Formed In East Berlin In 1985, The VOGLER QUARTET Quickly Established Itself As One Of The Finest Quartets Of This Generation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ISSUED ON 6TH FEBRUARY, 2009 Vogler Spring Festival Sligo 2009 Ten Year Celebration St Columba’s Church, Drumcliffe, Co. Sligo May Bank Holiday Weekend May 1st - May 4th, 2009

Sligo Arts Service today announced details of the tenth Vogler Spring Festival with another gathering of outstanding Irish and International performers. Over the four-day May Bank Holiday Weekend audiences will be spoilt for choice with nine concerts and seventeen guest artists spanning over three hundred years of music. This year’s festival, once again set in the mystical surroundings of St Columba’s Church, Drumcliffe, from Friday May 1st to Monday May 4 th , will feature key ensemble works such as the Reger Clarinet Quintet, Brahms Piano Trio, Fauré Piano Quartet, Mendelssohn String Quintet, Brahms Sextet and the Schumann Piano Quintet. So join us in Sligo as we celebrate ten years at this international gathering of much-loved masterpieces by world class performers.

The origins of the Vogler Spring Festival through the Vogler Quartet in Sligo residency programme 1999-2004 was a time of significant investment in music development in Sligo. “As producer of the annual Vogler Spring Festival”, explains Mary McAuliffe, Arts Officer “a hallmark of Sligo Arts Service is its commitment to identifying critical issues in arts provision and to designing actions and taking innovative approaches to address those issues. Sligo County Council is engaged in an initiative which will seek to enhance the range and quality of musical experiences being made available to audiences in Sligo. This process will aim for a higher level of engagement and participation in music within the county and the strengthening of Sligo’s position as a model of excellence in music provision within Ireland”.’ The continuation of the festival beyond the Vogler Quartet in Sligo residency timeframe and into its tenth year has been welcomed by chamber music enthusiasts worldwide with the event now having secured a place as one of Ireland’s most distinguished classical music festivals.

For classical aficionados the Vogler Spring Festival is a chance to hear some of the emerging talents of Ireland perform alongside long established names on the International music scene. With the festival revolving around the Berlin based Vogler Quartet, both as artistic directors and key performers, they have invited acclaimed musicians from Norway, Germany, Australia, Russia and Ireland to perform in a mixture of evening, lunch-time and late night concerts. Artists include Sophie Cashell, piano (Ireland), Oliver Triendl, piano (Germany), Grieg Trio, (Norway), Malachy Robinson, double bass (Ireland), Andra Darzins, viola (Australia), Sylvia O’Brien, soprano (Ireland) and acclaimed composer and clarinettist Jörg Widmann (Germany). Audiences will also be treated to a heady mixture of classical, jazz and Latin American music, in a late night concert with the Rastrelli Cello Quartet (Russia/Germany) playing a variety of music, all specially transcribed for the cello,

Booking information:- Tickets for the Vogler Spring Festival range from €10 to €25. Season tickets are €130 with concessions €100 (OAPs, students and the unwaged).

For information/credit card bookings, please contact Artscope + 353 (0)1 505 9582 or email [email protected] Bookings can be made by post, telephone or email. Tickets can also be purchased from Drumcliffe Tea House and Crafts Shop + 353 (0)71-914 4956. www.sligoarts.ie

The Vogler Spring Festival is produced by Sligo Arts Service, Sligo County Council; Managed by Caroline Wynne, Artscope; Artistic Direction by Frank Reinecke; Funded by Sligo County Council, Sligo Borough Council and The Arts Council. The festival is supported by Lyric FM and The Norwegian Embassy.

