BRINGING LIVE CHAMBER MUSIC TO YOU
AUTUMN SEASON 2025
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AUTUMN 2025 SEASON OVERVIEW
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Gealán Quartet (10-14 September)
Banbha Quartet (24-28 September)
Vanbrugh & Friends (3-5 October)
Ora Quartet (8-12 October)
Lir Quartet (15-19 October)
Esposito Quartet (22-26 October)
Marmen Quartet (5-9 November)
Vanbrugh & Friends (14-16 November)
Solas Quartet (19-25 November)
Ficino Quartet (3-7 December)
NSQF concert venues 2025
TOUR 1 - GEALÁN QUARTET - September 10-14
Listowel - Tullamore - Cahir - Cork - Dublin
Gealán Quartet
Gina Maria McGuinness, violin
Eoin Ducrot, violion
Fiachra de hOra, viola
Paul Grennan, cello
Click here to read more about the Gealán Quartet and its members
Mozart - String Quartet in B flat major K.589 [1790]
Michael Doherty - Troubadours [2025] †
Schubert - Quartetsatz in C minor D.703 [1820]
Grieg - String Quartet in G minor [1878]
† First performances
Mozart’s B flat major quartet is one of Mozart’s most beautiful creations. Timelessly elegant and famously featuring a prominent cello part, the quartet culminates in a sparklingly finale.
The Gealán Quartet commissioned a fine quartet by Michael Doherty for their 2023 tour of Ireland and follow it up this year with more music by this acclaimed Dublin composer.
Schubert’s Quartetsatz is the first movement of a string quartet he was never to complete. Its turbulent minor key opening gives way to a magical singing melody and the drama and contrasts continue throughout.
Grieg’s great string quartet is one of the lesser known masterpieces in all chamber music. Full of vivid storytelling and beautiful sonorities, this is one not to be missed! Read more here on earsense.org
Click on the venues for bookings (where available):
LISTOWEL - Wednesday 10th September at 8pm - St. John’s Theatre
TULLAMORE - Thursday 11th September at 8pm - Esker Arts Centre
CAHIR - Friday 12th September at 8pm - Cahir Castle - presented by Cahir Social and Historical Society
CORK - Saturday 13th September at 1pm - Triskel Christchurch (Mozart, Doherty, Beethoven)
DUBLIN - Sunday 14th September at 3pm - National Concert Hall
TOUR 2 - BANBHA QUARTET - September 25-29
Clifden - Cork - Union Hall - Kilkenny - Dublin
Banbha Quartet
Lidia Jewloszewicz-Clarke, violin
Maria Ryan, violin
Robin Panter, viola
Peggy Nolan, cello
Click here to read more about the Banbha Quartet and its members
Haydn - String Quartet in G major Op.77 No.1 [1802]
Walter Beckett - String Quartet [1980]
Tchaikovsky - String Quartet No.1 in D major [1871]
Kai Christiansen on earsense.org describes this great Haydn quartet as ‘quite simply brilliant’. It was written in 1799 at a great turning point in the history of the string quartet: with Mozart gone, an elderly Haydn and a young Beethoven were simultaneously working on new sets of quartets in Vienna, each commissioned by the now immortal Prince Lobkowitz. Click here to read his fascinating article.
Walter Beckett was born in Dublin in 1914. He wrote many arrangements for the Radio Éireann Light Orchestra and Singers during the 1940s. His original works include the 1945 Suite for Orchestra, the song cycle Goldenhair written in 1980 with text by James Joyce, this string quartet also from 1980, the Irish Rhapsody and the Falaingin Dances, both for orchestra. The quartet was played many times by the RTE Vanbrugh Quartet and included on their 1994 album Ceathrar
Including one of Tchaikovsky’s greatest hits, the famous Andante Cantabile which moved Tolstoy to tears, this wonderful quartet from 1871 was the first major piece of Russian chamber music, loved by audiences and musicians ever since. More background from earsense.org here!
