Venue: The Black Gate Cultural Centre
Date: 05 December 2019 at 8pm
Price: €10/ €5
This series of concerts features the Galway ConTempo Quartet with emerging and established composers from Ireland, exploring new music, how it comes to be and how to listen to it. Presented in an intimate setting, these events break down the barriers too often associated with new music, and offers opportunities to understand and appreciate today’s music.
ConTempo Quartet perform the WORLD PREMIERE of a new work for String Quartet by Irish composer Ed Bennett. This work was co-commissioned by GMR and the Galway City Council as part of a three-year commissioning initiative.
Ed Bennett was born in Bangor, Co.Down. His music, which has been described in the press as ‘anarchic’ (Irish Times), ‘manic’ (Classical Music) and ‘thrilling’ (Gramophone) is often characterized by its strong rhythmic energy, extreme contrasts and the combination of acoustic, electronic and multimedia elements; it was recently described in The Guardian as ‘unclassifiable, raw-nerve music of huge energy and imagination’ and by Sinfini Music as ‘one of the most scintillating voices to emerge of late from the British Isles.’ His body of work includes large-scale orchestral works, ensemble pieces, solo works, electronic music, opera, installations and works for dance and film.
He performs with and directs his own ensemble, Decibel, which is dedicated to the performance of new and experimental cross-discipline work and with whom he has released three critically acclaimed CDs of his music. Dzama Stories (Quartz Music) was described as ‘a glorious addition to the contemporary canon…I haven’t heard a disc of Irish Composition as vital and as urgent as this in a long while’ (Musical Criticism, 5/5 stars) and My Broken Machines (NMC) was Chicago Time Out’s No.1 Contemporary CD of 2011. His most recent release ‘Togetherness’ (2018) was described in a 5 star review in Classical Music Magazine as ‘high-octane music that demands the listeners attention.’
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