Masterpiece Series of Recitals

Continuing our partnership with Irish Heritage, the UK based organisation promoting the careers of young Irish musicians in the UK, three young musicians will perform and receive their Blackwater Valley Opera Festival awards. These are assessed in partnership with Irish Heritage at a special concert at Wigmore Hall, London.
(We invite local / community groups and children under 12 years free of charge, as part of our Outreach Programme – Contact us to arrange ticketing in advance)

VENUE: Dromore Yard, Aglish
ARTISTS: Tara Viscardi / Harp – Peter Harris / Tenor – Amy Gillen / Flute accompanied by Brian Hughes / Piano
Ticket Prices Front Row €30 / Unallocated Seating €20 excl €3.50 sales commission per order.

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We are delighted to introduce our new collaboration in 2019 with Zürich International Opera Studio, which has become one of the most important educational institutions for budding young opera singers. Accompanied by Brenda Hurley, Director of the Zürich International Opera Studio, on piano this is an opportunity to experience the nascent talent of these emerging artists brought by BVOF to the serene banks of the Blackwater River.
(We invite local / community groups and children under 12 years free of charge, as part of our Outreach Programme – Contact us to arrange ticketing in advance)

VENUE: Dromore Yard, Aglish
ARTISTS: Justyna Bluj / Soprano (Poland) – Richard Walshe / Bass-Baritone (England) – Gemma Ni Bhriain / Mezzo (Ireland) – Accompanied on piano by Brenda Hurley (Ireland), Director of the Zürich International Opera Studio
Ticket Prices Front Row €30 / Unallocated Seating €20 excl €3.50 sales commission per order.

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Masterpiece Series of Recitals

Showcasing the 2018 RDS Collins Memorial Award winner cellist Killian White. A central aim of the Festival is to provide a platform to exceptionally talented, young musician’s. Last year’s Máire Carroll concert was completely sold out.
(We invite local / community groups and children under 12 years free of charge, as part of our Outreach Programme – Contact us to arrange ticketing in advance)

Recital Programme

• Ludwig van Beethoven:  cello sonata no.3 in A major,
• Sebastian Adams : 4^th  movement of “Harry Patch”
• César Franck:  violin/cello sonata in A major

VENUE: St. Carthage’s Cathedral, Lismore
ARTISTS: 2018 RDS Music Bursary winner Killian White / Cello accompanied by Máire Carroll on piano
Ticket Prices Unallocated Seating €10 excl €3.50 sales commission per order. Concessions available to OAP’s.

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Operetta in one act by Michael William Balfe (1808-1870) to a libretto by Henry Brougham Farnie (1836-1889)

 A rare opportunity to experience a delightful chamber opera composed by Ireland’s leading nineteenth-century opera composer, Michael William Balfe (1808-1870). The Sleeping Queen occupies a unique position as Balfe’s only operetta and was recently revived by Irish-international pianist and producer, Una Hunt, who was sent the score by Balfe’s biographer, the late Basil Walsh. Reviving this comic operetta proved an illuminating experience as much of the symbolism represented within implies that the libretto was written in homage to the reigning monarch, Queen Victoria.

Balfe was considered the most significant operatic composer of the Victorian period and, for more than fifty years, his Bohemian Girl maintained a position at the vanguard of popular English-language repertory on both sides of the Atlantic. With its translation into many languages, it also gained widespread international success. There was a succession of other successful operas, 28 in total, but nonetheless, Balfe’s music is now largely forgotten. The Sleeping Queen has a cast of four characters with original scoring for piano accompaniment rather than orchestra. It was first presented in 1864 at Thomas German Reed’s Gallery of Illustration in London, a fashionable venue specializing in plays and small-scale operatic productions.

A short pre-opera talk will be given by Una Hunt.

VENUE: St. Carthage’s Cathedral, Lismore

ARTISTS:

Maria Dolores, Queen of Leon – Susie Gibbons

Donna Agnes, a Maid of Honour – Sarah Kilcoyne

Philippe D’Aguilar, a Young Exile – Oisín Ó Dálaigh

His Excellency, the Regent – Kevin Neville

Stage Director – Kate Minogue 

Musical Director and Producer – Una Hunt

Ticket Prices Unallocated Seating €20 excl €3.50 sales commission per order.

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The Great Houses of the Blackwater Valley Recitals Series 2019

Recollections of Ireland

Curated by Una Hunt

This year’s festival proudly presents a series of recitals exclusively devoted to Irish music – Recollections of Ireland – curated by Una Hunt. As one of Ireland’s leading concert pianists, Una Hunt has spent a lifetime in researching and promoting the music of historic Irish composers to new audiences around the world. She has curated numerous concerts and events and continues to present unknown Irish repertoire at prominent international festivals such as Wexford Festival Opera and in many of the world’s leading concert venues, including Carnegie Hall. Una set up the first-ever digital archive of historic Irish composers and has compiled an extensive discography of world-premiere CD recordings and award-winning documentary features on Ireland’s neglected musical heritage. So, it’s time to explore and rediscover lost and forgotten works in a uniquely informative and entertaining way. This series of three recitals takes place in three of the Great Houses of the Blackwater Valley; Cappoquin House, Salterbridge House and Tourin House.

