Last chance ticket competition!! - and music this coming week

Hello again...

I'm still in a fairly special place after last night's gamelan concert in UCC - well done to Mel and all the UCC Javanese Gamelan ensemble. Great to see a full house with audience taking up every available surface in the lovely O'Riada hall.

The big news this weekend is the East Meets West festival here in the city. The T'ang quartet arrived from Singapore on Monday and have been busily preparing and getting to know our lovely grubby city. The opening concert tomorrow night (Good Friday) is free, and will be in St. Mary's here on Pope's Quay (across the river from the Opera House) - the gorgeous Callino Quartet are playing Haydn's 'Seven Last Words' which floored a standing-room-only audience in the same venue in 2005. I'll be working for the whole of the festival so please come to a gig or two and say hello!

This afternoon I'll make the draw for a pair of tickets to what will be an amazing closing concert on Monday night - I can't say I'm not disappointed with my grand total of two entrants so far, but I guess it's kind of nice for them knowing they're in with a good chance! so LAST CHANCE TO ENTER (please do!) - follow this LINK to leave a comment (anything you like!) - anyone who does will go into the draw and if you want to change the tickets to another night you can.

Also it's your last few days to catch Coradorca's new production (running til Saturday 22nd) in the Cork Arts Theatre - see www.corcadorca.com for more!


Thursday 20th

9pm Utopia Nation (head shop on Barrack Street) I haven't yet mentioned the Thursday night open mic night here so I might as well today. I've been up once - good craic, very mixed bag the night I went but the tumblers of wine they serve are HUGE - should set you up well for a dry Good Friday...

12am, Crane Lane Dance your socks off with the Roaring Forties in the Crane Lane tonight.


Friday 21st

8pm St Mary's, Popes Quay Callino Quartet plays the jaw-droppingly beautiful (and totally, totally unique) Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross by Haydn - the first (and only?) set of seven adagios, it lasts about an hour and you won't forget it. This is really meaty and not at all boring I promise - last time the church had a load of people from Shandon and around who had just come to worship, they had never been to a classical concert before and were stunned, really really enjoyed it. It's FREE too!


Saturday 22nd

12pm Cork School of Music A coffee concert showcasing 2 exceptional young musicians - horn player Conor Palliser and pianist Sophie Cashel, along with the viola players of the T'ang and Callino Quartets along with Callino's second violinist and cellist - they'll play Mozart, Beethoven and liszt.

8pm Cork School of Music First chance to hear the T'ang and Callino quartets join forces to play Shostakovich's Two pieces for String Quartet - the Callinos will also play a Schumann Quartet and a Mozart quintet (with the T'ang's violist). And the T'ang Quartet will play the EXTRAORDINARY piece Mugam Sajahi by Franzis Ali-Zadeh - this this is a dead sexy piece (literally) I've only ever heard women playing it so I'm looking forward to hearing this exceptionally talented male quartet's interpretation.

8.30pm Cyprus Avenue Declan O'Rourke is a bloody good songwriter in fairness to him and he has a lovely voice. Nice. http://www.myspace.com/declanorourke



Sunday 23rd (Easter Sunday)

8pm Cork School of Music The T'angs treat us to Dvorak's American quartet (I bought their recording of it a couple of years ago - it's gorgeous, they make it really fresh) and another by Dohnanyi who i won't pretend I've heard of but it's described as 'dramatic'. The Callinos open the concert with one of Haydn's gorgeous quartets, 'Fifths'.

9pm Cyprus Avenue Fight Like Apes from Dublin are playing - one of the big new rock breakthrough acts in the last couple of years http://www.myspace.com/fightlikeapesmusic good for jumping around to.

10.30 Cork School of Music T'ang quartet - Gorecki's 2nd quartet, Quasi una Fantasia - life-changing stuff - very very beautiful, the kind of stuff Donal Dineen would hit you with when he really wants to give you something special.


Monday 24th


12pm Cork School of Music You know the way family members have a really special bond when playing together? The Cashell piano trio are a young Irish family of 2 sisters and a brother and they play exceptionally well together. They are all extraordinarily talented - Sophie just won some BBC 2 Classical Star programme... they're playing Debussy and Brahms.


8pm Cork School of Music The big finale - another octet from the combined forces of the T'ang and Callino Quartets playihng a piece by Svendsen that everyone's banging on about and the T'angs play Haydn and the Callino's Schnittke (ugly, scary name, yes - but beautiful, beautiful music - this, his most famous chamber piece, was written in memory of his mother).



Tuesday 25th

12am Crane Lane A chance to hear the fablulous Polskadots do their gorgeous Eastern/Northern European and beyond folk thing they're brilliant - http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=174413840


Finally, I'm all excited that Sheelanagig from Bristol are back in Cork next Friday - a racy mix of Ska and Gypsy (and lots more besides) they are fantastically tight and more fun than you can shake anything at - I have played their album to death since the last time I saw them... they'll be upstairs in the Spailpin - put it in your diary but I'll remind ye next week.

x N