Music – A Message of Hope

Presented in partnership with the Office of Public Works in association with Dublin Castle, the French Embassy in Ireland and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany Dublin

Featuring violinist Katherine Hunka; cellist, William Butt; clarinettist John Finucane, and pianists Finghin Collins, Fionnuala Moynihan and Hugh Tinney

In difficult times, in music there is hope. With that thought in mind, Great Music in Irish Houses is closing this particularly difficult year with a special New Year’s Eve event. A concert recorded in Dublin Castle’s Chapel Royal by some of Ireland’s leading musicians, will include movements from Messiaen’s evocative and inspiring Quartet for the End of Time performed alongside works for solo piano by German composers, Clara and Robert Schumann.

First performed on a brutally cold January night in 1941, the work gave a measure of comfort to the composer’s fellow prisoners at the Stalag VIIIA prisoner-of-war camp, in Görlitz, Germany during World War II. A similar measure of “of unfailing light, of immutable hope” (Messiaen) is wished for the Festival’s audiences as we leave this challenging year and look to the next with hope.

The concert will be free to view until Friday, January 15th at 6.00 pm, the 80th anniversary of the first performance of Messiaen’s seminal work.

However, you may wish to consider a donation of any amount to help us maintain our longstanding goal – that, of bringing world-class performers and exciting programmes to unique spaces in Ireland.

This concert will be broadcast online via Eventbrite. Pre-registering is essential via Eventbrite.

Great Music in Irish Houses Festival is funded by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.