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The Irish Chamber Orchestra is set to delight Beijing audiences with a concert at the Forbidden City Concert Hall on March 28.
Conducted by Mariana Sirbu, principal guest director of the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the concert will also feature Korean pianist Hae-Jung Kim as soloist.
The first half of the concert will have a distinctly Irish flavor with works from T.C. Kelly's lyrical and traditionally influenced "O'Carolan Suite in Baroque Style" and Raymond Deane's "A Fire Was in My Head," the orchestra commissioned piece inspired by the celebrated author W.B. Yeats' work, "The Song of Wandering Aengus."
In the second half, Seoul born Hae-Jung Kim will join the orchestra to perform Dimitri Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No1 followed by Vivaldi's much-loved evocation of Venetian country life, "The Four Seasons."
Conductor Mariana Sirbu is herself an established violinist. The Romanian chamber musician is a regular guest at notable international chamber music festivals where she collaborates with many world-known chamber musicians.
In 1992, Sirbu joined the celebrated Italian chamber music group "I Musici" as leader and soloist and has toured the world and recorded numerous CDs with them. In 1994, she established the "Quartet to Stradivari" which she leads.
Kim went to study at Juilliard in the US when she was 15-years-old and earned both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at the renowned conservatory.
Since making her Lincoln Center debut at the age of 14 with the Juilliard Orchestra, Kim has appeared with many of the world's most prestigious orchestras, including London's Royal Philharmonic, the Moscow Philharmonic and Orchestra National de France.
She has won numerous awards, including first prize at the 1992 Cologne International Piano Competition and the Maria Callas Piano Competition in 1990.
Consisting of top Irish and international string players, the Irish Chamber Orchestra has been acclaimed one of the most distinguished ensembles in Ireland and gained a reputation, not just there, but further a field for its vibrant, refreshing and impacting performances of both classical and contemporary music.
It has toured the United Kingdom, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia and the United States performing at leading venues including the Barbican in London and the Kennedy Center in Washington.
Every July, the Irish Chamber Orchestra hosts the Killaloe Music Festival, one of the highlights of the classical music events in Eire.
(China Daily March 19, 2003)
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