It is with great pleasure that we launch the programme for the Pipeworks Festival 2022; all the more so, given the privations of the last two years. We are thrilled to be opening the festival with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in a programme with organ soloist Peter Barley playing the magnificent Willis organ in St Patrick’s Cathedral.  This concert also marks a significant musical anniversary, that of the 150th year since the birth of Ralph Vaughan Williams, and the programme includes the rarely performed cantata Willow Wood with leading young Irish baritone Eoghan Desmond. Finally Eoghan and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra will be joined by the Festival Chorus in the performance of the Five Mystical Songs.  This community-based group is brought together especially for the Festival, and is drawn from choirs all over Dublin. 

The mediaeval surroundings of Christ Church Cathedral offer a perfect setting for the concert given by Stile Antico on Thursday 16 June.  This group has a reputation for vocal excellence combined with innovative programming, and this performance promises to be a memorable event. The concert charts a musical course from twilight to sunrise, and features Allegri’s famous Miserere and Gentle Sleep by Nico Muhly, which was written especially for the group.  We are also delighted to be collaborating with Sandford Summer Recitals in a concert given by Martina Smyth, formally organ scholar of St Patrick’s and Christ Church Cathedrals, and a Dublin native.  She is a graduate of the Royal Irish Academy of Music and of the Royal College of Music in London. She will perform a varied programme on the recently restored organ in Sandford Parish Church.

 

We are thrilled to welcome Ben van Oosten to give a celebrity recital in the Pro Cathedral on the evening of Friday 17 June. Hailed as one of the leading organists of our time, he will play a programme honouring the contribution made to the organ repertoire by César Franck, the 200th anniversary of whose birth falls this year. 

On Saturday 18 June we look forward to two events in St Bartholomew’s Church, which houses a fine three manual instrument. At 6 pm we welcome Amanda Mole, a multiple international prizewinning young American recitalist, to play a concert.  Amanda’s varied programme will pay homage to de Grigny, a further composer anniversary significant to the organ repertoire. Then at 9 pm, we look forward to an improvised accompaniment to the silent film “Phantom of the Opera”, to be played by David Baskeyfield. A former organ scholar of Dublin’s two Anglican cathedrals, David enjoys an international reputation as a recitalist and improviser.  In addition to this, David plays the closing concert in the festival, for which, once again, we are delighted to co-present with the organ recitals series in St Michael’s Church, Dun Laoghaire.

Education and encouragement of young organists lies at the heart of our activities.  We are delighted to present once again the Students’ Platform Concert, where outstanding young organists have a chance to perform in the Festival.  We are also pleased to offer masterclasses with Ben van Oosten and Amanda Mole. 

It is my earnest hope that all will find much to enjoy in this, the first corporeal festival since that of 2019, and I hope that we may see many of you in person!