Irish Guitar Quartet

St. Mary’s Church, Dingle/Sáipéal Naomh Muire, An Daingean

Dé Sathairn/Saturday 8pm

€15

The Irish Guitar Quartet is comprised of Ireland’s most talented and versatile classical guitarists and is one of Ireland’s premier instrumental ensembles. Jerry Creedon, David Keating, Redmond O’Toole and Aengus Kirakowski have garnered international acclaim as soloists. Each member contributes towards the creation of exciting, dynamic and engaging musical performances. Tugann Ceathairéad  na nGael ,  cuireadh daoibhse, a lucht éisteachta,  blaiseadh agus súp a bhaint as iliomad stíl cheoil,  Laidin,  An Cianoirthear,  Ceoltíre agus  Clasaicí  ó Mheiriceá ina measc.

Jerry Creedon, David Keating, Aengus Kirakowski, Redmond O’Toole (guitars)

PROGRAMME

1. Carmen Suite arr. William Kanengiser Georges Bizet (1838 – 1875) Aragonaise –  Habanera –  Seguidilla – Toreadors – Entr’acte – Gypsy Dance

2. Stairs (1998) David Pritchard (b. 1949)
3. Introduction and Fandango Luigi Boccherini (1743 – 1805)
4. Danza non Danza Reentko Dirks (b. 1979)

INTERVAL

1. Asturias arr. Gabriel Bianco Isaac Albeniz (1864 – 1909)

from Suite Espagnole for piano, op. 47

2. Cuban Landscape with Rain Leo Brouwer (b. 1939)
3. Opals (1993) Phillip Houghton (1954-2017)

Black Opal –  Water Opal – White Opal

4. Comme un Tango (1993)Patrick Roux (b. 1962)

PROGRAMME NOTES

Carmen Suite                                                                                                                                                                                                            William Kanengiser’s arrangement of a suite from Parisian George Bizet’s opera Carmen, proves yet again that no one can capture the essence of Spanish culture quite like a complete foreigner. The six-movement suite from Bizet’s score is a perennial audience favorite.

Stairs

Stairs by L.A.-based musician David Pritchard, is a deceptive piece in that it bears a minimal, new-age sensibility on its surface, yet is underscored by a subtle yet unmistakable rhythmic complexity. David Pritchard (b. 1949) started his career as a member of Gary Burton’s quartet during its European tour in 1969. Following his return, he formed his own jazz rock group, Contraband, and went on to record numerous albums. Stairs was composed much later, when he was drawn more to classically structured styles; however, the jazz influence is still obvious. Sometimes deliberately ambiguous in its rhythms, Stairs is meant to take the listener on an emotional musical journey, one step at a time.

Introduction and Fandango                                                                                                                                                    Originally written for guitar quintet, the Introduction and Fandango is the fourth movement of the Quintet for Guitar and Strings in D, G 448. Though Italian by birth, Luigi Boccherini spent much of his adult life in Spain where he was exposed to the traditional folk music and flamenco traditions, the influence of which is obvious in this piece. The slow and contemplative introduction paves the way for a flamenco influenced fandango.

Danza non Danza                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Reentko Dirks is a guitarist, composer and producer who has worked with prestigious ensembles and renowned   artists throughout the world. Reentko Dirks (born 1979 in Bad Gandersheim) studied  Guitar under Professor Thomas Fellow at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden before himself taking a teaching role at the school. Cellist Yo Yo Ma : ‘Reentko tells us stories in his music – stories of places distant as well as those deep    within us. And he is an outstanding storyteller.”

Asturias (Leyenda).                                                                                                                                                          Isaac Albeniz (1860- 1909) was born in Catalonia and was famed as a virtuoso pianist and as an interpreter of his own compositions for piano which drew great inspiration from Andalusian folk music. Taking the guitar as his        instrumental model, Albeniz achieved a stylization of the Spanish traditional idiom which gives the impression of spontaneous improvisation, the basic emotional ingredient of Flamenco music. Asturias (Leyenda) is a part of a Suite Espagnole for piano.

Cuban Landscape with Rain

Cuban Landscape with Rain, by Cuban composer Leo Brouwer, creates a complete rainstorm, beginning with       occasional water droplets and ending with a raging torrent complete with hail.

Opals                                                                                                                                                                                                                              In Opals, written in 1993 and revised in 2014, the Australian composer Phillip Houghton aims to depict the            kaleidoscope of colours found in the different types of opal stone. In the first movement, ‘Black Opal’, Houghton states, the group should sound like a ‘big Kalimba’ (thumb piano). The second movement, ‘Water Opal’, establishes a transparent, water-like texture, slow rolled chords offset by rhythmic interjections. Finally, ‘White Opal’ uses    cross-rhythms and sudden modulations to create an aural translation of the flashes and splinters found in this stone.       His music brilliantly suggests the beauty and harshness of the Australian landscape

Comme un Tango                                                                                                                                                                                         Patrick Roux was born in France and moved to Canada in 1967. Today, he is a professor of guitar at the              Conservatoire de Québec. He co-founded the Canadian Guitar Quartet. Published by Les Productions d’Oz,            his works include a series dedicated to tango. Comme un Tango has some beautiful melodies as well as energetic romps into tango and flamenco.

