Tickets available on the door at Borris House for all events                

Funded by the Arts Council

BARROW RIVER ARTS FESTIVAL
BORRIS HOUSE, BORRIS, CO. CARLOW
4 – 6 MARCH 2011

Friday 4th March
8 pm
Tickets €25/(€20 concession)
James Gilchrist – tenor
Finghin Collins – piano
Lieder Recital
Franz Schubert – Die Schöne Mullerin

A review in the London Independent said of James Gilchrist ‘he is now unsurpassed among lyric tenors in sweetness and technical security, and for his musical intelligence’. Together with the celebrated Irish pianist Finghin Collins he will perform a work widely recognized as a masterpiece of the song genre – Schubert’s Die Schöne Mullerin.
   
Saturday 5th March
2.30 pm
Tickets €15/(€5 children)
Bat-Jong  - French performance artists
Vincent Berhault – juggler
François Merville – percussion

A rare chance to catch circus maestro  (and scholar of the burlesque) Vincent Berhault and  the renowned French  jazz percussionist François Merville in a virtuoso display of  juggling, fantasy, mime and humour - two dazzling talents at the top of their game.
   
4.30 pm
Tickets €20/(€15 concession)
Maya Homburger – baroque violin
Malcolm Proud – harpsichord
Music for harpsichord and violin by Bach, H.I.F. Biber, Barry Guy and François Couperin
   
Widely regarded as one of Europe’s leading baroque violinists Swiss born Maya Homburger moved to the U.K. in 1986 to join and eventually lead John Eliot Gardiner’s English Baroque Soloists. Together with Malcolm Proud she founded the award-winning ensemble Camerata Kilkenny. They have recorded Bach’s sonatas for violin and harpsichord and have given recitals together throughout Europe and North America.

8.00 pm
Traditional Irish Music
Tickets €15
David Power – Uilleann Pipes
Ciaran Somers – Flute
Fionn Mac Giollachuda – Fiddle
The Banks of the Barrow

There are many areas in the South-East that are rich in traditional music and song, not least South Carlow, the source of the title of this evening’s performance ‘The Banks of the  Barrow’. This haunting melody is locally associated with master fiddler the late Tom Nolan who worked as a lock keeper on the River Barrow at ‘Sliguff’ near Muine Bheag.

Virtuoso Uilleann piper David Power, has in recent years recorded two highly acclaimed solo CDs as well as performing alongside such trad giants as Tony Mac Mahon and Máirtín O’Connor.  A native of Mhuine Bheag, Co. Carlow Ciaran Somer’s  recent CD Faoi Bhláth was recorded in Brittainy. Dubliner Fionn Mac Goillachuda has toured in Japan and across Europe in the distinguished company of The Helvick Heads, Dónal Clancy and Gorumna.
   
Sunday 6th March
2.30 pm
Tickets €10
Kerry Hardie - poet
Duo Homburger/Guy

The acclaimed baroque violin and double bass duo of Maya Homburger and Barry Guy will perform the music of H.I.F. Biber, in combination with original modern works and improvisations by Barry Guy. The programme will also include readings of poems with a particular local connection by the poet and novelist Kerry Hardie. This is a rare chance to hear musicians of the very highest caliber in combination with a poet of whose work George Szirtes wrote in the Irish Times ‘The essence of her marvelous poems is the way she sees through a material world that is rendered truthfully, plainly, yet freshly.’

    Following this performance there will be a launch of Kerry Hardie's  Selected Poems, published by The Gallery Press.

4.30
Early Evening Performance
Tickets €20 (€15 concession)
Maarten Koningsberger – baritone
Malcolm Proud – harpsichord

Songs by Henry Purcell
Maarten Koningsberger is one of the leading baritones of the Netherlands and has sung with orchestras all over the world and in operas from Monteverdi to Menotti. He has built a great reputation as a recitalist and made numerous cd recordings, among which are recordings with Les Arts Florissants, the Hyperion Schubert Edition with Graham Johnson as well as solo songs by Henry Purcell. Gramophone:  ‘Perfect Purcell on a superlative release chockfull of treasures.’ Malcolm Proud has recorded Purcell's suites on the Meridian label and performed his songs in recitals with sopranos Lenneke Ruiten and Nancy Argenta.

6.30
Tickets €20 (€15 concession)
Agustí Fernández – piano
Barry Guy – bass
Barry Guy is one of the world's leading bass soloists and improvisers. ‘He can pack chaos into concrete structures to make exquisite music’. - The Times; ‘a genuine virtuoso, one of the best soloists in jazz’ - New Statesman.  Agustí Fernández , ‘one of the most important explorers of avant-garde music in Spain, mixes modern classical piano with jazz free improvisation to forge a unique and powerful style’ -The Village Voice, New York, The duo's use of tension and release, be it in the outward improvisation or more gentle compositions, reveal two masters of modern music.



Booking: Tickets for all events are available from:

St. Michael’s Theatre Box Office, New Ross

online booking: www.stmichaelsnewross.com 
Tel: 051 421255;     international + 353 51  421255
Tickets will be for sale at the door. However pre-booking is advised.
Further information from: barrowriverartsfestival@gmail.com and www.maya-recordings.com (NEWS)

Friends of Barrow River Arts Festival
Become a Friend of the festival:
€150 per person
€225 for couple

Benefits: A weekend ticket
Invitation to festival reception
Reserved seating at each event
Listing in festival programme 

       
Click here for Festival Pass €85.00 (all events)

Click here for Day Ticket Saturday €40.00

Click here for Day Ticket Sunday €40.00

To book individual performances, click on the links below. 

(Hold the mouse over any time to see the performance details.)