Click on the venues for bookings (where available):
CLIFDEN - Wednesday 24th September at 1pm - Christ Church - presented by Clifden Arts Festival
CORK - Thursday 25th September at 7.30pm - MTU Cork School of Music - presented by Cork Orchestral Society
UNION HALL - Friday 26th September at 8pm - Myross Church of Ireland - presented by Barrahane Music
KILKENNY - Saturday 27th September at 7.30pm - tbc - presented by Music in Kilkenny
DUBLIN - Sunday 28th September at 3pm - National Concert Hall
TOUR 3 - VANBRUGH & FRIENDS October 3-5
Cork - Carrigaline - Doneraile
Vanbrugh & Friends
Keith Pascoe, violin
Marja Gaynor, violin
Simon Aspell, viola
Ed Creedon, viola
Christopher Marwood, cello
Maria O’Connor, cello
Boccherini - String Quintet in E major G.402 [1802]
Stanford - String Quintet in F major Op.85 [1903]
Dvořák - String Sextet in A major Op.48 [1878]
The very last of well over one hundred string quintets written by the prolific virtuoso cellist Luigi Boccherini, this charming work is characteristically refined and elegant.
Dublin born Charles Villiers Stanford was a significant figure in musical life in the late 19th and early 20th century, influential as composer, teacher and conductor. His cheerful and uplifting F major string quintet was recorded by the Vanbrugh Quartet and Garth Knox in 2004 and features a lovely central slow movement inspired by sean-nós singing
Dvořák’s A major string sextet is truly one of the treasures and great joys of all chamber music. Its gentle optimism offers a precious contrast to the difficulties and complexities of our modern world. Highly recommended!
Click on the venues for bookings (where available):
CORK UCC - Friday 3rd October at 1.10pm - free admission, presented by UCC’s FUAIM series (Stanford only)
CARRIGALINE - Saturday 4th October at 8pm - Inkwell Theatre, Minane Bridge P17 NP40 - presented by Tracton Arts and Community Centre
DONERAILE - Sunday 5th October at 3pm - Doneraile Court - presented by OPW
TOUR 4 - ORA QUARTET - October 8-12
Ballina - Portlaoise - Thurles - Cork - Dublin
Ora Quartet
Siún Milne, violin
Molly O’Shea, violin
Ali Comerford, viola
Yseult Cooper-Stockdale, cello
Click here to read more about the Ora Quartet and its members
Mozart - String Quartet in F major K.590 [1790]
Florence Price - Five Folksongs in Counterpoint [1951]
Deirdre Gribbin - Before the Moon Shattered and Shone Again [2019]
Schumann - String Quartet in A major Op.41 No.3 [1842]
The last of Mozart’s string quartets and of a set of three dedicated to the King of Prussia, the F major quartet brims with beauty, elegance and wit. Hard to believe when Mozart was debt-ridden and seriously ill, perhaps here lies an antidote for us all.
Florence Price was the first African-American woman to achieve success as a composer of symphonic music. Her first symphony was premièred in 1933 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, an occasion of considerable social and cultural significance. Following her death in 1953 her music was largely forgotten until 2009 when a substantial collection of works and papers was discovered in her abandoned summer house in Illinois; in the years since, her music has quickly regained the recognition and popularity it deserves. As the title of this 1951 quartet suggests, it offers a selection of well known tunes lavishly dressed up with great skill and aplomb.
Deirdre Gribbin’s Before the Moon Shattered and Shone Again explores cyclical time, inspired by Celtic mythology and the constant presence of the moon. It echoes nature’s cycles, symbolizing life’s waxing, waning, and renewal. The quartet is featured on Musici Ireland’s 2025 CD Earthrise
Schumann’s A major quartet is one of the greats. The delicately wistful sighing of the first movement, the inspired inventiveness of the theme and variations, the wonderful slow movement and the high-octane finale all come together as a memorable and hugely rewarding whole. Earsense.org offers background and a fine collection of recordings.
