RT Contempo Quartet to feature in Ireland 06 commemoration

RT Contempo Quartet to feature in Ireland 2016 commemoration

Monday 30 November 2015: On Thursday 21 April in a Gala Concert at the Wigmore Hall, London, the RT Contempo Quartet, RT 's composer in residence Gerald Barry and RT lyric fm will contribute to the Ireland 2016 commemorations programme in Britain and to Irish Culture in Britain a Centenary Celebration, the Wigmore Hall's week-long festival of Irish culture marking the centenary of the Easter Rising.

The quartet will perform the world premiere of Gerald's String Quartet No. 1 (revised), co-commissioned by RT and Wigmore Hall. The performance will be broadcast live on RT lyric fm and BBC Radio 3. Leading Irish artists also performing in this Gala Concert include singers Dame Ann Murray, Tara Erraught, Ailish Tynan, pianist Finghin Collins, clarinettist Michael Collins as well as choirs from the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin and the Royal Academy of Music, London.

Welcoming the announcement of this Gala Concert, John O'Kane, Executive Director, RT Orchestras, Quartet and Choirs says: RT is delighted to participate in an occasion of such striking musical and cultural resonance and to partner with Wigmore Hall, the Irish Embassy in London and our colleagues in the BBC. It is appropriate that, in addition to featuring a remarkable array of Irish singers who have enjoyed successful careers in Britain and Ireland, the evening also includes the first performance by the RT Contempo Quartet of a new work co-commissioned by RT and the Wigmore Hall from the internationally renowned Irish composer Gerald Barry.

John Gilhooly, OBE, the Limerick born Director of Wigmore Hall says: Wigmore Hall is pleased to collaborate with RT in co-commissioning a work by Gerald Barry for the RT Contempo Quartet for this landmark event in the Ireland 2016 commemorations programme here in Britain. It is a particular pleasure that BBC Radio 3 and RT lyric fm will bring the Gala Concert live to the radio listenership. This is a pivotal moment in relations between Ireland and the UK and we are proud to collaborate with the Irish embassy, Culture Ireland and RT to celebrate 100 years of Irish culture at Wigmore Hall, London.

Booking for Irish Culture in Britain a Centenary Celebration opens on Monday 5 February 2016.

ENDS

For further information, please contact

Assumpta Lawless, Marketing & Communications Manager, RT National Symphony Orchestra

assumpta.lawless@rte.ie | Direct line: 01 208 2769 | Mobile: 087 290 4168

LINK:	http://www.rte.ie/about/en/press-office/press-releases/2015/1130/75017...
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