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Festival Artists
Ancór Choir
Ancór chamber choir was founded in 2005 by conductor Cecilia Madden and has become one of the most exciting vocal ensembles to emerge from the Mid-West region. The choir performs at concerts, weddings, charitable and corporate events on a regular basis. Recent concert tours have included Féile na Bealtaine in Dingle, Co Kerry (2019), Slovenia (2017), Italy (2014) and France (2012), and they are looking forward to their concert tour in Sardinia this coming July! Ancór embraces a wide range of sacred and secular repertoire from the Renaissance to the 21st century. The choir has won numerous awards in Ireland and currently holds the title of Best Limerick Choir 2020 (Limerick Choral Festival). In 2015, Ancór launched a 10th anniversary recording Sing Joyfully. Over the years Ancór has collaborated with several ensembles and well-known vocal soloists including UL Orchestra, Irish Symphonic Wind Orchestra, Dublin City Jazz Orchestra, Limerick City Big Band and Limerick Sinfonia. Ancór has performed many works by JS Bach, and the members are delighted to have become an annual fixture on the LEMF calendar with a focus on the sacred music of JS Bach and his contemporaries, all in partnership with local, national and international musical partners.
Peter Barley
Peter Barley is Organist and Choirmaster of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick. He is also on staff at Limerick School of Music, where he teaches piano and organ and is a staff accompanist. Peter was previously Organist at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, from where he holds the title of Organist Emeritus. Peter began his career in London, where he was Director of Music at St Marylebone Church, as well as regularly accompanying the Corydon Singers, the London Concert Choir, and Canticum. The foundations for his interest in choral, organ and sacred music were laid through studies at King’s College, Cambridge (where he was an organ scholar) and at the Royal Academy of Music, London. As an organist, Peter has performed at many UK venues, including St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and Bridgewater Hall. He has also played at most of the main Irish recital venues, and in all the regular ‘noon-hour’ organ recital series in Toronto, Canada. A former Director of the Edington Festival of Music within the Liturgy, Peter also spent six years as Chair of RSCM Ireland. He is now closely involved in the Limerick Pipe Organ Festival. He directs the choirs of Sagittarius Hiberniensis and Saint Mary’s Cathedral.
Cecilia Madden
Cecilia Madden first studied music (piano, oboe, recorder and theory) at Limerick School of Music and then continued her studies at Trinity College Dublin where she read for the degrees of B.A. in Music & History and the M. Phil. in Reformation & Enlightenment Studies, while concurrently studying Oboe with Albert Soliveres at the D.I.T. (now T.U. Dublin) Conservatoire of Music. During her time at TCD, Cecilia was awarded the Taylor Exhibition and an Entrance Exhibition and she conducted the Trinity Orchestra and the Trinity Chapel Choir with which she also sang as Choral Scholar. Cecilia’s first professional conducting post was as Director of Music at St Ann’s Church, Dawson St, Dublin. At this time, Cecilia participated in many conducting masterclasses including at Westminster Choir College (Princeton, New Jersey); with the European Academy of Young Choral Conductors (Timmendorf, Germany); at the Civico Liceo Musicale (Verase, Italy) and with the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland before taking up a place as a guest student at the Hochschule für Musik (UdK) Berlin.
Cecilia studied Post-Primary teaching at the University of Limerick and was later awarded a Post-Grad. Dip. in Educational Leadership & Management from NUI Maynooth. She taught in the Ursuline School in Waterford and then with Ardscoil Mhuire in Limerick before being appointed to LSOM as Deputy Principal in 2014. As well as her ongoing conducting work with Ancór and the choirs at the Limerick School of Music, she has also recently been a guest conductor with Limerick Sinfonia and Limerick Philharmonic Orchestra. Cecilia is now Principal of LSOM, having been appointed to this role in 2022. She has a particular interest in vocal and instrumental music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods and is delighted to be part of the LEMF festival, both as performer and educational partner.
Cecilia studied Post-Primary teaching at the University of Limerick and was later awarded a Post-Grad. Dip. in Educational Leadership & Management from NUI Maynooth. She taught in the Ursuline School in Waterford and then with Ardscoil Mhuire in Limerick before being appointed to LSOM as Deputy Principal in 2014. As well as her ongoing conducting work with Ancór and the choirs at the Limerick School of Music, she has also recently been a guest conductor with Limerick Sinfonia and Limerick Philharmonic Orchestra. Cecilia is now Principal of LSOM, having been appointed to this role in 2022. She has a particular interest in vocal and instrumental music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods and is delighted to be part of the LEMF festival, both as performer and educational partner.