The Harps of Ireland

Siobhan Armstrong plays historical wire-strung harp and Clare McCague plays pedal harp
Siobhán Armstrong and Clare McCague are at the forefront of rediscovering forgotten riches of harp music performed in earlier centuries in Ireland – Siobhán on brass-wire-strung early Irish harp and Clare on the gut-strung, European pedal harp, which replaced the ancient harp in Ireland in the early nineteenth century.
In this shared recital from either side of the watershed year 1800 – when one harp was dying out and the other gaining ground – Siobhán demonstrates earlier music transcribed from the last Irish harpers: evocative laments, marches, love-song airs and sparkling dances while Clare performs nineteenth-century repertoire for the pedal harp which developed through visiting virtuosi such as Bochsa and Oberthür, among others. These harpists extemporised on popular Irish airs and incorporated these airs into their compositions.

VENUE: Cappoquin House
ARTISTS: Siobhan Armstrong & Clare McCague
Ticket Prices Front Row €30 / Unallocated Seating €20 excl €3.50 sales commission per order.

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Simon Harden was born in Dublin and has lived and pursued his career as a musician in Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Paris.  He has served as a deputy organist in both Christ Church and St Patrick’s Cathedrals, Dublin and, before leaving for Germany, played regularly for the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. He is also a regular contributor to the international publication ‘Choir and Organ’.  He is busy as a recitalist with concert engagements taking him across Europe and Japan. Simon will be accompanied by Dearbhla Nolan on trumpet at St. Carthage’s Church which is being used for the first time as a festival venue.

(We invite local / community groups and children under 12 years free of charge as part of our Outreach Programme.)

Simon Harden Website 

Dearbhla Nolan Website

VENUE:  St. Carthage’s Church, Lismore
ARTISTS: Simon Harden / organ accompanied by Dearbhla Nolan on trumpet
Ticket Prices: Unallocated Seating €10 excl €3.50 sales commission per order.

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The Great Houses of the Blackwater Valley Recitals Series 2019

Recollections of Ireland

Curated by Una Hunt

This year’s festival proudly presents a series of recitals exclusively devoted to Irish music – Recollections of Ireland – curated by Una Hunt. As one of Ireland’s leading concert pianists, Una Hunt has spent a lifetime in researching and promoting the music of historic Irish composers to new audiences around the world. She has curated numerous concerts and events and continues to present unknown Irish repertoire at prominent international festivals such as Wexford Festival Opera and in many of the world’s leading concert venues, including Carnegie Hall. Una set up the first-ever digital archive of historic Irish composers and has compiled an extensive discography of world-premiere CD recordings and award-winning documentary features on Ireland’s neglected musical heritage. So, it’s time to explore and rediscover lost and forgotten works in a uniquely informative and entertaining way. This series of three recitals takes place in three of the Great Houses of the Blackwater Valley; Cappoquin House, Salterbridge House and Tourin House.

Rachel Kelly and Gavan Ring sing accompanied by Una Hunt on piano
A classic collection of songs from Ireland by Charles Villiers Stanford, Herbert Hughes, James Lynam Molloy, Hamilton Harty, Ina Boyle, T.C. Kelly and Bernadette Marmion is partnered with Moore’s evergreen Irish Melodies.

The programme concludes with operatic excerpts from Ireland’s pioneering composer, William Vincent Wallace (Maritana, Lurline and Matilda of Hungary) along with excerpts from Robert O’Dwyer’s Irish language opera, Eithne and music from the King of Broadway, Victor Herbert, famous for his Naughty Marietta and Babes in Toyland. To conclude, solo arias and duets from the operas of Michael William Balfe including The Bohemian Girl and Falstaff.

VENUE: Salterbridge House
ARTISTS: Rachel Kelly / Mezzo-soprano – Gavan Ring / Tenor acompanied by Una Hunt on piano.
Ticket Prices Front Row €30 / Unallocated Seating €20 excl €3.50 sales commission per order.

Update: Please note that both seats for this recital and lunch are now booked out

Purchase Tickets

The Great Houses of the Blackwater Valley Recitals Series 2019

Recollections of Ireland

Curated by Una Hunt

This year’s festival proudly presents a series of recitals exclusively devoted to Irish music – Recollections of Ireland – curated by Una Hunt. As one of Ireland’s leading concert pianists, Una Hunt has spent a lifetime in researching and promoting the music of historic Irish composers to new audiences around the world. She has curated numerous concerts and events and continues to present unknown Irish repertoire at prominent international festivals such as Wexford Festival Opera and in many of the world’s leading concert venues, including Carnegie Hall. Una set up the first-ever digital archive of historic Irish composers and has compiled an extensive discography of world-premiere CD recordings and award-winning documentary features on Ireland’s neglected musical heritage. So, it’s time to explore and rediscover lost and forgotten works in a uniquely informative and entertaining way. This series of three recitals takes place in three of the Great Houses of the Blackwater Valley; Cappoquin House, Salterbridge House and Tourin House.

The French Connection 

This programme, performed by Trio Celtique, features piano trios and chamber music by Irish composers and those who lived part of their life in France. Included are Irish premiere performances of chamber music by the opera composer, Michael William Balfe (1808-1870), recovered by Basil Walsh from a library in Italy and given to Una Hunt. Also, Limerick’s pianist-composer, George Alexander Osborne (1806-1893) who performed with Chopin at his Paris debut in 1832 and Joan Trimble’s Phantasy Trio – the composer was a native of Enniskillen in Northern Ireland. Little-known Franco-Irish musical connections are explored through the extraordinary O’Kelly family and the Rhapsodie Celtique by Swan Hennessy (1866-1929). As one of the most significant female composers of the Belle Époque, Augusta Holmès (1847-1903) was a unique Franco-Irish voice whose father reputedly came from Youghal.

VENUE: Tourin House
ARTISTS: Una Hunt / Piano – Gillian Williams / Violin – Arun Rao / Cello
Ticket Prices Front Row €30 / Unallocated Seating €20 excl €3.50 sales commission per order.  

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