WELCOME
Good things come to those who wait...
We have been waiting (very actively) for this moment, and I am delighted to be writing these lines of welcome to Cellissimo 2024. Waiting has now become a motif throughout Cellissimo. We have been waiting for nearly four years to present this exciting festival for real in Galway - waiting for answers from sponsors, funders, artists...
It has been possible to make Cellissimo 2024 a festival of such heft thanks to its important strand, Songs of Travel, a Creative Europe Cooperation Project principally co-funded by Europe and the Arts Council. With our three partner festivals (Fairplay Chamber Music, Sweden; Valdres Sommersymfoni, Norway; Piano Biënnale, Netherlands) and the fourth partner, the boutique gaming company Causa Creations (Austria), we are aiming to present co-commissioned music in such a way as to increase empathy in all of us towards two burning issues of our time: climate change and migration. Both of these issues do need attention from all of us. Waiting in this case is no longer an option – we all have a responsibility to act.
By coincidence, Elaine Agnew, the composer of the soundtrack to our interactive motion comic (a video game of sorts) Songs of Travel, has decided to call the concertante version of the score ‘Waiting’. This is because she noticed that in all five migrant stories that are told in the game, waiting is such a big part – waiting for the passport to arrive, waiting for the opportunity to flee, waiting for news from loved ones, waiting for their status to be confirmed...
Good things come to those who wait – we have been blessed with what has come our way in terms of funding, sponsorship, support (please note the funders page 36), artistic partnerships, team members, and the most wonderful artists who are making their way to Galway (many of them by land and sea!).
I would like to thank all in Music for Galway, especially the Board, our artistic director Finghin Collins, and programme administrator Suzanne Black, for staying the course.
We are proud to present a beautiful and diverse programme in Cellissimo 2024. Some of it certainly seeks to entertain but some also aims to challenge, inspire and influence. We look forward to welcoming you on opening day, May 18th, when the wait will truly be over!
Anna Lardi, CEO Music for Galway
Celebrating the cello
It gives me huge pleasure to unveil the programme for Cellissimo 2024, the fruit of many years’ labour! We have brought together a rich array of the finest cellists, composers and other artists and thinkers to celebrate the cello in the most wide and inclusive way. We are delighted in particular to welcome the National Symphony Orchestra to perform two very contrasting programmes, presenting Galway-born conductor, composer and Music for Galway Laoch Ceoil, Eimear Noone in her Galway début. The Irish Chamber Orchestra join with French sensation Camille Thomas to tell the story of a very special Stradivarius. We are very proud to present six newly commissioned cello pieces by six Irish composers to accompany the six Bach cello suites, performed in both city and county.
Our Songs of Travel strand, at the core of our festival, shines light on migration, sustainability and environmental issues, and also features five newly commissioned works all including the cello in various shapes and forms. The
core classical repertoire is the focus of our “Classic Hour” concerts as well as our “Nicolas Altstaedt and Friends”
chamber concert.
We welcome eight outstanding young cellists to Galway for the International Student Programme with masterclasses, pop-up concerts and a showcase concert. Together with Branar, we have commissioned a new theatre piece for children exploring the concept of home and how music can realise it. Above all the festival is a showcase of Galway city and county, with concerts around the region, a cello trail to Inishbofin, and nightly trad sessions curated by Galway musician Michael Chang. A new Cellissimo Ambassador will take over the Galway Cello for a further three years. The climax of the festival comes with our Cellissimo Spectacular, where cellists
from far and wide, young and not so young, can join in and feel the passion. We’ve had huge pleasure putting the programme together. How ever you have travelled to us, wherever you have come from, we hope that you will be entertained, challenged and stimulated by what you hear.
Finghin Collins, Artistic Director,
Music for Galway / Cellissimo
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many hands make light work!
| Jennifer Ahearn Light Almelkawi Pete Ashto Katharina Baker Tania Banotti Cormac Barden Joanne Beirne Norman Black Anne-Marie Bell Mairead Berrill Simon Bopp Magda Boreson Fr. Eugene Boyle Niamh Butler Thornton Julien Cagnetta Sarah Callaghan Eszter Cetinceviz Michele Cicora Dr. Eoghan Clifford Dr. Liz Coleman Sarah Comer Leona Cully Sybil Curley Ciaran Day Mary Day Pearse Doherty Louis Donnellan Johan Dorrestein Anne Marie Dowd Alistair Doyle Aisling Drury-Bryne Eamonn Dunne
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Jacinta Dwyer Ellie Farrell Dr. Orla Flynn Philip Fogarty Mary Folan Kristyn Fontanella João Frias Caroline Gannon Nicola Geddes Tracey Geraghty Jean-Marc Grob Damian Grogan Jack Gutmann Helen Hancoc Orla Henihan Jen Hesnan Adrian Herlihy Lorraine Higgins Carol Hinch Georg Hobmeier Zane Howard Revill Margaret Jenkins Peter Friis Johansson Liz Johnston Natasha Johnston Gerry Keenan Dermot Kelly Lucy Kelly Garry Kendellen Mona Kleven Guro Kleven
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Hagen Norbert Kögging Daniel Kolstad Gimle Jakob Koranyi Ewelina Kowalczyk Barbara Kretschmeier Silke Küster Margaret Lavell Paul Leamy Katie Lowry Leslie Lyons Marc MacLochlainn Katharine MacMághnuis Maria Vittoria Marra Ailish McDonagh Roisin McGee Bernard McGlinchey Fergal McGrath Sarah McKibbin Luke McManus Doyle Megs Morley Maarten Mostert Patrick Murphy Andrew Murray Jill Murray Shaun Naughton Donal Nelson Michaël Neuburger Seona Ní Chonghaile Colm Ó hEocha Tara O’Connor Eamonn O’Donoghue Dr. Denis O’Hora
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Dairne O’Sullivan Provost Lynda Peilow Raoul Petersen Vũ Vân Phạm Mary Robinson Chris Rueben Ciaran Ryan Eveanna Ryan Annica Sand Wouter Schmidt Seamus Sheridan Cathy Stokes Rod Stoneman Dr. Aidan Thomson Kuros Torkzadeh Aoife Tunney Hasan Ulukisa Daria van der Bercken Leticia Wade Ben Wahl Ольга Гвоздикова Thank you to the Cellissimo Volunteers! Special thanks to Mary Deely for her invaluable work in making SOT happen
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