Ardhowen's busy Autumn programme gets a little more hectic over the next couple of weeks as on the one hand the Enniskillen Arts Festival starts this weekend and following on from that the big touring production of 'Juno and The Paycock' comes to the theatre for four performances before it moves into Belfast's Grand Opera House and to other venues in Ireland.
FIERCELY OBSERVED PRODUCTION
The Lyric Theatre's production of 'Pumpgirl' this Friday and Saturday, 26th and 27th September starts off the Festival events at Ardhowen. Originally produced by the Bush Theatre in London and at the Manhattan Theatre in New York, this is the Irish premiere of Abbie Spallen's fiercely observed, unflinching turbo charged race through the Country Music and borderlands of South Armagh.
The play is set in a run down petrol station just north of the border and as a result on the wrong side of the fluctuating exchange rate. The business is on its last legs, using desperate measures, such as free 2 litre bottles of coke to entice customers to fill up there. 'Pumpgirl' is one of the people who works there, a girl who changes the oil, fills the tanks and thinks she is one of the lads. 'Pumpgirl' is sweet on 'No Helmet' Hammy, but he loves no-one but himself and spends all his time with his car mad mates, while his wife Sinead is off on a joyride of her own.
The Pumpgirl, Hammy, the boy racer, and his wife, Sinead, are all on a breakneck course for a dramatic collision, but will any of them survive the impact. The play is not suitable for under 16's.
RTE VANBRUGH QUARTET
Internationally renowned pianist John O'Conor joins the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet to perform a magnificent piano quintet by Brahms on Tuesday 30th September at Ardhowen Theatre, Enniskillen at 8pm as part of the Enniskillen Arts Festival.
In his glorious piano quintet, Brahms was drawing from two masters he admired greatly, Beethoven and Schubert. Constantly changing moods and spiralling hypnotic passages on piano and strings can be heard throughout. The restless rhythms and distinctive themes of the thrilling scherzo lend an air of excitement and suspense to the work.
Also featured is Mozart's string quartet No. 13 poetic, melodious and graceful it evokes the elegance and refinement of the classical period. This is the second of six quartets he dedicated to Haydn, who upon hearing them, famously said to Mozart's father, "I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name."
The programme is completed by the Austrian composer and conductor Zemlinsky, whose third string quartet is full of irregular rhythms and modern-sounding harmonies.
Critically acclaimed pianist John O'Conor has performed in Europe, North America, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand and has appeared with such orchestras as the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony and more. He has given concerts in many of the world's most famous halls including Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Centre in New York, has become a key figure in the development of young artists through his role as Director of the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, and was a co-founder of the Dublin International Piano Competition of which he is Artistic Director and Chairman of the Jury. John O'Conor has made more than 20 recordings for Telarc, including the complete Beethoven Bagatelles and performed chamber music with many instrumentalists and ensembles such as the Cleveland, Tokyo, RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet, Vermeer, Takacs, Volger and Ying Quartets.
Winner of the 1988 London International String Quartet competition and now in its twenty-second concert season, the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet is one of Europe's most successful quartets, internationally recognised for its beauty of sound, clarity of texture and integrity of interpretation within an unusually wide and varied range of repertoire. The RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet has an extensive and critically acclaimed discography, which includes the complete Beethoven quartets. Recent awards include Gramophone Critic's Choice 2003 for Boccherini's Cello Quintets and Gramophone Editor's choice (February 2006) for Charles Stanford's Viola and Piano Quintets, a CD released by Hyperion in co-operation with RTÉ. In April 2006 RTÉ lyric fm released Quartet Classics, a compilation CD of some of the most popular works in the repertoire.
NEW PIECE OF DANCE THEATRE
The Enniskillen Arts Festival present the Ludus Dance Company on Thursday 2nd October at 8pm in a new dance theatre production entitled ID:ME, directed and choreographed by local artist Dylan Quinn.
It's an innovative, fresh and accessible dance performance from the company that has wowed audiences both Nationally and Internationally for over 30 years. The physical spectacle, with humorous characters, emotive music, intriguing design, witty dynamic choreography, stunning, energetic performers, and incisive social comment, all combine to engage young and old alike. ID:ME takes a brave new approach to issues of identity an diversity and what it means to inhabit and share our world today. Going straight to the heart of the debate, Ludus explore our understanding of community and challenge our sense of belonging by asking Who are we? Where do we come from? What would it be like to walk in someone else's shoes?
12 PIECE TRADITIONAL BAND
On Friday 3rd October, Enniskillen Arts Festival presents a concert by the talented twelve-piece band Kintra. Kintra is the first group of its kind to feature Bagpipes and Fiddle as the lead instruments in a culmination of Irish, Scottish and Ulster Scots music. It consists of 12 young musicians, singers and dancers under the direction of local fiddle player Matt McGranaghan. Among them 'Naomi Campbell and 'Jordan' who will show off their talents as Pipers and Dancers! It really is trad with a twist. Mixing well known and loved pieces like 'Highland Cathedral' and 'Caledonia' with new compositions by Matt McGranaghan, Kintra's show finishes with a compelling finale featuring 'Will Ye Go Lassie Go' which inspires a wonderful sense of pride in our shared heritage and knowledge that our futures are safe in the hands of our youth.