 Notes by Jerry Creedon

THE MUSICIANS

JERRY CREEDON
The lrish guitarist JERRY CREEDON was born in Cork and has studied guitar from a young age. After graduating from University College, Cork, he studied with the famed German guitarist Siegfried Behrend in Germany; a Spanish Government Scholarship enabled him to study at the Andres Segovia Summer School in Santiago de Compostela; the Irish Arts Council grant-aided him to attend master classes given by world-famous virtuoso John Williams in Cordoba. Jerry Creedon is a Lecturer of Classical Guitar and founder of the Classical Guitar Studies Programme (since 1998) at the state-of-the-art CIT Cork School of Music. He has attracted some of the World’s most famous guitarists to perform and teach at the CIT Cork School of Music including John Williams, The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, Xue Fei Yang, Roland Dyens, Fabio Zanon, Craig Ogden, David Leisner, Christoph Jaggin, Jacob Lindberg and William Carter. Jerry is an experienced musician and has performed in Ireland, Germany and Spain, both as a soloist and a chamber musician. He has appeared with numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles and has his own Jazz Ensemble with which he performs at the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival. He has performed at the National Concert Hall, Universities, and numerous Festivals. Jerry has recorded CDs of music by Sanz, Pujol and Villa-Lobos and has recently formed the highly acclaimed Irish Guitar Quartet. He recently performed on the film score to Paul Mercier’s “Pursuit”.

DAVID KEATING
David Keating is a classical guitarist who’s eclectic and generous performances have captivated audiences across Tasmania, Ireland and the UK. David first started playing guitar aged five and hasn’t stopped since. David’s repertoire comes from a love of music itself. His work is a unique and intimate mix of traditional classical guitar music juxtaposed equally with contemporary music genres such as folk, jazz and blues. He possesses a deep love for improvisation and electric guitar techniques, and this passion informs his flexible and conversational performance style.                                                                                                                                                                            David is a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, where he studied with the acclaimed Australian guitarist Craig Ogden, and was awarded a First Class Honours MMus Degree in classical guitar performance. He also has a First Class Honours Bmus Degree from the Cork School of Music where he studied with Jerry Creedon. Since 2012, he has been a classical guitar lecturer as the Munster Technology University in Cork, Ireland.                                                                                                                                                                              David is a founding member of the Tasmanian based Celtic Muse folk music ensemble with Australian based fiddle player Charlie McCarthy, and also plays regularly in Ireland with Finbar Wright, Fandango Duo, and the Irish Guitar Quartet.                                                                                                                                                                                David plays a 2018 Greg Smallman guitar, and gratefully acknowledges support from Music Network Ireland.

AENGUS KIRAKOWSKI
AENGUS KIRAKOWSKI is a Cork-born guitarist and music educator. Beginning his studies at UCC, he then furthered his studies in musical performance at the CIT Cork School of Music. Aengus has participated in master classes with international names such as Johann Fostier, Remi Boucher, Xuefei Yang and Arturo Tallini in various locations around the world.
After spending a year at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, studying with Estonian virtuoso Heiki Matlik, Aengus then completed his studies with Jerry Creedon in Cork. As a classical guitarist Aengus has performed at the RDS, as well as Musgrave Park, the City Hall, and participated in the Cork Jazz Festival. However, Aengus has also presented his views on the current state of music and education to the International Society for Music Education, as well as to the Society for Music Education in Ireland.
Recently awarded an MA in Digital Arts and Humanities at UCC for his research into music education, Aengus is also currently involved in various outreach projects involving other art forms – collaborating on soundtracks for up-and-coming podcasts, as well as performing his own arrangements of Irish traditional melodies and songs for The Music and Poetry of 1916.

REDMOND O’TOOLE
Redmond O’Toole has been described by the Irish Times as ‘Ireland’s most distinctive guitarist’, he has toured the world as a soloist, as guitarist for ‘The Chieftains and as a former member of Dublin Guitar Quartet. He has performed as orchestral soloist with RTE Concert Orchestra, Irish Baroque Orchestra and BBC Ulster. He was a teacher at the Royal Irish Academy for a decade and is now a lecturer at MTU (Cork School of Music). He has been an artist in residence in the National Concert Hall and the National Opera House and has collaborated with countless artists including Raphael Wallfisch and the Esposito Quartet. Redmond performs exclusively on the Brahms guitar, a special 8 string guitar played in the cello position. He was a student of the late Oscar Ghiglia and holds a doctorate in music performance from RIAM/Trinity College.