[Editors: please note that a detailed concert programme and biographies follow.] PROGRAMME – VOGLER SPRING FESTIVAL 2009

Vogler Quartet Tim Vogler (violin) Frank Reinecke (violin) Stefan Fehlandt (viola) Stephan Forck (cello)

Guest Artists Andra Darzins (viola) Australia Sophie Cashell (piano) Ireland Jörg Widmann (clarinet) Germany Oliver Triendl (piano) Germany Sylvia O`Brien (soprano) Ireland Malachy Robinson (double bass) Ireland Grieg Trio (piano trio) Norway Rastrelli Cello Quartet Germany/Russia

Friday 1st May 8:00pm Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1 No. 3 - Grieg Trio

Johannes Brahms Sonata in E flat, Op. 120 No. 2, for viola and piano - Andra Darzins (viola) - Oliver Triendl (piano)

Max Reger Clarinet Quintet in A, Op. 146 - Jörg Widmann (clarinet) - Vogler Quartet

Saturday 2nd May 2:00pm Joseph Haydn String Quartet in C, Op. 74 No. 1 - Vogler Quartet

Antonín Dvořák Quintet in G, Op. 77, for string quartet and double bass - Vogler Quartet - Malachy Robinson (double bass) Saturday 2nd May 7:30pm Anton Webern Langsamer Satz (Slow Movement) - Vogler Quartet

Alexander von Zemlinsky Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano in D minor, Op. 3 - Jörg Widmann (clarinet) - Stephan Forck (cello) - Oliver Triendl (piano)

Johannes Brahms Piano Trio in C, Op. 87 - Grieg Trio

Saturday 2nd May 10:00pm Late Night Concert with RASTRELLI CELLO QUARTET Works by Marin Marais, Sergei Rachmaninov, Felix Mendelssohn, Alfred Schnittke, Modest Mussorgsky, David Popper, Sulchan Zinzadze, Euday L. Bowman, Nikolay Sokolov, Dave Brubeck, Astor Piazzolla, Billy Strayhorn, Jimmy Forrest and Paul Desmond.

Sunday 3rd May 2:00pm Felix Mendelssohn Prelude and Fugue in F Minor, Op. 35 No. 5 Lieder ohne Worte (Songs Without Words) in A flat, Op.38 No. 6 (Duetto), and in C, Op. 67 No. 4 (Spinning Song) - Sophie Cashell

Seóirse Bodley Earlsfort Suite (poem by Michael O’Siadhail). - Sylvia O’Brien (soprano) - Sophie Cashell (piano)

Robert Schumann Carnaval, Op. 9 -Sophie Cashell (piano)

Sunday 3rd May 7:30pm Robert Schumann Fantasiestücke (Fantasy Pieces), Op. 73, for clarinet and piano - Jörg Widmann (clarinet) - Oliver Triendl (piano)

Felix Mendelssohn String Quintet No. 1 in A, Op. 18 - Andra Darzins (viola) - Vogler Quartet

Gabriel Fauré Piano Quartet in C minor, Op. 15 - Andra Darzins (viola) - Grieg Trio Sunday 3rd May 10:00pm Jörg Widmann Fieberphantasie (Fever Fantasy) - Jörg Widmann (clarinet) - Oliver Triendl (piano) - Vogler Quartet

Johannes Brahms String Sextet No. 1 in B flat, Op. 18 - Andra Darzins (viola) - Ellen Margrete Flesjö (cello) - Vogler Quartet

Monday 4th May 12:00 Noon Ludwig van Beethoven A selection of Irish Folk Tune arrangements - Sylvia O`Brien (soprano) - Grieg Trio

Philip Martin Variations on Irish Airs - Sophie Cashell (piano)

Antonín Dvořák Piano Trio in E minor, Op. 90 (Dumky Trio) - Grieg Trio

Monday 4th May 3:00pm Robert Schumann Piano Quintet in E flat, Op. 44 - Oliver Triendl (piano) - Vogler Quartet

Encores – Artists will perform some of their favourite encore pieces - All Artists BIOGRAPHIES

THE VOGLER QUARTET Tim Vogler (violin), Frank Reinecke (violin), Stefan Fehlandt (viola), Stephan Forck (cello). Formed in East Berlin in 1985, THE VOGLER QUARTET quickly established itself as one of the finest quartets of this generation. Mastering a repertoire of over 200 works from all epochs and period music, they are widely characterised for their extraordinary musical intelligence, highly creative playing with homogenous sounds, rich nuances, powerful interpretations and unconventional programming. The four musicians studied at the Hochschule für Music Hanns Eisler in Berlin with Professor Eberhard Feltz as the mentor of their initial quartet playing. In May 1986 they came to international prominence through winning the International String Quartet Competition in Evian, with the press jury prize and a special prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary work. They were subsequently invited to study with the renowned LaSalle Quartet in Basel, Switzerland and at the University of Cincinnati, U.S.A.

