Celebrating romance with Music for Galway

Italian piano virtuoso Alessandro Taverna has put together a programme called Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes for next Thursday, February 14, and will perform it at the Aula Maxima, NUI Galway at 8pm. It’s part of the Music for Galway series and is designed to please those on a Valentine’s night outing.

Before that, for those interested in visual art, Curator of British Art at the National Gallery of Ireland Adrian Le Harivel will give an illustrated pre-concert talk entitled On Parade: Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes and the New Musical Beat at the Aula Maxima, Ground Floor, NUI Galway from 6.45 to 7.30pm.

The Ballets Russes was a Russian dance company founded and taken to Paris by art critic and impresario Sergei Diaghilev at the beginning of the 20th century. The company’s performances attracted poets, composers and artists such as Apollinaire, Picasso, Satie, Braque and Coco Chanel.

Alessandro Taverna’s programme for the concert is taken from music used for these ballets and will include pieces by Chopin, Liszt, De Falla, Satie and Stravinsky, while Adrian LeHarivel’s lecture explores the Ballet Russes’ influence on the visual arts.

For those who fancy food before their music, Martine’s Restaurant in Quay Street is offering a Valentine’s special of pre-concert dinner plus performance for €34 per person.

Concert tickets are €20. For members and concessions they cost €16, and for students (aged under 26) they are €6. They are available from Music for Galway: 091705962, or Opus II, 4 High Street, or www.tht.ie

Admission to the lecture is free.

The Dinner and Concert Package for €34 can be booked at 091 565662