses nominated four young men, Andrews informed the stunned apprentices they were joining himself and four senior tradesmen to sail on Titanic’s maiden voyage to New York as members of the H&W Guarantee Group.

The Titanic Boys brings the Titanic story back to where it all began – Belfast. Heart-warming and heart-breaking, this story of nine men who knew the Titanic better than anyone else in the world is truly remarkable. Laced with Lynch’s renowned capacity for capturing Belfast character and humour, this is one not to be missed!

The Titanic Boys opens at the Grand Opera House on Wednesday 8^th August and runs until Saturday 25^th August. Ticket prices start at £12 and can be purchased via telephone on 9024 1919, online at www.goh.co.uk or in person at the theatre’s Box Office.

See a clip from the exclusive preview here, thanks to Discover NI

Tickets have been launched for Land of Giants, one of the most exciting and surprising events ever seen in Ireland.

The once-in-a-lifetime experience will be staged in Belfast at the Titanic Slipways on the 30 June in front of 18,000 stunned spectators.

Audiences will be treated to an astonishing mix of state-of-the-art digital animation, dramatic special effects, fireworks, gravity defying aerial performances all played out on a stage almost 200 metres long – even the Titanic Belfast building gets a starring role.

Giant letters spelling LAND OF GIANTS TICKETS helped announce the launch – each letter was held by one of nineteen specially trained performers from Belfast Circus School. Each of the perfectly honed artists has undergone intensive preparations that will enable them to undertake the technically challenging set pieces happening throughout the 45 minute extravaganza on 30 June.

Tickets, which cost £10 for an adult, £6 concession and £28 for a family, are available from the Belfast Welcome Centre with the option of booking online at www.gotobelfast.com, via telephone on + 44 2890246609, or in person at the Welcome Centre in Belfast’s city centre.

Learn more about Land of Giants via their Facebook page,
facebook.com/landofgiantsni, Twitter account @landofgiantsni – or their website, www.landofgiants.info.

Presenter Linley Hamilton with Soprano Rebekah Coffey and The Mayor of North Down, Councillor James McKerrow launch the free tickets for The Ulster Orchestra’s Special Jubilee Concert, taking place in Castle Park, Bangor this June Bank Holiday weekend.

Music lovers are to be treated to a feast when a spectacular line-up of musicians will be taking to the stage to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. The grand finale of this special two day event, on Monday June 4th, will be an open-air concert performed by the Ulster Youth Jazz Orchestra and The Ulster Orchestra. The wonderful Youth Jazz Orchestra will take to the stage at 6pm followed at 8pm by The Ulster Orchestra. Presented by Linley Hamilton and conducted by Stephen Bell, this special Jubilee concert will also feature international soprano star Rebekah Coffey performing to her home crowd! Join us as they perform popular classics from around the world – from Tchaikovsky to Morriconi concluding with Rebekah performing Lerner & Loewe’s beautiful “I Could Have Danced All Night” as finale.

Rebekah Coffey is fast becoming a household name in her native Northern Ireland. The winner of the 2004-2006 Young Artist Platform Scheme, she has seen her career develop on both the operatic stage and the concert platform.

Newtownards-born Rebekah has performed roles with Opera North, English Touring Opera, Opera Theatre Company, Castleward Opera, Buxton Festival, Opera 2005, Lyric Opera, Castleward Opera. She has also performed at the Aldeburgh Festival, Buxton Festival and Belfast Festival at Queens. In 2009, Rebekah made her Proms debut at Proms in the Park at Hillsborough Castle and recent débuts have also included her appearance on BBC Radio 2’s Friday Night is Music Night performing an evening of Gilbert and Sullivan music with the BBC Concert Orchestra.

The evening will conclude at 10.30pm when you’ll see the Town Hall move like it’s never moved before with a spectacular 3D Light Projection Show followed by the National Lighting of the Jubilee Beacon.
Please note the Monday evening activities are by ticket only. Tickets are free and are currently available for collection only from Bangor Leisure Centre, North Down Museum, Bangor Tourist Information Centre, Bangor Library and Holywood Library, however availability is limited so don’t delay, get your tickets now and come to Bangor to celebrate the Jubilee in style! Don’t forget to bring your picnic but please note that alcohol will not be permitted at this event.
For further information, please phone our Tourist Information Centre on: 028 9127 0069 or visit www.northdowntourism.com

When I received an email last week inviting me and a guest to sample Chris Bell’s Great British Olympian Menu at the River Room Restaurant in the Galgorm Resort I didn’t have to be asked twice!