In September 1999, the Vogler Quartet was designated “Quartet in Residence” in County Sligo. The residency was a pilot project which saw one of the world’s leading string quartets pioneer a dynamic model of musical development in County Sligo. The Vogler Quartet worked closely with local music groups, schools and educational institutions in the key areas of performance, music education and instrumental tuition. They worked as programme advisers for Sligo Music Series before founding the annual Vogler Spring Festival.

Recordings with BMG/RCA-Classic include works by Bartok, Beethoven, Berg, Debussy, Janacek, Ravel, Shostakovich and the complete string quartets by Brahms and Schumann. They now combine an international schedule in all major music centres in Europe, the U.S.A., Canada, Japan, Israel and New Zealand with a busy teaching career which includes masterclasses and individual lessons at the “Hanns Eisler” Conservatory.

ANDRA DARZINS (viola)

Andra Darzins, born in Adelaide, began viola lessons at the age of 10. Between 1982 and 1985 she studied at the University of Adelaide gaining a Bachelor of Music Degree. Various scholarships gave Andra the possibility of studying in Berlin with Wolfram Christ, the principal violist of the Berlin Philharmonic, where she finished her studies with the soloists exam “Konzertexamen“ and was awarded a distinction She took part in various masterclasses and studied privately with the viola soloist Kim Kashkashian. Andra has gained many prizes, among them the “Prix Frederic Liebstoeckl” from the International Music competition in Geneva and the second prize at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition in Great Britain.

Between 1998 and 2003 Andra Darzins held a professorship at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg and since 2004 she holds a professorship for Viola at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart. Andra Darzins is an active concert musician, both as a soloist and in various chamber music groups. Conductors with whom she has performed include Wolfgang Sawallisch, Gerd Albrecht, Ingo Metzmacher, Theodore Antoniu, Pierro Gamba and Richard Vardigans. She has performed at international music festivals such as Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, International Enescu Festival and Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music Festival.

Andra Darzins also enjoys performing contemporary music. She recently gave the premiere performance of a duo for viola and tuba at the well known Kasseler Musik Tage and also played the first performance of a viola concerto for viola and 24 Percussion instruments by the composer Professor Dieter Einfeldt, who dedicated this piece to her. In November 2009 she will play the premiere performance of a new viola concerto, written by the Latvian composer Maija Einfelde. SOPHIE CASHELL (piano)

In 2007 Sophie Cashell came to national attention in the UK after winning the BBC Classical Star Television program. When Sophie strode to the piano for her climactic performance of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 she projected the air of an established superstar. Classical musicians are used to be being judged and tested, but having your musicianship picked apart on prime-time TV could challenge the most hardened veteran. Cashell began as one of the 18 finalists auditioning for nine places in the last round of Classical Star, a new series which aimed to find the best classical musician in the country under the age of 20.

Sophie began playing the violin at 4, but after starting to play the piano a year later found herself feeling a natural affinity for the keyboard. She joined her brother and sister at the Menuhin school at the age of 13 and she is now in her second year at the Royal Academy of Music. Sophie is currently signed to Universal Classics and Jazz and her debut disc featuring works by Chopin, Liszt, Ravel and Debussy was released in October 2008 to critical acclaim.

2008 also saw Sophie make her debut with the RTE Concert Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia at the Hampton Court Festival and the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra on tour in Scotland and Ireland. This season, she makes her debut with the Orchestra of Saint Cecilia at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, amongst others performing Beethoven Piano Concerto No.2. In recital she will return to Théâtre Saint- Bonnet de Bourges where she recorded her CD earlier this year. She will continue to give recitals in Ireland and the UK including London and Birmingham, where she makes her debut at the International Piano Festival, Birmingham.

