Music – A Message of Hope
Thursday, December 31st, 2020 at 5.00 pm
Register for free to watch the concert here
Presented in partnership with the Office of Public Works in association with Dublin Castle, the French Embassy in Ireland and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany Dublin
Featuring violinist Katherine Hunka; cellist, William Butt; clarinettist John Finucane, and pianists Finghin Collins, Fionnuala Moynihan and Hugh Tinney
In difficult times, in music there is hope. With that thought in mind, Great Music in Irish Houses is closing this particularly difficult year with a special New Year’s Eve event. A concert recorded in Dublin Castle’s Chapel Royal by some of Ireland’s leading musicians, will include movements from Messiaen’s evocative and inspiring Quartet for the End of Time performed alongside works for solo piano by German composers, Clara and Robert Schumann.
First performed on a brutally cold January night in 1941, the work gave a measure of comfort to the composer’s fellow prisoners at the Stalag VIIIA prisoner-of-war camp, in Görlitz, Germany during World War II. A similar measure of “of unfailing light, of immutable hope” (Messiaen) is wished for the Festival’s audiences as we leave this challenging year and look to the next with hope.
The concert will be free to view until Friday, January 15th at 6.00 pm, the 80th anniversary of the first performance of Messiaen’s seminal work.
However, you may wish to consider a donation of any amount to help us maintain our longstanding goal – that, of bringing world-class performers and exciting programmes to unique spaces in Ireland.
This concert will be broadcast online via Eventbrite. Pre-registering is essential via Eventbrite.
Great Music in Irish Houses Festival is funded by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
PROGRAMME
Olivier Messiaen
Louange à l’Éternité de Jésus from Quartet for the End of Time
William Butt, cello
Finghin Collins, piano
Clara Schumann
Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann Op 20
Fionnuala Moynihan
Olivier Messiaen
Abîme des oiseaux from Quartet for the End of Time
John Finucane, clarinet
Robert Schumann
Drei Fantasiestücke Op 111
Hugh Tinney, piano
Olivier Messiaen
Louange à l’immortalité de Jésus from Quartet for the End of Time
Katherine Hunka, violin
Finghin Collins, piano
