Five-day Birr Festival of Music gets underway this Thursday
The 2023 Birr 'festival season' kicks off this week with the seventh annual Birr Festival of Music.
Taking place from this Thursday, April 27, to Bank Holiday Monday, May 1, Birr's annual classical music festival is expanding to a five-day event across the Bank Holiday weekend.
This year marks the 10th Anniversary of The Trench Award, which showcases young singers and musicians of the future. To celebrate the occasion, pianist and conductor Niall Kinsella is taking up the role of Artistic Curator for the festival and has programmed three special anniversary concerts featuring previous award winners and participants.
The concerts include the Opening Night Gala at Birr Theatre & Arts Centre on Friday, A Lunchtime of Song on Saturday, and Music in Birr Castle on Sunday (this event is for festival patrons and sponsors as a thank you for their continuing support).
Performers include Sarah Brady (soprano), Carolyn Holt (mezzo-soprano), Martina Rosaria O’Connell (flute), Ben Gannon (oboe), Mollie Wrafter (violin), Philip Keegan (viola), Aoibhin Keogh Daly (cello), Aidan Chan (piano), Peter Regan (piano), Heather Fogarty (mezzo-soprano) and Matthew Mannion (baritone).
Other musical delights over the weekend include the celebrated duo Bruno Caproni baritone and Julian Evans pianist in concert with the special guest soprano Sandra Oman, long considered one of the finest voices of her generation. An Enchanted Evening at Birr Theatre & Arts Centre on Saturday will feature the music of Rossini, Verdi, Bizet, Liszt, Ravel, Lerner & Loewe, Rodgers & Hammerstein.
The fascinating Musical Time Travellers on Monday will move through centuries of composers to the present day and includes newly-commissioned music by composer Claire Meehan, inspired by lines from the poem, BIRR, by Rita Kelly and features Arthur Greene on organ and violinist Kevin Meehan.
An exciting element of this year's festival is the Birr Young Voices project, Exploring the Planets & Stars at lunchtime on Monday. Inspired by the rich astrological heritage of Birr Castle & Science Centre, children will present songs, art and poetry created over the past fourteen weeks in collaboration with Birr School of Music and visual artist Emma Behan.
The festival is also expanding its outreach to local secondary schools with Music for Life in St Brendan's Community School and Coláiste Naomh Cormac on Thursday.
The Trench Award 2023, one of the main events on the festival schedule, will showcase young singers and musicians of the future. Six singers/musicians from the Midlands region will each perform a 15-minute programme of their choice.
All are pursuing professional careers in performance and were selected by an international panel of music experts. Recipients of The Trench Award, Birr Lions Club Bursary, Canto Al Serchio Prize (for voice), Audrey Chisholm Award (for instrument), will be announced. An Audience Choice and Musical Futures Bursary may also be awarded.
There will also be a host of street buskers in various venues around the town and masterclasses in Birr Theatre & Arts Centre.
Director of Birr Festival of Music is Maureen de Forge: "We are looking forward with great anticipation to this year’s Festival when we will welcome back to Birr many of our previous Trench Award singers and musicians from opera companies, orchestras and music conservatoires where they are are now establishing successful careers or following further studies. We will hear them in various collaborations- trios, quartets, duets and solos - with wonderful concert programmes devised by Niall Kinsella, the festival’s 2023 Artistic Curator."
"Other welcome developments for Birr Festival of Music this year sees our outreach programme expand into neighbouring schools and our partnership with the thriving Birr School of Music continues to grow. We are extremely grateful to our funders, sponsors, patrons and audiences who make all of this possible and we extend a Céad Míle Fáilte to all for a great weekend of music."
The full programme of events can be viewed here.
Tickets for the upcoming events can be booked at: www.birrfestivalofmusic.com or by calling the Box Office at Birr Theatre & Arts Centre on (057) 91 22911.
Birr Festival of Music is supported by Arts Council Ireland, The JVM Trench Will Trust, Creative Ireland's Cruinniú na nÓg programme, Offaly County Council and Birr Lions Club.