Name: French Connection
Start: 2023-05-26T19:30:00+01:00
Location: Sonic Lab, Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC)

French Connection

“…one of the freshest, most exciting, intelligent and intriguing musical developments in Northern Ireland in too long a time.”(Michael Quinn – Culture NI)Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble is the only professional musical ensemble in Northern Ireland to specialise in the performance of modern and contemporary repertoire. Its remit is to give a voice to local composers and to perform their music alongside luminaries from elsewhere in Europe and the rest of the world. It aims to programme music that otherwise cannot be heard live locally, while serving as an outlet for the talent of highly specialist performers and acting as a meeting point for their innovation, ideas and enthusiasm.

Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble

A concert featuring works unified by their connection to France and the influence of French music.

Sonic Lab, Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC)

This concert features works unified by their connection to France and the influence of French music. The most evident association is in the two works by French composer Dominique Lemaitre, a composer whose music Hard Rain began to discover in last season’s programme. Toru Takemitsu’s music is steeped in the tradition of Debussy and Ravel amongst many other influences, but, as can be heard in Quadrain II, it is very closely associated with Olivier Messiaen with whom Takemitsu sought permission to use the instrumentation of the Quartet for the End of time. The Greg Caffrey work included here, These are the Clouds about the fallen sun, besides being written at the Cite International des Arts in Paris, has, in turn, a strong influence from the music of Takemitsu; both factors placing it firmly within the spear of influence of French music. Misato Moshizuki is another Japanese composer, who, like Takemitsu, combines Occidental tradition and, in her own words, “the Asiatic sense of breathing.” Her time spent at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris and immediately afterwards at IRCAM, when All that is including me was written, were formative years. Finally, Claude Vivier has been described by Ligeti as “the finest French composer of his generation” either ignoring the fact that Vivier was French-Canadian or perhaps emphasising the strong threads, in particular Spectralism, that connected the composer to Europe, and especially Paris.__________________________PROGRAMMETHESE ARE THE CLOUDS ABOUT THE FALLEN SUN (2013) Greg Caffrey (1963) flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello &amp; pianoIMAGO (2022) Irish Premiere Dominique Lemaitre (1953) clarinet, violoncello &amp; pianoPARAMIRABO (1978) Irish Premiere Claude Vivier (1948 - 1983) flute, violin, violoncello &amp; pianoALL THAT IS INCLUDING ME (1997) Irish Premiere Misato Moshizuki (1969) bass flute, clarinet &amp; violinQUADRAIN II (1977) Toru Takemitsu (1930 – 1996) clarinet, violin, violoncello &amp; pianoCLEPSYDRES (1990) Irish Premiere Dominique Lemaitre (1953) flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello &amp; piano__________________________TICKETS£10 / £5 CONCESSION (FREE FOR QUB STAFF &amp; STUDENTS)Donations gratefully received.__________________________OUR FUNDERSHard Rain SoloistEnsemble is a PRS Foundation Talent Development Partner supported by PPL. We are supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and are Ensemble in Residence at Queen&#x27;s University Belfast.

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French Connection

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French Connection

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