New location for summer music festival

A MUSIC festival established by Canadians in Clare will extend to Galway from this summer, it has been announced.

Summer Music in Clare, established in 1994, which moved from Ennis to the University Concert Hall in Limerick in 2000 as the Summer Music on the Shannon, will be known as Summer Music in Galway (SMG) this summer.
The internationally renowned classical summer music school and festival will take place in Galway in the summer, preceded by a week of classes in its home base at Clare Music Makers in Ennis.
Three weeks of Galway classes, rehearsals and concerts will be located on the university campus and accommodation will be located in the nearby Glasán Holiday Village residences.
According to organisers, SMG is moving to Galway not only because of the availability of facilities for future growth, but also because of the support for the initiative from the local community, particularly the Galway Youth Orchestra and NUIG’s Quartet-in-Residence, ConTempo, both of which will be represented on the newly established SMG board of directors as partners in music.
Patrick Binns, Canada’s Ambassador to Ireland, hosted the official launch of SMG at the Canadian Embassy in Dublin recently. A capacity audience of invited guests attended the event, which included chamber music performances by gifted young string students, directed by Danette Eddy and Gillian Mott, two Canadian violinists now teaching at Clare Music Makers in Ennis.
The musical portion of the evening concluded with internationally renowned Canadian violinist David Stewart performing the Sonata for Solo Violin, opus 27, No. 4, by Eugene Ysaye.
SMG is neither a summer music camp or school, nor a professional festival, but is a combination of all. It is modelled on the hugely successful North American festivals, such as Banff, Orford, Aspen and Tanglewood, all of which combine professional performances with music instruction on an intensive scale.
The mission of SMG is “to develop, in the West of Ireland, a summer music school and festival with the highest international standards of performance and teaching and with no barriers to admission based on age, level of ability, nationality or financial disadvantage”.
In 2009, there were 235 participants in the festival, including 11 Canadian professional musicians. Since 2001, 40 Canadian musicians and 54 Canadian music students have come to Ireland from every region in Canada to attend the festival.
Now entering its 17th consecutive season, the summer music school and festival for young classical musicians will be located at NUIG in Galway. Programmes for local and residential music students of all ages and on all orchestral instruments and piano, will commence in Galway on August 3.
The award-winning Youth Opera Theatre Programme will commence with one week in Ennis, from July 26 to 30 and move to Galway on August 3.
For more information on all events, visit www.summermusicingalway.com.