World premiere of Olympic music – just 75 years later
The world premiere of a musical score by Irish composer Ina Boyle, which won an award at the 1948 Olympics, will be performed next Wednesday, March 16 at 1pm in the Emily Anderson Hall at NUIG.
Lament for Bion, written for tenor and string quartet, will be performed by tenor Christopher Bowen and the ConTempo Quartet.
The event, being presented by Music for Galway and the Galway Music Residency, in conjunction with the Arts in Action Programme at NUIG, will also feature pianist Finghin Collins, the Artistic Director of Music for Galway.
Lament for Bion will open the concert and it’s one of two main works on the programme. The other is to celebrate Ralph Vaughan Williams’ 150th birthday, when Christopher Bowen will be joined by Finghin Collins and the ConTempo Quartet to perform On Wenlock Edge. The New Ghost by Vaughan Williams and The Joy of Earth as well as A Song of Shadows by Boyle will also be performed.
It has taken 75 years for Ina Boyle’s Lament for Bion to be sung in public, despite its Olympic success – she received a Diplome d’Honneur for the composition, which is an elegy for the ancient Greek musician and poet Bion. Ireland’s only awards at the 1948 London Olympics were in the arts events, for painting, literature and music.
Ina Boyle (1889-1967), from Wicklow, studied with Ralph Vaughan Williams and was a composed for much of her life, yet performances of her work were few and far between.
Wednesday’s lunchtime concert will be a relaxed performances, intended specifically to be sensitive to and accepting of people who may benefit from a more relaxed performance environment.
The event is free, but advance booking is advised. The Eventbrite link is at musicforgalway.ie.