Tag Archives: ICO

KATHERINE Hunka can’t wait to play music in front of a live audience again during the eagerly-awaited SCS Killaloe Music Festival. Last year, the artistic director found it very difficult playing in front of an empty Killaloe Cathedral when the festival had to be live-streamed during to Covid-19 restrictions. However, the tenth annual festival will be able to showcase the best of musical talent from Ireland and abroad in front of an audience again from June 3 to 5, much to Katherine’s delight. Keenly anticipating playing in front of people for the first time in two years, Katherine said, “The impact of Covid-19 was terrible for musicians. I know we had to focus on tackling this serious illness but our livelihood’s stopped completely. Concerts were one of the first events to be cancelled and one of the last to return. “This means there is a heady excitement for musicians who are meeting each other again. It is great for musicians …

AFTER more than a decade with the Irish Chamber Orchestra Jörg Widmann is preparing to bid farewell to his Mid-West residency. A hugely successful spell at the ICO in University of Limerick draws to a close with two concerts this coming week. The first, his home ground lap of honour as it were, is in the University Concert Hall, while he rounds off his tenure with an appearance as St Brendan’s Church in Birr, at the Birr Festival of Music. For his swansong the ICO performs Widmann’s brilliant Oboe Concerto alongside his virtuosic Petite Suite for Flute for the first time. These two works are bookended by delights from Mozart including his Linz Symphony and the gorgeous Cosi Fan Tutte Overture. Jörg reluctantly relinquishes his role with ICO to juggle with the constant demands of his diary and career as one of world’s most prolific composers, clarinetists, and conductors. His contribution to ICO has been immeasurable. ICO chief executive Gerry …