Kevin Meehan
Kevin Meehan is an honours B. Mus graduate at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, where he studied baroque and modern violin.
Amongst his many Baroque Violin performances, Kevin performed as soloist with the IYBO in Croatia and was invited twice to the UK to perform on the world-renowned Cobbe Collection of authentic period instruments.
In 2023, Kevin founded the Fantasia Baroque Festival at RIAM, and that summer, performed at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival with his baroque quartet and was delighted to be invited for a second performance in 2024.
Kevin’s most recent solo performance was Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with the Irish Baroque Orchestra Apprentices, to a sold-out hall. He is currently preparing for his Masters Degree in Baroque Violin performance in Europe.
Amongst his many Baroque Violin performances, Kevin performed as soloist with the IYBO in Croatia and was invited twice to the UK to perform on the world-renowned Cobbe Collection of authentic period instruments.
In 2023, Kevin founded the Fantasia Baroque Festival at RIAM, and that summer, performed at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival with his baroque quartet and was delighted to be invited for a second performance in 2024.
Kevin’s most recent solo performance was Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with the Irish Baroque Orchestra Apprentices, to a sold-out hall. He is currently preparing for his Masters Degree in Baroque Violin performance in Europe.
Rose Minnema
Rose Minnema is a puppet builder who mainly employs natural materials and recycled fabric, aiming for a natural, simple, organic flow of puppet creations. In the workshops which Rose facilitates, she engages participants as much as possible in all aspects of the puppet-making process and inspires participants—children and adults alike—to use their creativity to the fullest. Puppets are an excellent medium through which to express many ideas and emotions in a wide variety of settings. A longtime supporter and frequent attendee of the Limerick Early Music Festival, Rose is thrilled to bring her talents in puppetmaking to bring to life this unique aspect of an early time period.
Leila Clarke-Carr
Leila Clarke-Carr comes from an artistic and creative background where she began studying violin at the age of seven. She is currently studying on the Masters in Classical String Performance Programme at the Irish world Academy in Limerick under the mentorship of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. She completed her Bachelors in Music Performance at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin and has been awarded at competitions such as the Feis Ceol, Newpark Music Festival, first prize at the TUD Conservatory of music and has recently competed in the Semi-Final of the Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year 2023. She enjoys performing in a wide variety of ensembles and styles with the MA Classical Strings Ensemble and Libra Strings Ensemble and previously with orchestras such as the RIAM Philharmonia Orchestra, NCH SinfoNua Orchestra, Irish Youth Baroque Orchestra.
Sarah Groser
Sarah Groser first played the viola da gamba as a child, encouraged by her viol-playing father, whilst waiting to start on the cello. She concentrated on the cello until her late teens when she heard viols playing in consort and was captivated by the sound. At Manchester University she was able to study both Baroque cello and viol with Charles Medlam of London Baroque and continued on to Rotterdams Conservatorium to study Baroque cello with Jaap ter Linden. Later she had lessons with Jordi Savall as an external student at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Since her studies, Sarah has concentrated on the viol, and more recently the violone. She was a member of the Rose Consort of Viols for fifteen years and of Sonnerie under Monica Huggett for three years. She has also played with London Baroque, Fretwork, Charivari Agréable, and the Dowland Consort. In 2001 Sarah moved from England to West Cork, Ireland, where she is in frequent demand as both a solo bass viol player and as a continuo player. In Ireland, she has collaborated with The Irish Baroque Orchestra, the IBO Concert Soloists, Sestina, Camerata Kilkenny, Morisca, The Orchestra of St Cecilia, Madrigal 75, and as a duo with Sarah Cunningham. She performs regularly with Yonit Kosovske on repertoire spanning the early Baroque through Contemporary.
Classicalkids.ie
Classicalkids.ie was founded in 2013 by Aura Stone and Sylvia Roberts, to make live chamber music accessible to children and babies. We curate live classical music concerts for adults and children in relaxed, accessible community settings.
Beginning with one venue we are now in five venues across Dublin and Wicklow,
and partner with the National Concert Hall Learning and Participation to deliver their Bring Along a Baby series.
