Classical, Choral and Opera

Music for Galway celebrates the great composer and his connection to Ireland and Galway with a three day midwinter festival at the Town Hall Theatre in Galway. An international cast including the Osiris Piano Trio and soprano Charlotte Riedijk from the Netherlands, Irish clarinettist Paul Roe, Irish tenor Robin Tritschler and pianist Rebecca Cápová based in the UK and Germany respectively, gather in Galway to perform piano solos, trios, songs and Irish poems put to music by Beethoven.

Friday night looks at Beethoven's 'Genius: from his earliest compositions to his final work for piano'. On Saturday afternoon the artists gather to discuss Beethoven's work. The concert on Saturday 'Passion: To the distant beloved...' features the song cycle of the same name and actor Rod Goodall reading from Beethoven's letters as translated by Galway scholar Emily Anderson; this concert thus marks the connection of Beethoven with Galway as forged by Emily Anderson's monumental work in translating the correspondence of both Mozart and Beethoven into English. The closing concert on Sunday 'The Irish Connection: The pulse of an Irishman...' features a selection of Beethoven's Irish songs for soprano, tenor and piano trio as well as Bagatelles for piano solo and the 'Ghost' piano trio.