JŐRG WIDMANN (clarinet)

Jörg Widmann studied clarinet with Gerd Starke at Munich Hochschule für Musik. His great passion being chamber music, he regularly performs alongside Tabea Zimmermann, Heinz Holliger, András Schiff, Kim Kashkashian, and Hélène Grimaud. As a soloist, he guest-performs with major orchestras at home and abroad, and has given concerts with conductors such as Christoph von Dohnányi, Sylvain Cambreling and Kent Nagano.

Several clarinet concertos have been dedicated to and premiered by him. In 1999 he performed Musik für Klarinette und Orchester by Wolfgang Rihm as part of 'musica viva', and in 2006 Cantus by Aribert Reimann with the WDR Symphony Orchestra. Since 2001 Widmann has been holding a professorship for clarinet at the Freiburg Hochschule für Musik.

At the age of eleven Jörg Widmann began to take composition lessons with Kay Westermann and later continued his studies with Hans Werner Henze, Wilfried Hiller and Wolfgang Rihm. For his compositional achievements he received the Belmont Award for Contemporary Music of the Forberg Schneider Foundation in 1999, the Schneider-Schott Music Award and Paul Hindemith Prize in 2002. His opera Das Gesicht im Spiegel was selected by the jury of experts of the Opernwelt magazine as the most important world premiere of the season 2003/04. In 2004 Widmann received the Arnold Schoenberg Prize by the Vienna Arnold Schoenberg Centre and the Deutsches Sinfonie Orchester Berlin. In 2004 and 2005 Jörg Widmann was Composer in Residence at various festivals and orchestras, amongst them the DSO Berlin, NDR ’das neue werk’ and the Salzburg Festival. In 2006 Widmann received the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden/Freiburg’s composition award as well as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Academy’s Claudio Abbado Composition Award. Jörg Widmann has composed a trilogy for large orchestra based on the principle of transferring vocal forms on to orchestral writing. The trilogy consists of Lied (premiered in 2003 and recorded by Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under Jonathan Nott), Chor (premiered in 2004 by the Deutsches Sinfonie Orchester Berlin and Kent Nagano) and Messe premiered by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Christian Thielemann in June 2005. In January 2007 Pierre Boulez and the Vienna Philharmonic premiered Widmann's new orchestral work Armonica. Future highlights include the premiere of a long awaited violin concerto by Christian Tetzlaff and the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and the premiere of his new piece for piano solo by Yefim Bronfman at Carnegie Hall. At the beginning of the 2008/09 season the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Mariss Jansons presented his new orchestral work Con brio.

Future orchestral engagements include visits to the SWR Symphony Orchestra Freiburg, the Orchestre National de Lyon, Kammerorchester Basel and Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra. In summer 2009 Jorg will be Artist in Residence both at the Schleswig-Hostein Musik Festival and the Lucerne Festival. Furthermore he is invited to play at the Schwetzinger Festspiele in May 2009.

In addition to his orchestral engagements Jörg Widmann works on a number of chamber music projects, with – amongst others – pianist Yefim Bronfman at the Lucerne Festival; violinist Carolin Widmann, cellist Christian Poltera and pianist Momo Kodama at the Festival d’Automne in Paris, the Artemis Quartet at Wigmore Hall and soprano Mojca Erdmann.

OLIVER TRIENDL (piano)

Over the course of his career the pianist Oliver Triendl has earned a reputation as a highly versatile performing artist. Some 50 CD recordings attest to his work as an advocate of rarely performed repertoire from the classical and romantic eras as well as his commitment to contemporary works.

As a soloist Triendl has performed with many renowned orchestras. The list includes the Bamberg and Munich Symphonies, NDR Radio Philharmonic, Gürzenich Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rhineland-Palatinate State Philharmonic, Munich, Stuttgart and Württemberg Chamber Orchestras, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg, Czech State Philharmonic, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Polish Chamber Philharmonic, Georgian Chamber Orchestra and St.Petersburg Camerata.

