Author Archives: ilse

Concerto Extravaganza!!

On the 15th April I will be playing the Khachaturian Cello Concerto in E minor with the City of Cork Symphony Orchestra. It will be a very exciting event, as three concertos will be performed on the night, the cello concerto and two huge favourites, Rachmaninoff 2 and Tchaikovsky 1, played by virtuoso American pianist David Syme. The Khachaturian cello concerto is an incredible and epic reflection of the great Khachaturian’s life. This concert is also important as it is the final one in my Masters in performance at the Cork School of Music. Soon you must all refer to me as Master de Ziah! So if you live near Cork, or want to fly in, the concert will be great, and I will buy you a drink afterwards if you call me Master…

  

Who
Concerto Extravaganza with CCSO, David Syme and Ilse de Ziah
When
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
20:00 - All Ages Buy Tickets
Where
Aula Maxima, UCC (map)
University College Cork,
Western Road, Cork
Cork, Ireland
Other Info
The City of Cork Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Keith Pascoe is proud to present "Concerto Extravaganza!" a concert of three concertos, featuring American virtuoso David Syme, at the Aula Maxima, UCC on 15 April 2015. He will play TWO concertos by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff in the one concert. The third concerto, Khachaturian’s epic Cello Concerto in E minor will be played by Australian cellist Ilse De Ziah.

David Syme, American piano virtuoso living in Ireland, has had a long and colorful career. He has performed in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, and in major venues in 17 European countries, Canada and Mexico. An alumnus of Juilliard and Indiana University, he was a protégé of the legendary Jorge Bolet. He was schooled in the grand tradition of the great masters, and also studied with Ozan Marsh, Sascha Gorodnitzki, Ania Dorfmann, Louis Kentner and Constance Keene. He has recorded two dozen CDs with such orchestras as the Royal Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony, and the Czech National Symphony.
“I am delighted to be making my Cork début, at last!”, Syme quips light-heartedly. “Ireland has been my home since 2005, and West Cork is my base. I am thrilled to be playing with an orchestra that has made it to the Guinness Book of Records!”
Since arriving in Ireland in 2005, he has been steadily forging a reputation as one of the finest pianists ever to grace its shores. He is best known there for his “Living-Room Concerts”, held about 25 times a year in his West Cork home on the Beara Peninsula. This series was profiled by Mary Kennedy on RTE Television’s “Nationwide” in 2011. These concerts are social and musical events, with people driving from all corners of the country to attend. One of David’s biggest fans has been the immortal Maureen O’Hara, who prior to her recent move to the U.S., annually celebrated her birthday by listening to him play. Christy Moore, Ireland’s most-loved musician, has been a loyal supporter as well. David Syme performs regularly throughout Ireland and the European mainland as well as in the U.S.
http://symepiano.com

It promises to be a great run-up to the CCSO’s Summer concert with José Carreras and Katharine Jenkins in Musgrave Park on 20 June.

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Belle Voci Choir Christmas Concert – Clonmel – 16/12/14

Who
Belle Voci Choir Christmas Concert
When
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
20:00 - All Ages
Where
Ferryhouse Church (map)
Clonmel
Clonmel, Ireland
Other Info
The choir is delighted to welcome Stella O'Sullivan (recitation), Sean O'Callaghan (singer) and Ilse de Ziah (cellist) as their special guests. Admission is free but a donation will be made to STGH Special Baby Care Unit, so please give generously.

Belle Voci is an all-female choir in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary with a repertoire of popular and traditional songs.

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Irish premiere of Piatigorsky pieces!

 

 

This Thursday 4th December I am playing my Masters recital – a rich programme for solo cello of signature works by Master Cellists including the Irish premiere of Gregor Piatigorsky’s Suite for Cello, Pablo Casals Song of the Birds, Gaspar Cassado Suite for Solo Cello and an Irish premiere of Sibelius’ recently discovered Theme and Variations in D minor. Also Threnody by Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe and a couple of my own compositions, The River and Soilse in Darkness. It has been a challenge and enjoyment to get this programme together! If you are near Cork, do come along!