If there is food involved we are there!  And not being accustomed to posh nosh we there was some trepidation in the air on the way to Ballymena.

However, we were greeted so warmly by the staff and Chris himself who went to great lengths to put us at our ease we soon relaxed  to begin our olympic, gastronomic journey. Having watched most of the GBM NI heats on tv I was familiar with some of the menu, but not all of it – and to say it was a treat is a gross understatement. You can read the menu for yourself below which was full of lots of wonderful flavours I had certainly never had the pleasure of tasting before!

Our compliments to the Chef for an outstanding menu which cannot fail to please the most discerning diner (never mind the couple from Upperlands who looked as if they had broken in!)  But don’t take my word for it. Go along to the River Room yourself and make your own mind up. Now snails in the fish course may not be to everyone’s taste but that’s OK – Chris generously offered to be flexible with that particular course – so if scallops are your thing then that’s not a problem.

We were asked what our favourite dish was… …so hard to decide but I really loved the rabbit tea….. and the better half of me? Well having the sweetest tooth known to man he really enjoyed the dessert of Jasmine, Apricots and Pistachio!

Just a word of praise also to the staff on hand – all of whom were excellent.

You can read more about the restaurant at www.galgorm.com, find them on facebook at www.facebook.com/galgorm or follow chris on twitter at www.twitter.com/chrisbell77 – who always has the good grace to reply.

Many thanks again to Chris and the Galgorm for their faultless hospitality. Recently awarded Best Hotel Restaurant for their region of Antrim in the All Ireland Irish Restaurant Awards 2012 –  we would like to take this opportunity to wish Chris and the River Room every success in the All Ireland Finals on the 14th May at the Burlington Hotel Dublin.

Chris Bell will be serving his menu from BBC 2’s The Great British Menu at Galgorm Resort & Spa’s River Room Restaurant until June 3^rd. For reservations, contact The River Room on 02825 881001.

Motoring enthusiasts are getting in gear for this year’s much anticipated Cultra Hillclimb event at the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum on Saturday 2 June.

The event, the world’s oldest active speed Hillclimb, will see the museum turned into a motorsport venue for the day with a range of cars which span over 100 years, competing on the demanding course, with many others on display.

Organised by Thoroughbred Sports Car Club (TSCC) in association with the museum and supported by North Down Tourism, the event will mark the contribution of two of Ulster’s greatest engineers, County Down men Harry Ferguson and Rex McCandless.

So it is fitting that the Ferguson P99 – the only four wheel drive car to win a Formula 1 race when Stirling Moss drove it to victory in the Gold Cup at Oulton Park in 1961, will visit Cultra for the event.

It will be driven by Stuart Rolt, chairman of the British Racing Drivers’ Club whose father Tony was a Formula 1 racing driver and competed at the local Dundrod TT races.

Other highlights this year will be a range of agricultural, civilian and military four-wheel drive vehicles including the museum’s own McCandless racing car, a rare Jensen FF, an even rarer 4WD ‘original’ Mini and the and McCandless “Mule” 4WD Military Prototype.

This year marks 50 years since the launch of the MGB and a stunning selection of cars from the MG Owner’s Club Northern Ireland will be on display, whilst even more MGs than usual will compete in the Hillclimb competition.

Mark Kennedy, Road Transport Curator at the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum said: “This year we will celebrate the work of two brilliant local engineers, Harry Ferguson and Rex McCandless who developed four-wheel-drive cars in the 1950s.

“We’re delighted to have the Ferguson four-wheel-drive Formula 1 car return to Northern Ireland for the first time in 50 years.

“The event will also celebrate half a century of the MGB sports car with a display of these desirable cars in the grounds of the beautifully restored Cultra Manor. This year’s Hillclimb will be a fantastic event for vintage car fans and families alike.”

TSCC President William Heaney, who is co-ordinating the event, said: “For several years the club and museum have been working to bring the P99 Formula 1 car over to Cultra. But it’s been well worth the wait to have this unique opportunity to bring both the Ferguson and McCandless inspired cars together in such an appropriate setting.”

“It’s especially good this year to be working with the local MG Clubs to celebrate a significant anniversary of such an iconic British sports car as the MGB.”

For more details on the Cultra Hillclimb event, visit www.nmni.com & www.tsccni.info

Major event day pricing is applicable.

