Read the Fidelio Trio feature
1
GIGMAG.CO.UK Gi g 13 IRELAND Photos: © Sophie Dennehy Celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, the West Cork Chamber Music Festival (WCCMF) finds it easy to attract musicians to its holiday locale in Bantry. ‘In the first few years, it was “West Cork what?”’ recalls Francis Humphrys, festival director.‘But now, it’s “Oh yes, please, we know all about you.” We’re very much on the map now, I think.’ This year’s festival, which takes place from 25 June to 3 July, focuses on string quartets, with five interna- tional ensembles taking the stage. Joining the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet will be the Artis Quartet from Vienna, California’s Pacifica Quartet, the Danish Quartet from Copenhagen and the period-instrument Chiaroscuro Quartet led by Alina Ibragimova. One new feature this year will be a visit from the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland and Irish Youth Choir, performing Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem in Bantry Parish Church. Normally, most of the concerts either occur in a church or at Bantry House, once the home of the Earl of Bantry, which can fit 236 audience members. ‘There’s no such thing as dedicated chamber music venues in Ireland,’ Humphrys laments. ‘Classical music is very much the sort of orphan child in Ireland, espe- cially chamber music.’ In fact, one of the reasons why the festival is geared toward the end of the school term is because a local primary school is used for some of the masterclasses and student concerts. No stranger to the budget woes facing Ireland, Humphrys says he’s cut his €450,000 budget by about €50,000 for the actual festival, which includes €25,000 off artist fees. ‘I’m still putting on the same number of concerts, but I’ve obviously had to be quite clever in the programming,’ he notes. ‘Last year, actually, we went against the grain and increased our artist fees and did an extra series of concerts, what I would call professional concerts, in place of a series of student concerts we used to do.‘ He adds that box-office figures did not increase. ‘Now I’ve gone back to doing the series of student concerts.’ Humphrys says that the festival has had to be creative with commissions as well. ‘We used to have quite a substan- tial commissioning budget, but now our commissioning, if you can call it that, is done through the young composers’ composition competition,’ he states, referring to the festival’s event for young Irish talents. Composer-in-residence Jörg Widmann will be running a workshop with the artists and three winners of the competi- tion will have their works performed by young Irish quartets taking part in the masterclasses. A lifelong fan of chamber music, Humphrys founded WCCMF in 1996.‘I live out here on a small farm, miles from anywhere, and I had a sort of epiphany and realised that instead of travelling to my concerts, I could actually bring the concerts here,’ he says.‘Bantry House is not ideal in many senses, but it has the most wonderful atmosphere. It’s the kind of place where chamber music used to be played – a large library, with rooms leading off it. It’s absolutely beauti- fully situated, at the head of Bantry Bay.’ About 31 per cent of the approximately 1,000 audi- ence members are local, while 37 per cent come from the greater region of Cork. Other parts of Ireland make up 16 per cent, with the rest coming from the UK, US, and Europe. Box-office support makes up about 30 per cent of the budget, but Humphrys says that it is becoming increasingly important in what he suspects is going to be a Europe-wide phenomenon. ‘I mean, if you go to the States, musical life there is 90 per cent private, 10 per cent state, or maybe even less,’ he explains.‘I think if this economic situation con- tinues, that’s what’s going to happen; we’re going to be more and more reliant on individual sponsors.’ www.westcorkmusic.ie West Cork Chamber Music Festival WEST CORK CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL Photo: © Chris O’Dell FIDELIO TRIO When the Fidelio Trio made its Wigmore Hall debut in December, violinist Darragh Morgan says that it wasn’t the venue alone that was impressive.‘It’s such a beautiful hall to play in, and it was so nice to play a whole new music programme to a massive audience at the Wigmore, which is a rarity,’ Morgan says.‘I’d love to see more and more concerts like that happening there.’ Known as a contemporary music piano trio in the UK, thanks to a big interest from Ireland,‘we’re now known as an Irish piano trio as well’, Morgan states.The group has been performing a Schumann series at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin, as a mini-residency. Both Morgan and pianist Mary Dullea are Irish; cellist Robin Michael is Scottish. As yet, despite being asked by various places, the trio has no full residency: ‘We’ve been offered in the past, but it hasn’t worked out yet,’ Morgan notes. The group has its roots in the mid-1990s, when the founding members were students at the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School. The group got off to a tragic start when the original pianist died in a car crash after a concert. Dullea – now Morgan’s wife – then joined. When original cellist Michael Atkinson left for the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 2004, Michael replaced him. Working closely with established UK composers such as Michael Nyman and Howard Skempton, Morgan says that the trio also receives numerous pieces from young com- posers. In order to commission, the trio sets aside a portion of every concert fee and receives some funding from the PRS Foundation.