Our Music for Babies series run monthly in all our venues and expose babies and adults to high quality chamber music, a baby friendly environment facilitating
maximum engagement and interaction.
Interactive Kids Concerts run bi-monthly in Dublin and focus on the toddler/
preschooler, developing basic musical skills in a fun and engaging environment.
We partner with County Council libraries to deliver these workshops to diverse
communities across Ireland and have recently completed a mini residency with County Monaghan Libraries.
Beginning with one venue we are now in five venues across Dublin and Wicklow,
and partner with the National Concert Hall Learning and Participation to deliver their Bring Along a Baby series.
Our Music for Babies series run monthly in all our venues and expose babies and adults to high quality chamber music, a baby friendly environment facilitating
maximum engagement and interaction.
Interactive Kids Concerts run bi-monthly in Dublin and focus on the toddler/
preschooler, developing basic musical skills in a fun and engaging environment.
We partner with County Council libraries to deliver these workshops to diverse
communities across Ireland and have recently completed a mini residency with County Monaghan Libraries.
Eoin Callery
Wolodymyr Smishkewych
Wolodymyr "Vlad" Smishkewych enjoys a career as a tenor vocalist specialising in early and contemporary music, sharing the stage with some of the main names in early music and folk, including Carlos Nuñez, Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXI, Sequentia, Theatre of Voices, and The Harp Consort. He has recorded for Sony/BMG, Harmonia Mundi, and Naxos Records. No stranger to the academic realm, he holds a doctorate from Indiana University, and is the former director of the MA programme in Chant at the University of Limerick, Ireland, where he taught until 2014. However, his passion for writing and creating media about music and culture goes back to 2006, when he was a Fulbright Fellow to Spain, after which he began writing programmes for National Public Radio (USA). After his time in academia, Vlad returned to performing and the world of broadcasting, joining Ireland’s RTÉ lyric fm as well as the European Early Music Network, as radio announcer and producer. He is best known to Irish radio listeners as the host and researcher of Vox Nostra, RTÉ lyric fm’s Sunday morning Early Music show. Vlad is co-director of the Limerick Early Music Festival and the H.I.P.S.T.E.R. series. Vlad gratefully acknowledges the support of Arts Council Ireland through the Artist’s Agility Award.
Yonit Kosovske
Yonit Kosovske performs as a soloist and collaborative musician on harpsichord, modern piano, fortepiano, and chamber organ. She is dedicated to a diverse body of repertoire spanning 500 years, from the 1500s through contemporary music, and with a particular passion for new music and early instruments. Yonit is Co-producer of the Limerick Early Music Festival, Co-director of H.I.P.S.T.E.R. (Historically Informed Performance Series, Teaching, Education, and Research), and Artistic Director of WAVE~LINKS, a video documentary series exploring connections between music-making and artisanry. She is an Associate Professor in Music at the University of Limerick, Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. Yonit holds a Doctor of Music from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, a Master of Music from San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor of Music from Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts.
Xenia Pestova-Bennett
Xenia Pestova Bennett is a virtuoso pianist, composer and improviser who has earned an international reputation as a leading proponent of uncompromising music. Her work spans a wide range of sound worlds, styles and genres from classical and contemporary art music to free improvisation, experimental electronica, multimedia and avant-pop. Xenia has been featured at major international festivals and prestigious concert halls around the world including at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, National Concert Hall in Dublin, The Glasshouse Gateshead, Glasgow Royal Concert Halls, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Festival Archipel (Geneva), Approximation (Dusseldorf), Ars Musica (Brussels), Christchurch Arts Festival (New Zealand), Lanaudière (Canada), London Contemporary Music Festival, Musica (Strasbourg), New Music Dublin, Royal Albert Hall (London), Sonorities (Belfast), Spark (USA), Rainy Days (Luxembourg) and Voix Nouvelles Royaumont (France). She has also performed in a tropical rainforest, on a river ferry, deep inside cave systems and underground fortresses and while partially submerged in a pond. Xenia’s commitment to contemporary music inspired her to commission dozens of new works and collaborate closely with major living innovators as well as champion numerous new voices. As a composer, Xenia is represented by the Contemporary Music Centre Ireland. Her ten studio albums to date include widely acclaimed recordings by J.S. Bach / Karlheinz Essl, John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Gayle Young and her own music.