Here is some information on the music…

 

Three Pieces Gregor Piatigorsky (1903 – 1976)   

Preludio

Prayer (in homage to Ernest Bloch)

A Stroll (Prokofiev meets Shostakovitch)

The cellist Piatigorsky was once described as the greatest string player of all time. He was born in Ekaterinoslav (now Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine) into a Jewish family. This collection of works were very popular and he often played them in his concerts. He "wrote" A Stroll in about 1938 in Paris as a joke to Prokofiev. He never used any reference to Shostakovich until much later, making it a little more entertaining….. He played A Stroll and Prayer in his last concert in May 1976 in Grinnell, Iowa. Collected from performance recordings by American cellist Terry King, the music had never been written down or published. Many thanks to Terry, who transcribed the pieces and was kind enough to email me the otherwise unobtainable music. Terry confirms this performance marks the work's Irish debut.

 

Threnody Peter Sculthorpe (1929 – 2014)

Australia composer Scuthorpe often wrote music to evoke the Australian outback and bushland. In one movement, Threnody, written in 1991/2, is made up of four sections: Cantando; Con malinconia; Risoluto; Con rassegnazione. The work is based upon the main theme of Sculthorpe’s orchestral piece Kakadu, this theme being a free adaptation of an Aboriginal lament from Elcho Island, in the Arafura Sea. 

 
 

Suite for Violoncello Solo Gaspar Cassadó (1897 – 1966)

Preludio -Fantasia

Sardana (Danza)

Intermezzo e Danza Finale

This is probably this Cellist composers' best known and most often performed composition. Inspired by Catalan music and dance.

 

El Cant dels Ocells (Song of the Birds) Traditional

Song of the Birds is the Catalan folk song which became a signature piece performed by the great Catalan cellist Pablo Casals in recognition of the plight of refugees around the world. After his exile in 1939, he would begin each of his concerts by playing this song. In an acknowledgement of his stance for peace, justice and freedom Casals was offered the United Nations Peace Medal in 1971. At that occasion Casals performed Song of the Birds and made a speech. In it he said, “Birds sing when they are in the sky, they sing: 'Peace, Peace, Peace,' 

The solo arrangement I perform is by David Johnstone, principal cellist of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra, Spain.

 

Birds' voices rise in song
And warbling all night long
             Express their glad heart’s lightness                         

 

from El Cant dels Ocells

Theme and Variations in D minor Jean Sibelius (1865 -1957)

Sibelius wrote his Theme and Variations in D minor in 1887, and it is possibly the earliest solo cello work written in Finland. It was most likely written for the composer's cellist brother, Christian.

The work was never published in Sibelius' lifetime, was rediscovered in 1995, and has only recently been published. It is quite likely this performance marks the work's Irish debut.

 

The Water Cycle Ilse de Ziah 

The River

Solace in Darkness 

The River is based on a journey of a river from its inception of the first few drops of rain on a mountain. The piece sonically interprets the flow in all its states of stillness, rapids, a gentle meandering and finally its mouth at the sea.

Solace in Darkness is inspired by Indian tabla rhythms combined with a guitar-like heavy metal rendering. It speaks of an intense tropical thunderstorm filled with heat, electricity and fierceness, and the relief that the rain brings.

 

 

 

 

As for me, the violoncello is a part of all things, and a central substance of this universe. 

Piatigorsky

Signatures – Solo Cello – Cork – 04/12/14

Who
Signatures - Solo Cello
When
Thursday, December 4, 2014
13:00 - Admission Free - All Ages
Where
Union Quay
Cork, Ireland
Other Info
A rich programme for solo cello of signature works by master cellists including the Irish premiere of Gregor Piatigorsky’s Suite for Cello, Pablo Casals Song of the Birds, Gaspar Cassado Suite for Solo Cello and an Irish premiere of Sibelius’ recently discovered Theme and Variations. Also including works by Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe and original works by Ilse de Ziah

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Living the Tradition now available at MFW

Living the Tradition is now available through MusicFilmWeb wo have added the film to their catalogue. Here’s a quote on the MFW site. Thanks to Andy Markovitz for his support and writing the kind words!

