Program

Performing From Abbaye Royaumont, Paris

Fauré: Le papillon et le fleur; Tristesse; Notre amour; Le berceaux

Messiaen: Trois Mélodies

Poulenc: Banalités

Hahn: Trois jour de vendange; D'une prison; Le rossignol des lilas; L'air; L'Énamourée; Le printemps; L'heure exquise

About the Artists

Sophie Junker [soprano]

 After studies in her native Belgium and in London, soprano Sophie Junker burst onto the international scene in 2010 by winning the London Handel Competition, consolidating her rapid rise with victory in the 2012 Cesti Competition at the Innsbruck Early Music Festival. Described by Opera magazine as “… irresistibly charming”, Sophie already has an established relationship with the Opera Royal de Liège Wallonie. On the concert platform, Sophie is a frequent soloist with Concerto Copenhagen, La Nuova Musica, Vox Luminis, Le Concert de la Loge, Le Poème Harmonique and Arcangelo. She performed Bach’s St John Passion for Ensemble 1704, Haydn’s Creation with the Russian National Orchestra in Moscow, and Lully’s Grands Motets with the Namur Chamber Choir conducted by Leonardo García Alarcón. She recently sung Fauré’s Requiem under Klaas Stok (Amsterdam Concertgebouw) and Bach Cantatas with Dunedin Consort at the Edinburgh International Festival.

Deirdre Brenner [piano]

A musician with a passion for chamber music and art song, Deirdre Brenner has performed in venues including the Wiener Musikverein, Wiener Konzerthaus, The Kennedy Center, Teatro Real, Philharmonie Essen, Kunsthalle Hamburg, Stadthalle, the National Concert Hall, St. Martin-in-the-Fields and the Hollywell Music Room. Deirdre has given concerts at festivals including the Seoul Spring Festival of Chamber Music, Oxford Lieder Festival, Aix-en-Provence Festival, LOISIARTE, Rhodes Chamber Music Festival, Gustav Mahler Festival, Stimmen Festival Freistadt, and Portogruaro International Music Festival. Deirdre has Master's degrees from both the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Konservatorium Wien. Deirdre has partnered with artists including Wolfgang Holzmair, Birgid Steinberger, Tara Erraught, Markus Werba, John Chest, Dorrotya Láng, Sophie Junker, and Klemens Sander. Further musical projects have taken her to Egypt, Venezuela, the West Bank, Samoa and the Kingdom of Tonga. Deirdre is co-founder of the Boyne Music Festival in Drogheda, Ireland as well as the innovative concert series Mosaïque in Vienna.

About West Cork Chamber Music Festival

The West Cork Chamber Music Festival takes place annually in Bantry, County Cork. For ten days, from the last Friday in June, a world-class line-up of international ensembles and soloists perform an extensive programme of concerts which run from morning to late night. The two main venues are the intimate library of the historic Bantry House, which overlooks Bantry Bay; and St Brendan’s Church in the centre of Bantry. The Festival also includes a full schedule of performance workshops and masterclasses with resident student ensembles, composition workshops, public talks with artists as well as exhibitions and demonstrations from instrument makers.

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