INCREDIBLE SOUNDS OF ARDEE BAROQUE TO FLOW
The Ardee Baroque festival has always forged links with the community either through concerts for children or providing free events and so to mark its 15th year, Ardee Baroque is working with Music Generation Louth and Moorehall Lodge to celebrate some of the many great aspects of baroque music with the wider community.
On Friday 16 November, baroque ensemble Tonos, who will perform ‘Wintersong’, the opening concert of this year’s Festival, are working with children from two primary schools in Ardee. This link has been created by Music Generation Louth, part of Ireland’s National Music Education Programme, to give these children an opportunity to work with some of the leading baroque specialists in the country. Musician Eamon Sweeney and soprano Róisín O’Grady will teach the children songs such as the Coventry Carol and the famous Gaudete before performing a concert in the school. The children are also invited to attend and perform in the evening concert alongside Tonos.
On Saturday 17 November, the residents of Moorehall Lodge will also have a chance to be part of the Baroque Festival when leading Music in Healthcare musicians will perform a special concert for them. Musical Memories is an initiative to bring professional music off the concert stage and into the very heart of our communities, offering nursing home residents, families and staff an opportunity to listen to live music performances.
The Festival also offers a free poetry and prose reading event in Hatch’s Castle when celebrated writers of Cavan-based group Lit Lab come together to read from their latest anthologies.
The Irish Baroque Orchestra remains at the heart of Ardee Baroque and return with their artistic director, Peter Whelan to perform a concert of Handel duos for soprano and counter-tenor. Audiences will recall Peter’s last visit to Ardee when he directed the orchestra in Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Peter brings life and excitement to all his performances which instantly comes from the musicians too. Described by The Irish Times, Peter Whelan is ‘as exciting a live wire as Ireland has produced in the world of period performance’.
Any newcomers or those curious about baroque music will love the closing concert in this year’s festival when Musici Ireland and Melisma choral group perform a concert of all the best known and loved music from the era, such as pieces from Handel’s Watermusic and the celebratory Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. This concert of back to back familiar music is sure to send everyone home singing. It’s one not to be missed.
The festival runs from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 November. Full details are available on www.ardeebaroque.com and tickets can be booked through www. antain.ie by phone 042 9332332 or in person from An Táin Arts Centre, Crowe Street, Dundalk.
Ardee Baroque is generously funded by Louth County Council and the Arts Council.