Tango!
01 April 2010 Filed in: Miscellaneous
Borris House, County Carlow. Ancestral seat of the McMorrough-Kavanaghs, High Kings of Leinster. It is not recorded if they were keen dancers but if they could have been re-incarnated in their ballroom on Friday evening 12th February last one suspects that they would have approved of the tango music and dancing that filled the night and banished thoughts of the bitter cold outside.
The National Youth Orchestra of Ireland, under the direction of violinist Fionnuala Hunt, performed a dozen arrangements by Hunt of tango classics such as Oblivion, Tomo y Obligo and Jealousy from the hands of the masters: Astor Piazzolla, Carlos Gardel and Jacob Gade. Also performing were tango dancers Hernán Catvin and Simona Zaino and they slid and swung across the stage, their every movement animated by the music and seeming to amplify in turn. For the audience in their seats it was hard to stop the feet tapping to the beat and the shoulders swaying to the sinuous rhythm. By concert’s end they were out of those seats, clapping without pause until the called-for encore was delivered. Then it was time to linger and take in the magnificent surroundings.
As it stands today Borris House dates largely from an extensive re-build supervised by the father and son architects Richard and William Vitruvius Morrison who also worked on other major Irish houses such as Carton, Ballyfin and Fota. The house was built in 1731 and incorporated in it were some parts of an old castle that are still visible today. It was damaged by fire in 1798 and was re-worked by the Morrisons in the 1820s, resulting in a grand three-storey edifice with some wonderfully ornate interior plasterwork, especially in the entrance hall. Here, the eye is drawn upwards by the magnificent circular and slightly domed ceiling, replete with gorgeously rich and finely detailed work that is amongst the best of its kind in Ireland.
The house is surrounded by a substantial 700 acres of farmland and ancient oak forest, though the estate once comprised many thousands of acres. The current occupants, the Kavanagh family are direct descendants of the McMorrough-Kavanaghs and have spent the best part of a generation working on the roof and dealing with dry rot, leaving the house secure and stable and ready for the next generation to tackle interior restoration.
The orchestra’s next venue was the National Concert Hall in Dublin where they played the following night as part of a gala concert featuring youth orchestras from all over the country. The hall is housed in what was once the aula maxima or great hall of University College Dublin, before the university moved to a greenfield site in the suburbs. It has served as Ireland’s premier venue for classical music since 1981 but now, as its 30th anniversary in that role approaches, plans are well advanced for a complete re-development on the site. Three performing spaces will replace the current single auditorium, giving Dublin a world-class classical concert venue for the first time in its history.
A very different venue has just been opened at Ballymaloe House, County Cork, where the orchestra played to great acclaim on Valentine’s Night. Ballymaloe is famed the world over for the excellence of its cookery school and, while its scale is not as grand as Borris’s, it enjoys a similarly rich history and can trace its origins back to 1450 when a Norman castle was built on the site. In the last year the ruined old grainstore has been brought splendidly back to life as a performing space cum function venue, with work still in progress on proper changing facilities for artists and a dedicated kitchen to cater for weddings and such like.
On the evening of the concert patrons enjoyed a buffet dinner in the house before strolling across to the grainstore for the performance. The orchestra did not disappoint and, as it celebrates the 40th anniversary of its founding in 1970, it continues to demonstrate, through regular tours and performances, that a strong tradition of classical music training and education exists in Ireland alongside the better known Irish traditional music. Membership of the orchestra is eagerly sought after by aspiring musicians the length and breadth of the country and can only be gained through a rigorous audition process that has to be repeated by current members should they wish to play with the orchestra in the following year. Many hundreds of musicians have passed through its ranks in the last four decades and a host of them will re-assemble for a gala concert in the National Concert Hall later this year on Sunday 28th November. See you there?