Click on the venues for bookings (where available):
BALLINA - Wednesday 8th October at 8pm - Ballina Arts Centre
PORTLAOISE - Thursday 9th October at 8pm - Dunamaise Arts Centre
THURLES - Friday 10th October at 2pm - Source Arts Centre (please note time)
CORK - Saturday 11th October at 1pm - Triskel Arts Centre
DUBLIN - Sunday 12th October at 3pm - National Concert Hall
TOUR 5 - LIR QUARTET - October 15-19
Castlebar - Tullamore - Limerick - Rathmore - Bantry
Lir Quartet
Siobhán Doyle, violin
Sophie Williams, violin
Ed Creedon, viola
Killian White, cello
Click here to read more about the Lir Quartet and its members
Boydell - String Quartet No.2 [1957]
Janáček - String Quartet No.2 Intimate Letters [1928]
Dvořák - String Quartet in A flat major Op.104 [1895]
Brian Boydell was a huge figure in Irish music thoughout the second half of the twentieth century, a prolific broadcaster, writer, performer and composer as well as Professor of Music at Trinity for more than twenty years. His fine second string quartet is in two movements, the first nostalgic, the second full of restless vitality. It has been recorded by both the Vanbrugh Quartet and the Carducci Quartet
Janáček’s second string quartet Intimate Letters has become popular thanks to its extraordinarily descriptive and expressive musical language. It was famously inspired by the composer’s long and spiritual friendship with Kamila Stösslová, a married woman 38 years his junior with whom he exchanged more than 700 letters during the course of their relationship. Here is the Vanbrugh Quartet’s 1994 recording.
Dvořák’s gorgeous A flat major quartet has everything you could ask for... an epic first movement, a playful scherzo complete with a magically contrasted trio section, a beautifully tender slow movement and a finale which grows from a mysterious opening into high-spirited revelry. The Click here for the Vanbrugh Quartet’s 1991 recording (on spotify). Earsense.org also has fascinating background on this masterpiece.
Click on the venues for bookings (where available):
CASTLEBAR - Wednesday 15th October at 8pm - Linenhall Arts Centre
TULLAMORE - Thursday 16th October at 8pm - Esker Arts Centre
LIMERICK - Friday 17th October at tbc - tbc
RATHMORE - Saturday 18th October at tbc - Knocknaseed House
BANTRY - Sunday 19th October at 3pm - St. Brendan’s Church - presented by West Cork Music
TOUR 6 - ESPOSITO QUARTET - October 22-26
Listowel - Ennis - Birr - Castlepollard - Dublin
Esposito Quartet
Mia Cooper, violin
Anna Cashell, violin
Joachim Roewer, viola
William Butt, cello
Click here to read more about the Esposito Quartet and its members
Raynaldo Hahn - String Quartet No.1 in A minor [1939]
Seóirse Bodley - String Quartet No.4 [2007]
Glazunov - Three Novelettes Nos.2,3,5 [1886]
Shostakovich - String Quartet No.1 [1938]
Venezualan-born Raynaldo Hahn was a popular figure in the musical salons of Paris before the first world war and is best known for his many songs influenced by the style of Massenet and Fauré, as well as his operettas and musical comedies. His lovely first string quartet from 1939 looks back to the influence of Ravel, Erik Satie and Fauré.
Seóirse Bodley, who died in 2023, was one of the most important composers of twentieth-century art music in Ireland. His fourth quartet was commissioned by RTÉ for the Vanbrugh Quartet’s 21st anniversary in 2007.