“This is Irish music stripped of blarney and jig, but still reverberating with politics, myth, liveliness, and loss – of love, of land, even of books (this is Ireland, after all). Throughout de Ziah remains true to her own quest to help keep these songs relevant for modern audiences and to do justice to their stories and settings, even if that means waiting out the rain to play them (this is Ireland, after all). When you’re there, I still recommend you take a bar stool and raise a glass to (and maybe buy a glass for) the local musicians who are also living the tradition and keeping it strong. When you’re home, de Ziah’s musical travelogue offers another avenue into that rich territory.”

read complete article HERE

Do support us by renting or buying and enjoy watching this beautiful film!!

 

Living the Tradition Film U.K. Premiere!

Very happy to announce the premiere of Living the Tradition in the U.K, in The Phoenix Picturehouse, Oxford on the 6th November. If you are anywhere near, do try to make it!

email: team@livingthetradition.com to book a ticket. And don't forget to come and say hello on the night!!

The film has been on Aer Lingus flights over summer, and will again be showing for the Chritmas holiday season. We have had some fantastic feedback, see below

19 August 2014: Hello from San Francisco. Just returned from Ireland on Aer Lingus and the 11 hour flight was made much less tedious when I found your film and wound up watching it twice…..really fine. 

20 August 2014 (on Twitter): @ilsedeziah really enjoyed your film Living the Tradition on @AerLingus Dublin to Chicago..lovely arrangements of Irish Airs

30 August 2014: thoroughly enjoyed watching your documentary musical on board my trip connecting from Barcelona to the US, not ashamed to admit, to the point where it brought me to tears. I liked the nice solemn scenes and string segments, …(and)… this deep-voiced gentleman in a university who sings without any instrument, but just his plaintive, lilting voice first in Gaelic and then in English. …… I watched it over again more than once on the plane.

30 August 2014: Kudos to Ilse de Ziah for Living the Tradition, which I had the pleasure to experience on Aer Lingus from Dublin to Boston US. Remarkably moving arrangements and artistry (which came through despite the jet engine noise). LTT poster Oxford

 

 

Il Divo- A musical Affair with the City of Cork Symphony Orchestra – Cork – 21/06/14

Who
Il Divo- A musical Affair with the City of Cork Symphony Orchestra
When
Saturday, June 21, 2014
17:00 - All Ages Buy Tickets
Where
Musgrave Park (map)
Tramore Rd
Cork, Ireland

Home of Munster Rugby and now a new large concert venue!

Other Info
Cork Symphony Orchestra performs Prom classics and plays with the Three Irish Sopranos and Il Divo at Musgrave Park, 21 June 2014
Tickets for this concert are priced at €85. 
They are available on ticketmaster.ie or can be purchased at Pro-Musica, Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork (021) 427 1659.
A huge and exciting event, not to be missed!

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The Medicine Sessions – Lismore, Co. Cork – 12/06/14

Who
The Medicine Sessions
When
Thursday, June 12, 2014
20:00 - Free - All Ages Buy Tickets
Where
Lismore
Lismore, Co. Cork, Ireland

Free In & above The Red House...

Other Info
We have an absolutely fantastic night of music lined up for ye tomorrow night at this months Medicine Sessions!! Kicking the night off with Ilse De Ziah & her beautiful solo cello performance (one not to miss) Then sit back and let The Shaker Hymn give ye a right dose of medicine with there stunning ensemble. Free In & above The Red House... See you there!

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Jan Allain & Ilse de Ziah – Berlin – 06/06/14

Who
Jan Allain & Ilse de Ziah
When
Friday, June 6, 2014
20:00 - women only event - 16+ Buy Tickets
Where
Potsdamer Str. 139, 10783 Berlin-Schöneberg
Berlin, Germany 10783
Other Info
BIG REUNION! with Jan Allain who will launch her new album 'FREEDOM'S DAUGHTER'
Also ILSE DE ZIAH's NEW FILM LIVING THE TRADITION will be available.
The first concerts together for 18 years. (maybe there were one or two festival performances in between) www.janallain.com

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