Cora Venus Lunny : Established as one of Ireland's leading classical musicians since her teens, Cora Venus Lunny enjoys an active career as a soloist, chamber musician, interpreter of contemporary classical music, improvising violinist and composer. Described as ‘one of the most extraordinary talents Ireland has ever produced’ by broadcaster Gay Byrne, and ‘astonishingly talented’ by critic Michael Dervan, she continues to make her distinctive mark on all genres of music. Born into a musical family of Irish and German parents in Dublin, Cora Venus was given her first violin at the age of three, immediately showing a natural aptitude and love for the instrument, and a life in music became her goal. From the age of thirteen, she studied intensively with highly respected violinists around Europe. Cora Venus has performed at all of Ireland's major concert venues. Her concerto performances in Northern Ireland, which included the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Ulster Orchestra, were received with great acclaim. Since her first performance on live national TV at the age of five, she has recorded for numerous TV and radio channels in Ireland and the UK. Aged sixteen, she became the youngest-ever RTÉ Musician of the Future, and the Irish Times chose her to front their TV ad campaign representing the new face of Ireland. In 2001, she was a laureate of the Sarasate International Violin Competition, to which she returned as a jury member in 2007. In 2002, Cora Venus was a guest musician on Sinead O'Connor's album of traditional Irish songs, Sean Nos Nua, her first excursion into the truly ‘non-classical’ world. This inspired her to improvise more and experiment with other genres of music. Cora's involvement over the past few years with MIT Media Lab, playing Tod Machover's Toy Symphony on the Hyperviolin, has taken her to Berlin (playing with the Deutsche Sinfonie Orchester Berlin under Kent Nagano), Boston and NYC. A jam with the renowned violinist Nigel Kennedy in Dingle in the summer (for Philip King's broadcast documentary) resulted in him inviting her to Berlin to play with his band Polish folk music and a bit of Jimi Hendrix. Subsequently, Cora Venus accompanied Kennedy on a tour of Taiwan, Japan and New Zealand as second soloist, playing Vivaldi's Double Concertos and Bartok. Her recording projects have included working with Damien Rice on his platinum selling album 9; working on three critically-acclaimed EPs with Fovea Hex; performing on the film scores to Screw Cupid and Ferris Wheel, and recordings with The Republic of Loose, Michael Knight, Automata, Laura Sheeran, to name but a few. She is a core member of Fovea Hex, has recently joined Yurodny, and is part of contemporary group Ensemble ICC. She has just completed a 26-concert tour of the USA performing Bill Whelan's Inishlacken as soloist with the Dublin Philharmonic under Derek Gleeson and Colman Pearce. This year she will be recording her first solo album of Bartok and Ravel. She plays a violin by Nicolo Gagliano dated l738. Dearbhla Brosnan accompanies Cora Venus Lunny. She was born in Ireland and studied piano at the Royal Irish Academy of Music with John O'Conor. She received an honours degree in music from Trinity College Dublin, before moving to London for postgraduate study at the Royal Academy of Music, where her teachers included John Streets and Iain Ledingham. She has performed extensively as a recitalist and chamber musician throughout Ireland, Great Britain, Europe and the United States and, most recently, she made her debut at Carnegie Hall, New York. She has frequently broadcast on both television and radio and has worked as official accompanist for many music festivals including the RTÉ Musician of the Future Festival, the John McCormack Golden Voice of Athlone Competition and New York's Lake Placid Summer School. Dearbhla has worked as répétiteur with Opera Ireland, Opera Theatre Company and Lyric Opera and she has played for masterclasses with many distinguished musicians including clarinettist, Michael Collins, trumpeter John Wallace, violinist Igor Ozim, cellist Martin Lovett and soprano Celine Byrne. She is currently resident accompanist at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Margaret O'Sullivan Farrell (accompanist) studied piano with Elizabeth Costello at the College of Music in Dublin, where she was awarded the Lorcan Sherlock Gold Medal in Piano Performance. After obtaining the B.Mus degree from UCD, she embarked on a career of teaching and accompanying, performing with many Irish and international artists in concert on RTÉ radio and television, on BBC and UTV. She has accompanied Geraldine O'Grady and Oonagh Keogh on two CDs, Heartstrings in Harmony and The Lark in the Clear Air. She is a lecturer in Keyboard Studies at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama. Margaret has played at all of our Gala Concerts.