Alexander Glazunov was a member of the "Belyayev Circle" in St Petersburg, a group of composers connected with the wealthy patron, amateur musician and publisher Mitrofan Belyayev who supported emerging composers and musicians, frequently holding salons in his palatial estate. It was for one of these gatherings in 1886 that a 21-year-old Glazunov composed his Novelettes for string quartet. This concert includes three of them: Orientale, Interludium in modo antico and All’Ungharese
Shostakovich wrote his short, charming and brilliant first quartet in 1938, shortly after the successful premiere of his fifth symphony. He started writing it on the second birthday of his daughter and said that he ‘visualized childhood scenes… and bright moods associated with spring’
Click on the venues for bookings (where available):
LISTOWEL - Wednesday 22nd October at 8pm - St John’s Theatre & Arts Centre
ENNIS - Thursday 23rd October at 8pm - glór
BIRR - Friday 24th October at 8pm - Birr Theatre & Arts Centre
CASTLEPOLLARD - Saturday 25th October at 7pm - Tullynally Castle - presented by Derravaragh Music Association
DUBLIN - Sunday 26th October at 4.30pm - National Concert Hall
TOUR 7 - MARMEN QUARTET - November 5-9
Waterford - Cork - Sligo - Wexford - Dublin
Marmen Quartet
Johannes Marmen, violin
Laia Braun, violin
Bryony Gibson-Cornish, viola
Sinéad O’Halloran, cello
Click here to read about the Marmen Quartet and its members (link to Marmen Quartet website)
Haydn - String Quartet Op.76 No.4 Sunrise [1797]
Sam Perkin - My Young Love Was Gone [2016 rev. 2024] †
Bartók - String Quartet No.3 [1927]
Beethoven - String Quartet in F major Op.135 [1826]
† First performances
The Sunrise is perhaps the most popular of all Haydn’s wonderful string quartets. Each of its four movements is vividly characterised - the first evoking the rising of the sun, the second prayerful, the third presenting a wild dance and the finale creating imaginative variations around a simple folksong-like theme and building to a virtuosic conclusion.
Sam Perkin’s revision of his 2016 My Young Love Was Gone for voice and quartet will feature the singing voice of cellist Sinéad O’Halloran.
Bartók’s third quartet is one of the most astonishing achievements in all chamber music. This is a 17 minute rollercoaster ride of intense and riveting dialogue between the four instruments, never straying far from the folk music which is at the heart of his music and yet creating a language that is utterly new and unique. Kai Christiansen’s article at earsense.org and his selection of performances will tell you more!
Written just six months before his death in March 1827, Beethoven’s sublime last string quartet is a distillation of all that went before. The opening Allegretto more conversational than ever, the scherzo more ingenious and virtuosic, the Adagio perhaps the most profound and prayerful, and the closing movement entitled ‘Must it be?’ the most searching and prophetic. Again, Kai Christiansen’s thoughts are highly recommended!
Click on the venues for bookings (where available):
WATERFORD - Wednesday 5th November at 7.30pm - Dr. Mary Strangman Large Room, City Hall - presented by Waterford Music
CORK - Thursday 6th November at 7.30pm - MTU Cork School of Music - presented by Cork Orchestral Society
SLIGO - Friday 7th November at tbc - tbc - presented by Con Brio
WEXFORD - Saturday 8th November at tbc - tbc - presented by Music for Wexford
DUBLIN - Sunday 9th November at 3pm - National Concert Hall
TOUR 8 - VANBRUGH & FRIENDS - November 14-16
Cork - Skibbereen - Castlepollard - Kilkenny
Vanbrugh & Friends
Keith Pascoe, violin
Marja Gaynor, violin
Simon Aspell, viola
Ed Creedon, viola
Christopher Marwood, cello
Maria O’Connor, cello
Boccherini - String Quintet in E major G.402 [1802]
Stanford - String Quintet in F major Op.85 [1903]
Dvořák - String Sextet in A major Op.48 [1878]
The very last of well over one hundred string quintets written by the prolific virtuoso cellist Luigi Boccherini, this charming work is characteristically refined and elegant.
Dublin born Charles Villiers Stanford was a significant figure in musical life in the late 19th and early 20th century, influential as composer, teacher and conductor. His cheerful and uplifting F major string quintet was recorded by the Vanbrugh Quartet and Garth Knox in 2004 and features a lovely central slow movement inspired by sean-nós singing
Dvořák’s A major string sextet is truly one of the treasures and great joys of all chamber music. Its gentle optimism offers a precious contrast to the difficulties and complexities of our modern world. Highly recommended!