IN THE HOT SEAT
The leader of the orchestra, Patrick Rafter, is one of Ireland’s most promising young violinists, with a host of awards and competition wins to his name. He comes from a family of musicians in Kilkenny and his sister Isabelle plays cello in the orchestra. Given that Kilkenny is also pre-eminent in the sport of hurling it is no surprise to learn that Rafter was once a keen schoolboy hurler but, mindful of the risk of damage to dextrous fingers, he is now a spectator rather than a participant. He is currently a student of Fionnuala Hunt’s at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.
FIONNUALA HUNT
Fionnuala Hunt has long been recognised as one of Ireland’s leading violinists, both as soloist and orchestral leader. She regularly works as guest leader with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and in the past was Artistic Director and leader of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. She currently holds the position of leader of the Wexford Festival Opera Orchestra. A celebrated live recording of Bach’s Double Concerto for Violin with Nigel Kennedy was released on DVD in 2005 on the EMI label.
International recognition has come in the form of numerous engagements in Australia and the United States but most prestigiously with membership of the World Orchestra for Peace. Founded by Sir Georg Solti and now under the baton of the esteemed Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, this ensemble is made up of leading players drawn from the world’s premier orchestras. Hunt is the only Irish member of this orchestra, which will be performing in August this year at the BBC Proms (Thursday 5th) and the Salzburg Festival (Friday 6th).
When not playing herself Hunt is renowned as an exceptional violin teacher, with students ranging in age from eight to 19 years of age. Their talent and promise ensures that her legacy will endure long after she has finished playing herself.
FURTHER INFORMATION
* Borris House. Tours of the house can be arranged by appointment and it is also available for hire for weddings, with its own chapel in the grounds. www.borrishouse.com
* The National Concert Hall. Full details of the programme of events at the hall can be found at: www.nch.ie
* Ballymaloe House. In addition to the cookery school it is one of Ireland’s best-known country house hotels and restaurants: www.ballymaloe.ie
* National Youth Orchestra of Ireland. For details of future performances see: www.nyoi.ie
* Tangos and Dances, a collection of 13 tangos arranged and written by Fionnuala Hunt was released as a CD in 2005 on the Avie label and is still available: www.avie-records.com or www.amazon.co.uk
Article originally published in Ireland of the Welcomes, March 2010
The National Youth Orchestra of Ireland, under the direction of violinist Fionnuala Hunt, performed a dozen arrangements by Hunt of tango classics such as Oblivion, Tomo y Obligo and Jealousy from the hands of the masters: Astor Piazzolla, Carlos Gardel and Jacob Gade. Also performing were tango dancers Hernán Catvin and Simona Zaino and they slid and swung across the stage, their every movement animated by the music and seeming to amplify in turn. For the audience in their seats it was hard to stop the feet tapping to the beat and the shoulders swaying to the sinuous rhythm. By concert’s end they were out of those seats, clapping without pause until the called-for encore was delivered. Then it was time to linger and take in the magnificent surroundings.
As it stands today Borris House dates largely from an extensive re-build supervised by the father and son architects Richard and William Vitruvius Morrison who also worked on other major Irish houses such as Carton, Ballyfin and Fota. The house was built in 1731 and incorporated in it were some parts of an old castle that are still visible today. It was damaged by fire in 1798 and was re-worked by the Morrisons in the 1820s, resulting in a grand three-storey edifice with some wonderfully ornate interior plasterwork, especially in the entrance hall. Here, the eye is drawn upwards by the magnificent circular and slightly domed ceiling, replete with gorgeously rich and finely detailed work that is amongst the best of its kind in Ireland.
The house is surrounded by a substantial 700 acres of farmland and ancient oak forest, though the estate once comprised many thousands of acres. The current occupants, the Kavanagh family are direct descendants of the McMorrough-Kavanaghs and have spent the best part of a generation working on the roof and dealing with dry rot, leaving the house secure and stable and ready for the next generation to tackle interior restoration.
