National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, in association with Music for Galway, makes a welcome return to Leisureland on Saturday, March 28 with two classic works celebrating the spirit of adventure and discovery.
Playing that evening are Shaun Davey’s epic The Brendan Voyage and Dvořák’s monumental ‘New World’ Symphony, one of the great symphonic showpieces.
The acclaimed Irish conductor David Brophy, now chief conductor with WDR Funkhausorchester, Cologne, leads these thrilling musical journeys with the extraordinary uilleann piper Mark Redmond joining as soloist.
In the year which marks the 50th anniversary of historian Tim Severin’s re-creation of St. Brendan’s heroic Sixth-century crossing of the Atlantic in a primitive leather-skinned boat, don’t miss this opportunity to hear, for the very first time in Leisureland with National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, Shaun Davey’s thrilling The Brendan Voyage.
Hailed as a ‘ground-breaking crossover work of great significance’ (Living Tradition), The Brendan Voyage was composed for legendary piper Liam O’Flynn. The soloist’s mantle now belongs to Mark Redmond, whose fresh interpretation has thrilled audiences both old and new.
Like O’Flynn, Redmond has gained a reputation as a performer on the uilleann pipes in a ‘traditional’ sense but also as one who melds with a wide range of genres.
In Shaun Davey’s setting, the evocative voice of the uilleann pipes lights up the dramatic journey into the unknown as the medieval traveller encounters seabirds and whales en route from Ireland to the Faroe Islands, Iceland and through battles with Labrador gales and ice, before his triumphant arrival at what later explorers would christen Newfoundland.
Speaking of the significance of this performance, composer Shaun Davey says, “I am particularly grateful to National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, for these concerts mark the 50th anniversary of the Brendan Voyage itself, and provide an opportunity to salute the memory of Tim Severin and his valiant crew who provided the inspiration for the music.”
Best known for its haunting ‘Largo’, the soundtrack to countless film soundtracks and television adverts, Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony boasts a parade of memorable melodies.
A celebration of the folk music and Negro spirituals he discovered in America, its sirenic echoes of the traditions Dvořák left behind in his native Bohemia combine in one of the great symphonic showpieces: a nostalgic love letter to far-distant home sent from the New World.