This avid chamber musician has performed with fellow musicians such as Christian Altenburger, Wolfgang Boettcher, Thomas Brandis, James Ehnes, David Geringas, Sharon Kam, Rainer Kussmaul, François Leleux, Lorin Maazel, Marie Luise Neunecker, Paul Meyer, Sabine and Wolfgang Meyer, Gustav Rivinius, Tanja Tetzlaff, Antje Weithaas and Jörg Widmann. He has also performed with Auryn, Danel, Keller, Sine Nomine and Vogler String Quartets as well as with excellent artists of the younger generation like Claudio Bohórquez, Mirijam Contzen, Johannes Moser, Daniel Müller-Schott, Alina Pogostkina and Christian Poltéra.

In 2006 Triendl founded the Fürstensaal Classix International Chamber Music Festival in Kempten in Bavaria’s Allgäu region. Triendl, a native of Mallersdorf, Bavaria, where he was born in 1970, and a prizewinner at many national and international competitions, studied under Rainer Fuchs, Karl-Heinz Diehl, Eckart Besch, Gerhard Oppitz and Oleg Maisenberg. He has performed with success at festivals and in many of Europe’s major music centers as well as in North and South America, South Africa, Russia and Asia.

SYLVIA O’BRIEN (soprano)

Equally at home in the classical and contemporary repertoire, Irish soprano Sylvia O’Brien performed her operatic debut as the Governess in The Turn of the Screw with Opera Theatre Company in 2004. She also took part that year in the Buxton Music Festival with the English Touring Company in their revival production of The Turn of the Screw as well as performing with Opera Ireland as Barena in Janacek’s Jenufa. O’Brien has impressed audiences in opera, oratorio and chamber music. She is a regular guest with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, RTECO and the Orchestra of St. Cecilia, and has performed with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the German NDR and the Dutch Magogo Chamber Orchestra. Collaborations include the Callino Quartet, the Solstice Quartet, Triocca and the Syrius Trio. Sylvia has performed in premieres of operatic and chamber works by major Irish composers and worked with leading Irish contemporary ensembles. Her recital repertoire includes French song and Leider.

Her vocal and musical skills make her an important singer of contemporary repertoire, having performed works by Raymond Deane, Ian Wilson, James Wilson, Halfidi Halgrimsson and Kevin O’Connell. She was a resident performer at the Malkovich International Composers Competition 2003 and has performed with all the leading contemporary ensembles in Ireland. A keen chamber music enthusiast, Sylvia joined the Syrius Trio for four performances in Ireland followed by a performance in the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, of Seven Romances on Verses by A. Blok. She has also given recitals of French songs with pianist Debbie Armstrong, Spanish songs with Benjamin Dwyer, guitar and Susan Doyle, flute, and Lieder with David Barnard, piano.

Following a five venue Irish autumn tour performing John Tavener's To a Child Dancing in the Wind Sylvia sang the role of Zerlina in a concert performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni in the National Concert Hall, Dublin with the Orchestra of St. Cecilia, conductor Kenneth Montgomery. In early 2009 she sang new Seoirse Bodley Songs with the National Symphony Orchestra in the "Horizons" series and recorded a Raymond Deane work with the NSO.

MALACHY ROBINSON (double-bass)

Malachy Robinson is a dedicated chamber musician, taking in everything from early music to contemporary classical and jazz. Principal double-bass with the Irish Chamber Orchestra since 1995, he is also a founder member of the Crash Ensemble as well as appearing with period-instrument orchestras such as the Irish Baroque Orchestra and the Academy of Ancient Music. He has performed with the Vanbrugh, Callino, Con Tempo, Parisii, T’ang and Vogler String Quartets, Daghda Dance Company (choreographer Yoshiko Chuma), the Brian Byrne Big Band, the cabaret diva Camille O'Sullivan, and was a member of the short-lived but hugely popular Nuevo Tango Quartet. His quintet Lunfardia recorded their debut CD last year and is performing its virtuosic blend of South-American musics with jazz and classical idioms all over the country to popular and critical acclaim.

