World music takes centre stage at annual Coole Orchestra Festival
Preparations are in full swing for the 11th annual Coole Music Orchestra Festival, A World of Music, which will take place on Saturday, March 10, in Gort.
The day-long Festival includes world-music and dance workshops, which are open to all. The event will culminate in an evening performance from five orchestras, involving 180 musicians of all ages from the West of Ireland, as well as a top-class line-up of young orchestral musicians, performers of world music and a host of colourful young dancers.
The music workshops are among the festival’s biggest attractions and reflect the World of Music theme. They range from ‘Sing!’ with composer Fiona Linnane and ‘Try Afro-Cuban Drumming’ (drums provided) with percussionist Alan Preims. There’s also ‘Bollywood Dance’ with Alina from Bollywood Fusion, Workshops start at noon, are open to everyone and can be booked in advance online for €5 at www.coole-music.com.
Saturday evening’s concert will continue the international flavour with music from Matthew Noone, an Australian-Irish musician who plays the Indian sarode. There will be Bollywood dancers from the Galway-Indian cultural community, as well as a performance from Gort-based didgeridoo player Itamar Meir and Irish dancers from the Marie Gavin School – all this alongside the music of five youth orchestras from the West of Ireland.
“Introducing world music into this year’s Orchestra Festival brings many new elements to the event,” says the Festival founder and Artistic Director Katharina Baker. “Our audience can actively participate in the world-music and dance workshops, then come along to the evening concert to experience performances from different cultures and witness the combined Festival orchestra premiering the finale.”
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.