Kintra arose out of 'Traditions Meet' a show that sold out a number of venues last May. James Kee, co-founder of Traditions Meet, said "Kintra is the idea of the younger musicians who have become friends. They wanted to develop their cultures as one and have come up with fusion music that has a contemporary feel but with respect for traditional aspects."
The performers joining Kintra are, like the music, an interesting mix. Tom Sweeney from Omagh, Ballard singer and nephew of the late Tommy Makem, has delighted Europe and the USA for 25 years – recently engrossing the Alley audience who sang along and were enraptured by his collection of great tales. Joining him on the big stage are the European and Ulster Highland dance champions from Sollus Highland Lassies.
ULSTER ORCHESTRA
An Ulster Orchestra concert is always a highpoint of the season at Ardhowen Theatre and this Autumn is no different, as the Orchestra promises an excellent evening of wonderful music when it comes to the Theatre on Saturday 4th October at 8pm.
Stravinsky's Pucinella Suite ensures a tuneful and perky start to the programme, as the composer discovers the past through his exuberant and outgoing reinterpretations of Pergolesi and others. The amazingly talented Elizabeth Cooney plays the much loved Bruch Violin Concerto, offering one of the all-time hundred best tunes as its emotional core.
The second half of the evening features Beethoven's Symphony No. 6. This fizzing Hungarian finale is a real bonus 'pleasant, cheerful feelings on arrival in the countryside' says Beethoven and the music portrays just that, apart from one storm which is followed by overwhelming and joyous thanksgiving.
Described by Martin Lovett of the Amadeus Quartet as extraordinarily gifted and spotted by Tully Potter of The Strad as a talent to watch, Elizabeth Cooney has emerged as one of the most exciting and dynamic artists of her generation. Selected as the National Concert Hall's Rising Star 2006, Elizabeth Cooney is laureate of numerous international violin competitions. She has played with distinguished partners in the Wigmore Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, Victoria Hall, Geneva and the Weill Hall at Carnegie in New York. Her performance with the Ulster Orchestra/Howard Shelley was broadcast on BBC3 last December. Featured on the RTÉ TV Symphony Sessions with the National Symphony Orchestra in 2007 she will perform the Dvorak Violin concerto on Tour with the orchestra 18 – 21 November (Cork 20th November). Following a performance in the Brighton Festival in May, Elizabeth performed with a number of illustrious international musicians at the West Cork Music Festival in July and is just back from a trip to Brazil with the Syrius Trio where she played in the Musica Nova Contemporary Music Festival. Her first CD 'Debut' is available on towerrecords.com, on tzarrecords.com and can be downloaded on Apple iTunes. Elizabeth studied violin with Adrian Petcu at the cork School of Music and with Itzhak Rashkovsky on scholarship at the Royal College of Music London. She held both the Mills Williams and the Phoebe Benham Junior Fellowships at the RCM London for two years. Elizabeth plays a violin made in Venice in 1700 by Matteo Goffriller.
Gavin Maloney is a guest conductor with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. From 2004 to 2007 he held the position of Assistant Conductor of that orchestra. He has also worked with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the National Chamber Choir, all the ensembles of the Royal Irish Academy of Music, orchestras and ensembles of the Royal Northern College of Music Manchester, the Bulgarian Chamber Orchestra and the Dublin Baroque Players. Gavin is a keen conductor of new music. He has worked with numerous living composers including Shaun Davey, Raymond Deane, Roger Doyle, Stephen Gardner, Deirdre Gribbin, John Kinsella, John McLaughlin and Kevin O'Connell. Elastic Harmonic, a CD of Donnacha Dennehy's music, featuring Gavin Maloney, Darragh Morgan and the RTÉ NSO has recently been released on the NMC label. At the age of 18 he was guest lecturer and external examiner for the Royal Irish Academy of Music, the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, and the Summer Academy of Mozarteum, Salzberg.
Juno And The Paycock
Following on from the Arts Festival, Ardhowen is pleased to stage the big touring production of 'Juno And The Paycock' by Art Productions in association with the Cork Opera House for 3 performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 9th, 10thand 11th October and a matinee on Friday 10th. This production which features an excellent cast goes into the Grand Opera House, Belfast, the Cork Opera House and other medium and large scale venues after its performances at Ardhowen. 'Juno And The Paycock' lays out the terrible truth of the times, that lethal combination of religion and rebellion, poverty and drink, bravery and bravado and is set in the Boyle family tenement flat in the Dublin of 1922.