Click on the venues for bookings (where available):
CORK UCC - Friday 14th November at 1.10pm - Aula Maxima, UCC - presented by UCC’s FUAIM series, admission free (Dvorak only)
SKIBBEREEN - Friday 14th November at 8pm - Abbeystrewry Church - presented by Barrahane Music
CASTLEPOLLARD - Saturday 15th November at 7pm - Tullynally Castle - presented by Derravaragh Music Association
KILKENNY - Sunday 16th November at tbc - tbc - presented by Music in Kilkenny
TOUR 9 - SOLAS QUARTET - November 19-25
Manorhamilton - Ennis - Cork - Dublin - Castleconnell
Solas Quartet
Katherine Hunka, violin
Marja Gaynor, violin
Cian Ó Dúill, viola
Aoife Nic Athlaoich, cello
Click here to read more about the Solas Quartet and its members
Grażyna Bacewicz - String Quartet No.3 [1947]
Katherine Hunka - Into the clear air [2025] †
Marja Gaynor - Siúil a Rúin & Paul’s Steeple [2025] †
Schubert - Quartet in A minor Rosamunde [1824]
† First performances
Polish violinist-composer Grażyna Bacewicz wrote her third string quartet while on a concert tour in Paris in 1947 and it has become one of her best known. Its hypnotically beautiful central section is framed by energetic, tightly argued and entertaining outer movements.
Solas Quartet members Katherine Hunka and Marja Gaynor both present new works on this tour, Katherine a new quartet based on the tune The Lark in the Clear Air, and Marja new arrangements of Irish and English folk tunes.
Schubert wrote his A minor quartet in 1824 at the age of 27. It is quite different to the more dramatic quartet Death and the Maiden that he wrote at around the same time, instead offering memorable delicacy and subtlety, an atmosphere of bittersweet yearning and as so often in Schubert’s music, delicious lyricism. See earsense.org for more!
Click on the venues for bookings (where available):
MANORHAMILTON - Thursday 19th November at 8pm - The Glens Centre
ENNIS - Thursday 20th November at 8pm - glór
CORK - Saturday 22nd November at 1pm - Triskel Christchurch
DUBLIN - Sunday 23rd November at 3pm - National Concert Hall
CASTLECONNELL - Tuesday 25th November at 8pm - All Saints’ Church - presented by Limerick Arts Office
TOUR 10 - FICINO QUARTET - December 4-8
Clifden - Tralee - Bantry - Cork - Dublin
Ficino Quartet
Elaine Clark, violin
Lynda O’Connor, violin
Nathan Sherman, viola
Ailbhe McDonagh, cello
Click here to read more about the Ficino Quartet and its members
Shostakovich - String Quartet No.10 [1964]
Caroline Shaw - Valencia [2012]
Siobhan Cleary - Reel du Pendu [2025] †
Beethoven - String Quartet Op.59 No.1 Rasoumovsky [1808]
† First performances
Shostakovich’s stunning tenth quartet from 1964 returns to the themes of conflict, aftermath and resolution which pervade many of his earlier quartets. After an introductory first movement, the second movement, marked ‘furioso’, is quite shocking in its aggression and graphic portrayal of violence. It is followed by a prayerful and grief-stricken passacaglia which eventually dissolves into a life-affirming finale, picking up the pieces and carrying on.
Valencia is another in Caroline Shaw’s remarkable series of attractive short pieces for string quartet. It is the Valencia orange that is the hero here, made up, in her words, of Hundreds of brilliantly colored, impossibly delicate vesicles of juice, ready to explode
Siobhan Cleary’s new quartet takes its starting point from Reel du Pendu, a traditional Québécois reel.
Beethoven’s first Rasoumovsky quartet is perhaps the most gloriously expansive of all his quartets. The epic journey of the first movement becomes the playful story-telling of the scherzo, then perhaps his greatest and most loved slow movement gives way to the playful virtuosity of the finale. Earsense.org waxes particularly lyrical on this quartet, and with good reason!
Click on the venues for bookings (where available):
CLIFDEN - Wednesday 3rd December at 8pm - tbc - presented by Clifden Arts Society
TRALEE - Thursday 4th December at tbc - Kerry School of Music
BANTRY - Friday 5th December at tbc - tbc - presented by West Cork Music
CORK - Saturday 6th December at 1pm - Triskel Arts Centre
DUBLIN - Sunday 7th December at 3pm - National Concert Hall
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