‘We’re really lucky that we get to work with leading composers,’ Morgan states. ‘It’s very exciting for these people and for us; rehearsing as well [with the com- posers] at our house is really good fun [...] Hopefully we’re not seen as a new music group, just a group of good musi- cians playing contemporary music.We have a synergy. ‘There aren’t that many groups who are as passionate about new music as we are,’ he goes on.‘It’s a mixture of passion and that we actually can do it well and rehearse pieces for long enough that they no longer feel like a piece of contemporary music; they just feel like a bit of chamber music played well.’ He stressed that while some ensembles will play a new work just once, the Fidelio Trio takes the opposite approach. ‘Quite often a piece will come to us for its sec- ond performance,’ he adds. Morgan tells the story of one composer who had a disastrous premiere with another ensemble, and for a year and a half thought his piece was terrible as it hadn’t been performed since.‘He came to us and we did a really good job,’ Morgan boasts. ‘He was in tears and loved the performance.’ As new pieces very often have a very limited shelf life, Fidelio Trio’s mission is to bring them back to life,accord- ing to Morgan.‘It’s kind of like taking care of a poor, sick neighbour!’ he jokes.‘We believe that it’s not nice to think of it in terms of the first performance being the premiere. Of course, lots of focus is given to premieres, that’s where people come to review it, where promoters come to lis- ten to it and all that, but we always want to talk about the second performance, the third, fourth and the fifth.’ He adds that earlier this year, when the group performed in China, there were thousands of people in the audience. ‘New music is getting exposed really well, instead of just a room of 30 people in London,’ he states. www.fideliotrio.com – Official site Hagai Shaham, Jeremy Menuhin, Jennifer Stumm and Anne Gastinel rehearse in Bantry House Hagai Shaham, Jeremy Menuhin, Jennifer Stumm and Anne Gastinel rehearse in Bantry House 13 GV6-01 MiniProfiles.qxd 15/1/10 10:30 Page 13
Transcript of Read the Fidelio Trio feature
GIGMAG.CO.UK Gig 13IRELAND
Phot
os:
© S
ophi
e D
enne
hy
Celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, the WestCork Chamber Music Festival (WCCMF) finds it easy toattract musicians to its holiday locale in Bantry.
‘In the first few years, it was “West Cork what?”’recalls Francis Humphrys, festival director.‘But now, it’s“Oh yes, please, we know all about you.” We’re verymuch on the map now, I think.’
This year’s festival, which takes place from 25 Juneto 3 July, focuses on string quartets, with five interna-tional ensembles taking the stage. Joining the RTÉVanbrugh Quartet will be the Artis Quartet fromVienna, California’s Pacifica Quartet, the DanishQuartet from Copenhagen and the period-instrumentChiaroscuro Quartet led by Alina Ibragimova. One newfeature this year will be a visit from the National YouthOrchestra of Ireland and Irish Youth Choir, performingBrahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem in Bantry Parish Church.
Normally, most of the concerts either occur in achurch or at Bantry House, once the home of the Earlof Bantry, which can fit 236 audience members.‘There’s no such thing as dedicated chamber musicvenues in Ireland,’ Humphrys laments. ‘Classical musicis very much the sort of orphan child in Ireland, espe-cially chamber music.’ In fact, one of the reasons whythe festival is geared toward the end of the schoolterm is because a local primary school is used forsome of the masterclasses and student concerts.
No stranger to the budget woes facing Ireland,Humphrys says he’s cut his €450,000 budget by about€50,000 for the actual festival, which includes €25,000off artist fees. ‘I’m still putting on the same number ofconcerts, but I’ve obviously had to be quite clever inthe programming,’ he notes. ‘Last year, actually, wewent against the grain and increased our artist feesand did an extra series of concerts, what I would callprofessional concerts, in place of a series of studentconcerts we used to do.‘ He adds that box-office figures
did not increase. ‘Now I’vegone back to doing the seriesof student concerts.’
Humphrys says that thefestival has had to be creativewith commissions as well. ‘Weused to have quite a substan-tial commissioning budget,but now our commissioning, ifyou can call it that, is donethrough the young composers’composition competition,’ hestates, referring to the festival’sevent for young Irish talents.Composer-in-residence JörgWidmann will be running aworkshop with the artists andthree winners of the competi-tion will have their worksperformed by young Irishquartets taking part in themasterclasses.