Malachy is a prize-winning graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and holds a Masters degree from the University of London. He has premiered many new works for solo bass, by Kevin O’Connell, Ian Wilson, Judith Ring and others, and is always striving to expand his horizons. He is also an advocate of the G-violone as a continuo instrument, and performs in this capacity with the groups Armoniosa and Trio Quattro. GRIEG TRIO Vebjørn Anvik, piano Sølve Sigerland, violin Ellen Margrete Flesjø, cello

The Grieg Trio has established itself as one of the leading piano trios in the world. Established in 1987, the trio studied with Professor Andras Mihaly at the Liszt Academy in Budapest and in masterclasses with Norbert Brainin, Martin Lovett and Eli Goren. The Trio won both the first prize and two additional special prizes at the 1989 Colmar Chamber Music Competition and in 1993 The Norwegian Association of Music, Theatre and Ballet Critics awarded its prestigious Music Critics Prize to the Grieg Trio for the concert on November 5th, 1993. Both their U.S. and Japan debuts took place in the same year with a series of highly successful concerts in Atlanta, New York, San Francisco, Savannah, Seattle, Washington D.C. and in Tokyo. In 1993 the trio was granted the major Norwegian Cultural Scholarship from Norsk Kassettavgiftsfond.

The Grieg Trio has performed at major venues in the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and in the United States. Also, the trio has appeared at leading festivals in Bad Kissingen, Bath, Bergen, Gstaad, Helsinki, Kuhmo, Orlando, Oslo, Risør and Stavanger.

In 1997 the trio received the most prestigious music award, the Grieg Prize. The prize was awarded on Sunday 15th June, Edvard Grieg's birthday. The ceremony followed by a concert of the prizewinners took place at Edvard Grieg's estate Troldhaugen in Bergen.

During the season 2002/03 the Grieg presented for the first time its "Beethoven plus" project at London's Wigmore Hall. The cycle, consisting of four concerts, included all piano trios by Beethoven plus a contemporary piece for each programme. Since 2004 the Grieg Trio has taken over the artistic direction of the renowned Stavanger Chamber Music Festival.

The Grieg Trio celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2007/08 with concerts at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and at Oslo Konserthus. Engagements in the 2008/09 season will see the Grieg Trio in Italy, Greece, Ireland and at London’s Wigmore Hall.

CD-recordings of the Grieg Trio which have received highest critical acclaim include works of Mendelssohn, Brahms, Schumann, Bloch, Martin, Shostakovich and Dvorák (Simax and Virgin Classics labels). Rastrelli Cello Quartet

Kira Kraftzoff Kirill Timofeev Misha Degtiareff Sergio Drabkine

The Rastrelli Cello Quartet plays a variety of music, all specially transcribed for the cello. A Rastrelli programme is as likely to contain Gershwin, Bernstein, Brubeck, and Leroy Anderson as it is a Bach, Dvorak, Tschaikowsky or Rachmaninov. Four Russians living in Germany, the Rastrelli runs the gamut from classical to polkas and tangos to rags. These unique musicians illustrate some of the best qualities of the venerated Russian cello tradition, namely lustrous tone combined with soulful expression, while simultaneously transforming the classic cello into a modern genre-crossing sound for delighted audiences worldwide. The Quartet’s goal is to help the listener hear the saxophone playing in The Melody by Sokolov, to make a ragtime-battered piano sound in a silent movie and to let them hear Piazzola play the bandoneon again, all performed at the highest musical level.

Why "Rastrelli"? Though the group was founded in Stuttgart in 2002, three of the four musicians were born and trained in St. Petersburg, Russia, where they spent their childhood and student years and so they named the group after Bartholome Rastrelli , the Italian architect hired by Peter the Great to design his new capital. Since 2002 the Quartet have released three CD’s on the German label, Ars Verona , while between them, the four cellists, have garnered an impressive collection of prizes and worked with such lumimaries as Gidon Kremer, James Galway and Yuri Bashmet.

Ends/ For media queries and photographs, please contact: Caroline Wynne, Festival Manager: (01) 505 9582 or (087) 236 8160 or [email protected]