VANBRUGH & FRIENDS

VANBRUGH & FRIENDS

VANBRUGH & FRIENDS

Keith Pascoe, violin
Marja Gaynor, violin
Simon Aspell, viola
Ed Creedon, viola
Christopher Marwood, cello
Maria O’Connor, cello

CORK UCC – Friday 15th November at 1.10pm – Aula Maxima, UCC – presented by UCC’s FUAIM series, admission free (Rimsky-Korsakov only)

KENMARE – Friday 15th November at 6pm – Carnegie Arts Centre – €15

BIRR – Saturday 16th November at 8pm – Birr Theatre

BANTRY – Sunday 17th November at 3pm – St Brendan’s Church – presented by West Cork Music

PROGRAMME

Rimsky-Korsakov – String Sextet in A major [1876]

Schubert – String Quintet in C major D.956 [1828]

SUMMARY

Monumental, intimate, dreamy, earthy, triumphant, despairing… Schubert’s extraordinary string quintet is all of these things and more. It was the last completed work of the terminally ill 31-year-old composer and is recognized as one of the greatest works in Western music. Rimsky-Korsakov’s 1876 string sextet is, by contrast, a seldom played rarity, but it is full of charm and invention, exploiting the rich sonority of the six instruments to the full and featuring a lyrical and expressive slow movement.

BIOGRAPHY

The Vanbrugh has evolved from the work of the Vanbrugh Quartet which was based in Cork as RTE’s Resident Quartet from 1986 to 2013 and as Artists-in-Residence at University College, Cork from 1990 until the retirement of violinist Gregory Ellis in 2017. Over three decades the quartet gave close to three thousand concerts, presenting the chamber music repertoire to audiences throughout Ireland, Europe, the Americas, and the Far East. Commercial recordings include more than thirty CDs of repertoire ranging from the complete Beethoven quartets to many contemporary Irish works. In 2016 the group was presented with the National Concert Hall’s Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of their contribution to music in Ireland.

Keith Pascoe, Simon Aspell, and Christopher Marwood continue to perform together as the nucleus of the Vanbrugh and are joined by guest artists for performances of a wide range of chamber music repertoire.