A lifelong fan of chambermusic, Humphrys foundedWCCMF in 1996.‘I live out hereon a small farm, miles from anywhere, and I had a sortof epiphany and realised that instead of travelling to myconcerts, I could actually bring the concerts here,’ hesays.‘Bantry House is not ideal in many senses,but it hasthe most wonderful atmosphere. It’s the kind of placewhere chamber music used to be played – a largelibrary, with rooms leading off it. It’s absolutely beauti-fully situated, at the head of Bantry Bay.’
About 31 per cent of the approximately 1,000 audi-ence members are local, while 37 per cent come fromthe greater region of Cork. Other parts of Ireland makeup 16 per cent, with the rest coming from the UK, US,
and Europe. Box-office support makes up about 30 percent of the budget, but Humphrys says that it isbecoming increasingly important in what he suspectsis going to be a Europe-wide phenomenon.
‘I mean, if you go to the States, musical life there is90 per cent private, 10 per cent state, or maybe evenless,’he explains.‘I think if this economic situation con-tinues, that’s what’s going to happen; we’re going tobe more and more reliant on individual sponsors.’
www.westcorkmusic.ie West Cork Chamber Music Festival
WEST CORK CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL
Phot
o: ©
Chr
is O
’Del
l
FIDELIO TRIO When the Fidelio Trio made its Wigmore Hall debut inDecember, violinist Darragh Morgan says that it wasn’tthe venue alone that was impressive.‘It’s such a beautifulhall to play in, and it was so nice to play a whole newmusic programme to a massive audience at theWigmore, which is a rarity,’ Morgan says. ‘I’d love to seemore and more concerts like that happening there.’
Known as a contemporary music piano trio in the UK,thanks to a big interest from Ireland,‘we’re now known asan Irish piano trio as well’, Morgan states. The group hasbeen performing a Schumann series at the Hugh LaneGallery in Dublin, as a mini-residency. Both Morgan andpianist Mary Dullea are Irish; cellist Robin Michael isScottish. As yet, despite being asked by various places,the trio has no full residency: ‘We’ve been offered in thepast, but it hasn’t worked out yet,’ Morgan notes.
The group has its roots in the mid-1990s, when thefounding members were students at the Royal College ofMusic and the Guildhall School. The group got off to atragic start when the original pianist died in a car crashafter a concert. Dullea – now Morgan’s wife – then joined.When original cellist Michael Atkinson left for the BBCSymphony Orchestra in 2004, Michael replaced him.
Working closely with established UK composers such asMichael Nyman and Howard Skempton, Morgan says thatthe trio also receives numerous pieces from young com-posers. In order to commission, the trio sets aside a portionof every concert fee and receives some funding from thePRS Foundation.‘We’re really lucky that we get to work withleading composers,’ Morgan states. ‘It’s very exciting forthese people and for us; rehearsing as well [with the com-posers] at our house is really good fun [...] Hopefully we’re
not seen as a new music group, just a group of good musi-cians playing contemporary music.We have a synergy.
‘There aren’t that many groups who are as passionateabout new music as we are,’ he goes on. ‘It’s a mixture ofpassion and that we actually can do it well and rehearsepieces for long enough that they no longer feel like apiece of contemporary music; they just feel like a bit ofchamber music played well.’
He stressed that while some ensembles will play anew work just once, the Fidelio Trio takes the oppositeapproach. ‘Quite often a piece will come to us for its sec-ond performance,’ he adds. Morgan tells the story of onecomposer who had a disastrous premiere with anotherensemble, and for a year and a half thought his piece wasterrible as it hadn’t been performed since.‘He came to usand we did a really good job,’ Morgan boasts. ‘He was intears and loved the performance.’
As new pieces very often have a very limited shelf life,Fidelio Trio’s mission is to bring them back to life, accord-ing to Morgan. ‘It’s kind of like taking care of a poor, sickneighbour!’ he jokes.‘We believe that it’s not nice to thinkof it in terms of the first performance being the premiere.Of course, lots of focus is given to premieres, that’s wherepeople come to review it, where promoters come to lis-ten to it and all that, but we always want to talk about thesecond performance, the third, fourth and the fifth.’ Headds that earlier this year, when the group performed inChina, there were thousands of people in the audience.‘New music is getting exposed really well, instead of justa room of 30 people in London,’ he states.
www.fideliotrio.com – Official site
Hagai Shaham, Jeremy Menuhin, Jennifer Stumm and Anne Gastinel rehearse in Bantry House
Hagai Shaham, Jeremy Menuhin, Jennifer Stumm and Anne Gastinel rehearse in Bantry House
13 GV6-01 MiniProfiles.qxd 15/1/10 10:30 Page 13
