Some people just want to make music

Fergus Dennehy talks to Lucy Tanner, a member of the Kerry Scotia Ensemble. Lucy talks to us about the origins of the locally based classical music group, the abundance of musical talent in the youth of Kerry and their bucket list goals and dreams for the

THE Kerry Scotia Ensemble just want to play music themselves and they want to help others like them to play music as well, it’s as simple as that.

The group describe themselves as a Kerry based ensemble made up of professional musicians who are committed to promoting and spreading music all around Kerry.

The group is a string ensemble which means that the only instruments they perform are four violins, a viola, a cello and a double bass.

The ensemble is currently made up of seven core members and these are Niamh Varian Barry (Leader/Musical Director), Dovile Baltoniene, Harry O’Connor, Lucy Tanner, Maria O’Connor, Jimmy Canty and Cian McGarry.

Lucy kindly took the time out of her schedule last week to come into The Kerryman office to talk give us a little bit of background on how the group came to be.

“We formed back in about 2016 and I remember that I was playing as part of a quartet for the graduations here in Tralee and we were having a conversation about how there were no real professional string ensemble based here in Kerry,” said Lucy, speaking on Wednesday afternoon.

“There was no group that played to a professional standard and so we had the idea of putting something together ourselves and so we did,” she laughed.

“We did a couple of concerts that first year here in the Church of Ireland church on Ashe Street, we did some in Killarney and we did some in Dingle too as well” she continued.

Lucy admitted that although those first few concerts back in the early days of the ensemble were a little bit terrifying and intimidating, they were enjoyable too.

“It was scary initially because we didn’t all know each other, we hadn’t all played together and so our first few rehearsals together were a little bit scary.”

“On the plus side though, because most of us in the group are predominately teachers and most our time is spent teaching our instruments, we don’t get to play professionally as much as we would like.”

“Therefore. these rehearsals were very enjoyable as they allowed us to get back into the rhythm of playing,” she said.

The group try to do at least three series of concerts a year - one series in either January or February, another series at the start of Summer and final few concerts coming into the winter.

The main venues for the groups concerts are the Church of Ireland church on Ashe Street and St James Church in Dingle.

Since these early days of nerves and rustiness though, the group has gone from strength to strength and one of the groups biggest goals is to help provide an outlet for young classical musicians growing up in Kerry to perform.

Every year the group auditions a number of young musicians from all over Kerry who vie for a place performing in the ensemble for a full year.

“We have just recently auditioned for this years crop of mentees and we had a great response. From that group, we have now chosen two children to play and perform with us for the year.”

Speaking about the importance of giving these young people the mentorship and performance time that they need, Lucy spoke about the abundance of talent that exists here in Kerry.

“With a lot of us in the ensemble being instrumental teachers, we know that there is a huge amount of talent and dedicated, hard working kids out there. Sadly though, there is no outlet for them where they can perform in public regularly.”

“This was something very important to us so when we set up the ensemble that we offer something that will help the kids to grow as musicians.”

“There are so many rules for playing in a professional ensemble that you aren’t taught, so hopefully playing with us through this mentorship scheme will help them to learn these rules,” she continued.

One of the upcoming performances that will feature the groups newest two members will take place this weekend, with the groups ‘ Summer Serenades’ concert.

The classical music group will perform in the Church of Ireland on Friday June 15 at 8pm and again in St James Church in Dingle on Sunday June 17 at 8pm.

Lucy has promised a lively and interactive night of fun for all who are thinking of attending.

“We’ll be playing a little bit of everything, it’ll be a mixture of stuff. We’re calling it a summer serenade and we’ll have popular pieces. Even if people don’t recognise the title, they’ll recognise the tune. It’ll be a fun night for all,” said Lucy.

Tickets for the two nights are set to cost €10 for students and €15 for adults; they are available to buy on the door on the night or by booking them in advance by calling 085 889 3496 or by emailing scotiaensemble@gmail.com.

Don’t miss out on this great night of music - book your tickets to the show now.

With regards to any bucket list concerts they’d like to have or venues they’d to perform in, Lucy revealed that her husband has put the idea in her head to perform on Skellig Michael sometime.

“We’d love to play the Star Wars theme up there sometime but obviously that is just a pipe dream at the moment,” she laughed.