Irish Chamber Orchestra Presents WAR & PEACE

Soloists Fiona Kelly and Emma Roche perform a thrilling double act, each displaying their virtuosity as well as playing together in perfect harmony, in Telemann's Concerto for 2 Flutes, written in an elegant Italianate style.

Fiona and Emma started their flute careers under the guidance of Evelyn Grant (well known RTE lyric fm presenter) at the CIT Cork School of Music.

'I can remember having to sit at the back of the room at a flute band concert, in Cork School of Music, and "mind" Fiona asleep in her buggy while the big people were playing.

I've only ever had two flute teachers - Evelyn and David Nicholson. I went to Glasgow to study because Evelyn had brought David over to give masterclasses in Cork.

The first time myself and Fiona ever sat next to each other was the Irish Chamber Orchestra US tour 2011, with Sir James Galway!' quote Emma Roche.

After her studies in Cork, Emma enrolled at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where she graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Orchestral Performance and a BA Hons (Musical Studies)

Emma was a finalist in the BBC Radio 2 Young Musician Competition,

Class Finalist RTE Millennium Musician of the Future

Winner of all possible woodwind prizes at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She is a founder member of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra

and plays regularly with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Scottish Ballet Orchestra.

Irish flautist Fiona Kelly, hailed by the New York Times as a player with "impressive technique and elegant musicianship", is principal flute of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.

Fiona completed her Master's degree at The Juilliard School, New York, studying with principal flute of the New York Philharmonic, Robert Langevin. She won first prize in The Juilliard School Flute Competition and made her Lincoln Center debut performing Bernstein's 'Halil' with The Juilliard Orchestra at The Peter Jay Sharp Theatre.

She began her studies at the Cork School of Music with her mother Evelyn Grant and completed her Bachelor of Music studies at Trinity College of Music, London, with Ms. Anna Noakes. While in London she won numerous awards including 1st Prize in the British Flute Society International Competition, the Royal Overseas League Sussex Prize and the Royal Philharmonic Society's Julius Isserlis Scholarship.

Fiona has performed concertos with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Jönköpings Sinfonietta, Locrian Ensemble, Irish Chamber Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland at Köln Philharmonie, Liszt Academy Grand Hall Budapest, Heidelberg Festival and St. Martin in the Fields London, with conductors such as Thomas Dausgaard, Thierry Fischer, Andrew Manze and Alexander Verdernikov.

She was a soloist with Håkan Hardenberger, Antje Weithaas and Uri Caine in the Swedish Chamber Orchestra's Brandenburg Project performing the 2nd and 5th concertos and premiering new concerti by Steven Mackey and Uri Caine, touring throughout Germany, Hungary and Poland. Fiona looks forward to a future performance of this project at the Rheingau Festival and recording these works for the BIS label in 2017.

Her orchestral experiences range from being offered the post of principal flute with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra of Ireland at the age of 22, to performances as a guest flautist with the New York Philharmonic.

Captivating and charismatic, Jean-Christoph Spinosi will ignite the Irish Chamber Orchestra's upcoming Christmas offering, WAR & PEACE.

Spinosi champions the music of Shostakovich with his thrilling 8th String Quartet. The Irish Chamber Orchestra's deeply introspective low-vibrato performance conveys a world falling apart in a kaleidoscopic motion.

Baroque music and the festive season are inextricably linked and Corelli's Christmas Concerto is one of the finest from two sets that this Roman violin virtuoso produced. The pastoral lilt of the finale conjures up an image of the shepherds playing their pipes

Haydn's 83rd Symphony is a marvellously intense work which gets a no-holds barred performance from the ICO. It is nick-named The Hen because of clucking sounds in the first movement. It is light and humorous and hugely entertaining.

Don't miss the Irish Chamber Orchestra with WAR & PEACE at St. Mary's Cathedral, Limerick (Thurs 8 December) and St. John's Church Waterford in association with the Symphony Club of Waterford (Fri 9 December).

Tickets on www.irishchamberorchestra.com.

http://www.irishchamberorchestra.com/events/war-peace/

To post a comment, you must register and login.