Celebrating Wanderlust and its musical benefits

Galway audiences will be embarking on journeys of the imagination during Music for Galway’s upcoming season, if the organisation’s Artistic Director Finghin Collins aspirations are realised.

The theme for the season which starts on September 26 with a concert by pianist Barry Douglas, is Wanderlust, acknowledging the role that travel has always played in the lives of musicians and composers, as they plied their talents or avoided persecution. The cultural cross-fertilisation that ensues from such wandering is celebrated in Wanderlust, he says.

In his sixth season as Artistic Director, the well-travelled concert pianist Finghin is as enthusiastic about programming Music for Galway concerts as he was in year one. He’s also continuing the theme of collaboration, as the organisation joins forces with the Galway Jazz Festival, Galway Early Music Festival, Galway Film Society and Cúirt for a series of special events between now and May 2019.

The 2018-9 programme is a delight, with concerts including Rêverie, a celebration of the lives and loves of Claude Debussy, with Lucy Parham on piano, narrated by actor Alex Jennings (Edward VIII in The Crown). That’s on Wednesday, November 7.

With Wanderlust in mind, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra will visit in May to perform Adventure Screen Classics, with music from classic Westerns to Star Wars, via James Bond, Lord of the Rings and more.

“Choosing a theme is an organic process,” explains Finghin and Anna over coffee in the Corrib Tea Rooms, ahead of Monday night’s programme launch by president of NUIG Dr Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, at the City’s Portershed.

“There were some people I wanted to invite,” outlines Finghin of how the theme of travel came to the fore.

“I was in Australia two years ago and heard the Goldner Quartet, who’d never been here. As Artistic Director, I want to bring new work to Galway and Ireland.”

Not only are the Goldner Quartet making their Irish debut in Galway on Thursday, November 29, but they’re starting their European tour here. Meanwhile, the Quartetto di Venezia makes a welcome return to West after a long absence.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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