PROGRAMME Presented by Sebastian Stephenson 1
2 3 4 5 6 7
Chapel Choir Kyrie Alleluia Luisa Hell, piano Nocturne in E minor Cora Venus Lunny Tzigane Siobhan Brady, cello Sicilienne Lingfan Gao, saxophone Le Petit Negre Cora Venus Lunny It Ain’t Necessarily So Chamber Choir I Will We’re all Going on a Summer Holiday
Harold Darke W.A. Mozart Frédéric Chopin Maurice Ravel Johann Sebastian Bach Claude Debussy George Gershwin (arr. Heifetz) Paul McCartney and John Lennon Welch & Bennett, arr. Haxworth
Interval 1
2 3 4 5 6 7
Chapel Choir Caresse sur l’Ocean For the Beauty of the Earth Patrick Tice, guitar Spanish Air Cora Venus Lunny Sonatensatz Mia Peters, clarinet The Shadow of Your Smile Shane Lavin, tenor O Sole Mio Cora Venus Lunny Zigeurnerweisen Choral Society ‘Gloria’, from the Coronation Mass
Christopher Barratier, from Les Choristes John Rutter arr. Theodore Norman Johannes Brahms Mandell, arr. Ledbury di Capua Sarasate W.A. Mozart
College Choirs conducted by Geraldine Malone-Brady, Director of Music Pupils in Choirs: Sally Beeby, Nobukhosi Biyela, Alex Bowring, Fiona Boyd, Siobhan Brady, Molly Buckingham, Aidan Chisholm, Alison Crampton, Nicola Dalrymple, Catharina von der Decken, Brendan Dickerson, Eleanor Dolphin, Michael Dunne, Antonia Esses, Lingfan Gao, Dearbhala Gernon, Lily Guinness, Hugo Hollis, Robbie Hollis, Carl Ibe, Poppy Kirwan Browne, Shane Lavin, Michael McBurney, Tara McCormick, Fred Mann, Rishi Manuel, Andrew Martin, Lauren Meyler, Gina Mirow, Emma Moore, Fleur Pay, Olivia Plunket, Mark Russell, Lauren Scully, Roman Sharykin, Archie Sherwood, Amelia Shirley, Johannes Stolberg-Stolberg, Anna Traill, Naomi Uche, Poppy Vernon, Sarah Whelan, William Wood, Daphne Wright, Kezia Wright. Old Columbans joining the Choir: Patrick Kam, Aaron Marchant, Benjamin Russell, Ellie Russell. Mozart chorus: most of those above are augmented by staff members – Tristan Clarke, Barry Finn, Julian Girdham, Sylvia O’Regan, Ronan Swift.
We would like to acknowledge the generous sponsorship of Cora Venus Lunny
by Philip and Marjorie Russell
and we would also like to thank sincerely the Friends of the Gala Concert 2009 for their generous sponsorship of the event : Adrian Fitzgibbon David and Arlene Lavin Ann Marshall Sheila Owens James Sheeran Neil and Christine Stewart Richard Vernon Gabriele and Ernst Weis
Many thanks to all who have contributed raffle prizes. Please support the St Vincent de Paul Society at the interval through the raffle. Many thanks to The College caterers Sodexho for sponsoring the food and wine at the post-concert reception.
Front cover by Celeste Guinness
Concert committee : Geraldine Malone-Brady (chair), Julian Girdham, Marie Haslett, Eve McMullen, Amanda Morris, Helen Roden.