LIMELIGHT BELFAST PRESENTS
KATE NASH
& SPECIAL GUESTS
THE LIMELIGHT
WEDNESDAY 4th JULY 2012
9pm / £14.50 / Over 18s

Kate Nash fans will be thrilled to hear that the Brit Award winning artist is making a return to Belfast to play The Limelight this July. Kate has been busy working on her as-yet-untitled third album in LA and has announced a UK tour, titled ‘Faster Pussycat Run Run Tour‘. It has also been revealed that Nash will star in two feature films this year, details of which are yet to be announced. Kate Nash sold out her Mandela Hall visit in 2010 and tickets for the Limelight show on Wednesday 4th July are onsale from Thursday 10th May at 9am priced £14.50 + booking fee on www.limelightbelfast.com, www.ticketmaster.ie, Katy Dalys Bar and all usual outlets.

Kate Nash’s whirlwind music career began in 2006 as a 20yr old MySpace phenomenon, before she even had a record deal. By April of the same year she had signed to Fiction, 2 months later ‘Foundations‘ reached number 2 in the singles chart, and by August she was celebrating a number 1 album, that had had to be rush-released due to public demand.

Since then, Kate has followed up with an acclaimed second album ‘My Best Friend Is You’ and is respected for her extra-curricular activities including co-founding the Featured Artists Coalition with Billy Bragg and Blur’s Dave Rowntree and being involved in V-Day – the global movement aiming to end violence against women.

Last year, shocked by the lack of British female songwriters (only 14% of songwriters in the UK that receive PRS are women), she launched Kate Nash’s Rock n Roll for Girls After-School Music Club as a platform to inspire teenage girls to start songwriting and making their own music. Nash is also one of the founders, along with Billy Bragg and Blur’s Dave Rowntree, of the Featured Artists Coalition, which provides a voice for artists at a time of dramatic change in the music business.

Tourism Minister Arlene Foster launched the new look MV Kestrel waterbus on Lough Erne on Friday 4th May.

The pleasure cruiser, owned by Erne Tours, has been rebranded using the ni2012 Our Time Our Place identity developed by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB).

Welcoming the commitment of Stephen Nixon, Managing Director of Erne Tours, to the NITB marketing campaign, the Minister said: “As a result of Stephen’s enterprise and investment in tourism , this colourful, eye-catching brand will now be visible on these magnificent lakes. It’s certainly the most spectacular way for visitors to enjoy all that Lough Erne has to offer.

“The ni2012 branding has been developed to send the strongest possible message that Northern Ireland is firmly focused on the future and that the Northern Ireland Executive is determined to create the opportunities which will benefit everyone.

“As she cruises the lakes, the MV Kestrel will surely be one of the most striking symbols of our ni2012 campaign.”

The Minister told other guests at the launch in Enniskillen that she is determined to ensure that benefits, likely to flow from the substantial investment in tourism are shared across Northern Ireland.

“Challenging commitments have been set in the NI Executive’s Programme for Government to grow the tourism economy. From our consultation with the industry on a strategy for tourism, Fermanagh has been identified as one of nine key Tourism Destinations. I want to stimulate the greater engagement of the local tourism sector and local people and create the conditions needed to meet our PfG commitments and draw many more visitors to Fermanagh and other regions in Northern Ireland.

“We will need everyone in Fermanagh to pull together to ensure that Fermanagh and Northern Ireland as a whole really does achieve its massive potential as a truly global tourism destination.

“If we get it right – and I am confident that we can and will do – tourism has the potential to contribute £1 billion to Northern Ireland’s economy by 2020, doubling the contribution it makes today, attracting 4.5 million visitors, up from 3.5 million today, and creating thousands of new jobs across Northern Ireland.”

Choose from our new range of mid week cookery classes at the Mourne Seafood Cookery School overlooking Kilkeel Harbour.

All the classes are designed to be fun, social occasions where you will pick up lots of handy hints and techniques that will impress family and friends. Choose from the Gentlemen’s Cookery Club (Mondays 11th, 18th & 25th June), Intro to Seafood (Tuesdays 29th May, 19th June, 10th July, 9th Aug ), Girls Nite Out (Wednesdays 13th, 27th June, 18th July, 1st Aug) or Come Dine with Me (Thursdays 7th June, 5th & 26th July). Classes run from 6 – 8pm and include 3 courses, starter, main and dessert, cost per person £30.

You will get hands on and then sit down and enjoy each course. You can bring a bottle of wine with you to enjoy with your meal. The classes are taken by chef Roger Moynihan, who has cooked around the world, including South Africa, America, Australia and England and currently chefs at the Sweet Pea Bistro at Annetts Garden Centre, Warrenpoint on Fridays and Saturday nights.

For dates visit www.mourneseafoodcookeryschool.com or to book telephone 028 4176 2525.