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St. John’s Cathedral, Friday 20th September 2024 at 7:30 – 8pm.
Celebrating 10 years of the Limerick Pipe Organ Festival and 160 years of St. John’s Cathedral Orgam.

Irina Dernova, is originally from Russia, where she studied and graduated from the Vyatka College of Arts and the Nizhny Novgorod Glinka State Conservatoire. Living in Ireland since 2006, Irina is currently continuing her organ playing studies under the tuition of Bernadette Kiely, the organist at St John’s Cathedral. Irina teaches piano and organ at Clare Music Makers, Ennis, and piano at Mid-West Vocal Academy, Lisnagry. She works extensively with singers and instrumentalists as an accompanist and collaborative pianist in Limerick and Clare and is much in demand. She is Resident Organist at St Michael’s Church, Pery Square and St Mary’s Church in Athlunkard St. in addition to playing in St Mary’s Cathedral, and the Redemptorist’s Church at Mount St Alphonsus.

Irina would like to express her gratitude to the Limerick Pipe Organ Festival and Culture Night Limerick for the opportunity to play such an exciting programme tonight, and to Canon Gerard Garrett Adm. of St John’s Cathedral and to Kieran Loughran, sacristan for their hospitality and assistance.

Programme

1. Prelude and Fugue in A-major BWV 536 – J.S.Bach (1785-1850)
Flourishing arpeggios of the Prelude certainly show the Buxtehude influence in Bach’s writing. Long pedal notes with virtuoso arpeggio passages unfold into a beautiful contrapuntal cascade. The subject of the Fugue originates perhaps in minuet or in another dance, forlana, skilfully weaved into a beautiful and exciting piece.

2. Fantasie in E- flat major (Echo Fantasie) – C. Saint-Saens (1835-1921)
Composed in 1857, this is the first published organ work by Saint-Saens, dedicated to his friend and fellow organist Georges Schmitt. The piece has two section, the first is an echoing elegant chordal melody, scattered between all three manuals of the organ, and second is a triumphant march with elements of polyphonic development.

3. Le Jardin Suspendu (Suspended Garden) – J.Alain (1911-1940)
In the style of Chaconne, this slow composition that variations as a development tool. The description of the piece reads: “The hanging garden is the artist’s ideal, perpetually followed and fleeting, it is an inaccessible and inviolable refuge”.

4. Organ Sonata No.2 – 3 rd movement – H. Howells (1892-1983)
Composed in 1933 and dedicated to George Thalben-Ball, the tumultuous third movement is a toccata, with bold melodic lines engraved over the continuous stream of passages in the background, with brief moment of calm, when you hear a slow, haunting solo melody. It is full of dissonant harmonies and dark chaos, overpowered by the transformative victory of the Light in the final section.

Peter Barley is pleased to be returning to play the fine Hill organ in St John’s Cathedral for a special Limerick Pipe Organ Festival Culture Night concert on Friday 20th September from 7:00pm to 7:30pm. Peter is Organist and Choir Master in neighbouring St Mary’s Cathedral. Admission Free.

The concert programme, which is designed to suit the strengths of both the mighty organ and this beautiful cathedral with its splendidly reverberant acoustic, will feature music by J.S. Bach, Guilmant and Mozart. The Bach is a delightfully youthful Prelude and Fugue, whilst the music by Mozart ranges from a majestic Adagio and Fugue to a sprightly pair of Epistle Sonatas. The half-hour recital will conclude with Guilmant’s stirring and skilful March on a theme of Handel, which listeners will recognize as being the opening of the chorus ‘Lift up your heads’ from Handel’s Messiah. The concert will be preceded by a guided tour of the cathedral from 6:30pm to 7:00pm.

The second recital will also be held in St Mary’s Cathedral on Wednesday, 12th September, at 1:15PM. Andrew Tessman will perform:

Andrew is American, and is currently studying the organ in Bavaria, Germany. Admission FREE.

On Thursday May 24^th I had the pleasure of facilitating a music workshop with the 5^th Class girls of St. John’s GNS on behalf of the Limerick Pipe Organ Festival.

The workshop was very topical and current in nature as the music that we tackled on the day was based upon music for the Royals, coming only days after the Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. It was important that each of the strands of the Music Curriculum were referenced and by the end of the day, we had listened and responded to music, performed, and composed.

Our first exercise was a simple call and response body percussion piece of music, which elicited the fantastic amount of prior knowledge the girls had about music. Within minutes, the board was full of words such as tempo, dynamics, pitch, beat, pulse, volume, rhythm etc. Read More →

St Mary’s Cathedral is hosting some beautiful concerts as part of its 850th anniversary celebrations.

This evening at 7PM, the University of Tennessee Chamber Singers present a concert of American and Irish music, including some well-known favourites. It promises to be a wonderful and fun evening of music!

On Monday night, 16th July, the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, directed by Stephen Cleobury, will perform great choral music from the choir’s extensive repertoire. The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge is especially known to millions worldwide through its annual broadcast of a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. The Choir’s international fame and reputation, enhanced by an extensive recording catalogue, has led to invitations to perform around the world.

The choir’s visit to Limerick is a wonderful occasion, and the highlight of the musical programme in this special anniversary year. The choir will perform music by Orlando Gibbons, Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Judith Weir. The event is now sold out.