Dear friends and supporters of East Cork Early Music,
We know that many of you may be wondering about this year’s East Cork Early Music Festival. This year has been a difficult one for us, and while we have had to seriously revise our plans, we still plan to bring some of the early music that we love to you and to Cork this year.
Firstly, after twenty years of successful festivals, we did not receive any funding from the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon this year. Having previously received excellent feedback on our applications, this came as a serious shock, and without this key funding we unfortunately are unable to share a number of planned concerts with you this year.
Secondly, our wonderful Treasurer and dedicated Committee Member – Kodzo Selormey – passed away very suddenly this summer. He is very dearly missed by us and all of his friends, and East Cork Early Music as an organisation is left with quite a hole in his absence.
However, as we say, we don’t intend to let the music stop altogether this year. We are grateful to still have received support from Cork City Council and Cork County Council Arts Offices, and we are working with our wonderful friends and supporters to still bring you some music this autumn.
First up, on Friday October 18th, we are collaborating with our friends at UCC’s FUAIM series to share an unusual programme of exciting music with you. Dr. Yonit Kosovske’s ensemble is exploring music newly written, in a beautifully historic style for early instruments, including the world premiere of a specially written work by composer Brooke Green, exploring the past of her family, nad the worlds of women from Limerick sentenced to Australia for minor transgressions.
Secondly, at the beginning of November, our longtime collaborators and dear friends Madrigal ‘75 are joining us for a concert of beautiful early sacred music, built around the lesser heard music written by cloistered women composers in the seventeenth century. The concert will be perfectly set in the convent surroundings of Nano Nagle Place, and we are ever grateful for their support and friendship. As one of Cork’s finest chamber choirs we are delighted to explore this music with Madrigal and present their wonderful interpretations of early music to you again.
We’re continuing to develop other possibilities and have number of other events and collaborations coming down the pipeline which we look forward to sharing with you as soon as we can confirm the details.
We are incredibly grateful for your support and patience and look forward to sharing music with you, even in changing circumstances.
Yours ever,
Caitriona, Norah, and the ECEMF team