Ada Witczyk
Ada Witczyk is a fearless champion of contemporary music for baroque violin. Described as 'the new wave wizard' (South West Londoner) and inspiring over 200 new works for baroque violin, Ada is relentless in her drive to create a ‘New Baroque’, breaking out of endless cycles of Bach partitas and Vivaldi concerti and pushing the boundaries of what is possible. Radio broadcasts with the BBC, Radio Soest (Netherlands), Argentina Classic National Radio, Radiotelevisione Svissera, and Poznan Radio Klasyka have all featured Ada’s many new recordings, but it’s her bold music videos that have captured the imagination of composers, musicians and new audiences across the world from Peru to Thailand. Ada’s latest commissions, on show during her 2023 USA tour, took audiences in Seattle and Portland by storm, encouraging frenzied discussion at the annual New Music Gathering and prompting countless entries to Ada’s revolutionary composition competition named after Czech harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková. Ada’s debut album of contemporary music ‘New Baroque’ was singled out as BBC Music Magazine’s 'Instrumental Choice' and received a 10-star review in 2024. This spring sees the release of Ada’s latest album of new sonatas for baroque violin and harpsichord on First Hand Records (available on all platforms).
Brooke Green
Brooke Green has been performing medieval, renaissance and baroque music for many years, and this is the springboard for much of her music as a composer. As artistic director of the ensemble Josie and the Emeralds, she usually composes for their programmes, but she also arranges her works for diverse instrumental ensembles. Brooke is a recipient of the 2023 APRA/AMCOS Art Music Fund, the 2019 Jonathan Blakeman National Composition Prize, and a winner of the 2013 Viola da Gamba Society of America’s Traynor Competition for New Viol Music. Brooke is a graduate of the University of Sydney Music Department, where she was awarded the Donald Peart Prize. With a Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee Scholarship, she studied baroque violin at Royal Conservatory, The Hague and in London with Michaela Comberti. For several years Brooke played baroque and classical violin with The Hanover Band and The Brandenburg Consort while researching and performing music by early women composers, such as Élisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre. In 2010, after studying viol and vielle with Wendy Gillespie, Brooke graduated with a Masters in Early Music Performance from the Historical Performance Institute at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she also was a performer of contemporary music on historical instruments.
Carlos Núñez Band
Carlos Núñez is one of the world's top bagpipers and an internationally acclaimed headliner on the Celtic/World Music scene.
As a teenager he was discovered by Irish legends The Chieftains in his native Galicia, the Celtic region in North West Spain. He even became a honorary member of the band and they recorded a Grammy Award winning CD together, "Santiago".
SONY MUSIC (formerly BMG Classics/RCA Victor) have released his 10 albums to date, that have sold a million copies since his debut in 1996, accumulating several Platinum and Gold CDs and DVDs, as well as 2 Latin Grammy nominations. They feature a wide variety of artists such as The Chieftains, Ry Cooder, Jackson Browne, and many more. Carlos Núñez's open view of Celtic Music includes a historical perspective, an Early Music one, exemplified by his collaborations with Jordi Savall, the acclaimed viola da gamba virtuoso.
Carlos Núñez is also classically trained on the recorder and often plays with orchestras around the world, having performed at Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, Musikverein in Vienna or the Royal Albert Hall in London.
According to the BBC, “Carlos Núñez is one of the world’s most exciting, and most serious, musicians.”
As a teenager he was discovered by Irish legends The Chieftains in his native Galicia, the Celtic region in North West Spain. He even became a honorary member of the band and they recorded a Grammy Award winning CD together, "Santiago".
SONY MUSIC (formerly BMG Classics/RCA Victor) have released his 10 albums to date, that have sold a million copies since his debut in 1996, accumulating several Platinum and Gold CDs and DVDs, as well as 2 Latin Grammy nominations. They feature a wide variety of artists such as The Chieftains, Ry Cooder, Jackson Browne, and many more. Carlos Núñez's open view of Celtic Music includes a historical perspective, an Early Music one, exemplified by his collaborations with Jordi Savall, the acclaimed viola da gamba virtuoso.
Carlos Núñez is also classically trained on the recorder and often plays with orchestras around the world, having performed at Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, Musikverein in Vienna or the Royal Albert Hall in London.
According to the BBC, “Carlos Núñez is one of the world’s most exciting, and most serious, musicians.”
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