The orchestra’s next venue was the National Concert Hall in Dublin where they played the following night as part of a gala concert featuring youth orchestras from all over the country. The hall is housed in what was once the aula maxima or great hall of University College Dublin, before the university moved to a greenfield site in the suburbs. It has served as Ireland’s premier venue for classical music since 1981 but now, as its 30th anniversary in that role approaches, plans are well advanced for a complete re-development on the site. Three performing spaces will replace the current single auditorium, giving Dublin a world-class classical concert venue for the first time in its history.
A very different venue has just been opened at Ballymaloe House, County Cork, where the orchestra played to great acclaim on Valentine’s Night. Ballymaloe is famed the world over for the excellence of its cookery school and, while its scale is not as grand as Borris’s, it enjoys a similarly rich history and can trace its origins back to 1450 when a Norman castle was built on the site. In the last year the ruined old grainstore has been brought splendidly back to life as a performing space cum function venue, with work still in progress on proper changing facilities for artists and a dedicated kitchen to cater for weddings and such like.
On the evening of the concert patrons enjoyed a buffet dinner in the house before strolling across to the grainstore for the performance. The orchestra did not disappoint and, as it celebrates the 40th anniversary of its founding in 1970, it continues to demonstrate, through regular tours and performances, that a strong tradition of classical music training and education exists in Ireland alongside the better known Irish traditional music. Membership of the orchestra is eagerly sought after by aspiring musicians the length and breadth of the country and can only be gained through a rigorous audition process that has to be repeated by current members should they wish to play with the orchestra in the following year. Many hundreds of musicians have passed through its ranks in the last four decades and a host of them will re-assemble for a gala concert in the National Concert Hall later this year on Sunday 28th November. See you there?
IN THE HOT SEAT
The leader of the orchestra, Patrick Rafter, is one of Ireland’s most promising young violinists, with a host of awards and competition wins to his name. He comes from a family of musicians in Kilkenny and his sister Isabelle plays cello in the orchestra. Given that Kilkenny is also pre-eminent in the sport of hurling it is no surprise to learn that Rafter was once a keen schoolboy hurler but, mindful of the risk of damage to dextrous fingers, he is now a spectator rather than a participant. He is currently a student of Fionnuala Hunt’s at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.
FIONNUALA HUNT
Fionnuala Hunt has long been recognised as one of Ireland’s leading violinists, both as soloist and orchestral leader. She regularly works as guest leader with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and in the past was Artistic Director and leader of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. She currently holds the position of leader of the Wexford Festival Opera Orchestra. A celebrated live recording of Bach’s Double Concerto for Violin with Nigel Kennedy was released on DVD in 2005 on the EMI label.
International recognition has come in the form of numerous engagements in Australia and the United States but most prestigiously with membership of the World Orchestra for Peace. Founded by Sir Georg Solti and now under the baton of the esteemed Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, this ensemble is made up of leading players drawn from the world’s premier orchestras. Hunt is the only Irish member of this orchestra, which will be performing in August this year at the BBC Proms (Thursday 5th) and the Salzburg Festival (Friday 6th).
When not playing herself Hunt is renowned as an exceptional violin teacher, with students ranging in age from eight to 19 years of age. Their talent and promise ensures that her legacy will endure long after she has finished playing herself.
FURTHER INFORMATION
* Borris House. Tours of the house can be arranged by appointment and it is also available for hire for weddings, with its own chapel in the grounds. www.borrishouse.com
* The National Concert Hall. Full details of the programme of events at the hall can be found at: www.nch.ie
* Ballymaloe House. In addition to the cookery school it is one of Ireland’s best-known country house hotels and restaurants: www.ballymaloe.ie
* National Youth Orchestra of Ireland. For details of future performances see: www.nyoi.ie
* Tangos and Dances, a collection of 13 tangos arranged and written by Fionnuala Hunt was released as a CD in 2005 on the Avie label and is still available: www.avie-records.com or www.amazon.co.uk
Article originally published in Ireland of the Welcomes, March 2010
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