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SCÉALTA - STORIES
21st–23rd MARCH 2025
(Including Early Music Week events 18–20 March) leading up to the Festival weekend
Faith and Fantasy
Tuesday 18th March 1:15pm
Lunchtime Concert:
Saint Mary’s Cathedral
(presented as part of Early Music Week)
Leila Clarke-Carr, violin
Yonit Kosovske, harpsichord
Whether it is a balm for the troubled or an inspiration to the faithful, music’s power is unmistakable—and this concert combines both sentiments in good measure. With a captivating performance provided by violinist Leila Clarke-Carr and harpsichordist Yonit Kosovske, be prepared for a remarkably beautiful recital that intertwines reflective works embodying faith and piety, with flights of fantasy and Baroque flourish. Featuring music by Isabella Leonarda, Heinrich Ignaz Biber, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, and Matthias Weckmann.
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Lunchtime Concert:
Saint Mary’s Cathedral
(presented as part of Early Music Week)
Leila Clarke-Carr, violin
Yonit Kosovske, harpsichord
Whether it is a balm for the troubled or an inspiration to the faithful, music’s power is unmistakable—and this concert combines both sentiments in good measure. With a captivating performance provided by violinist Leila Clarke-Carr and harpsichordist Yonit Kosovske, be prepared for a remarkably beautiful recital that intertwines reflective works embodying faith and piety, with flights of fantasy and Baroque flourish. Featuring music by Isabella Leonarda, Heinrich Ignaz Biber, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, and Matthias Weckmann.
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
LEMF FESTIVAL LAUNCH: Contested (Hi)Stories in Media and Creative Art
Tuesday 18th March
Symposium, including Music Performance and Film Screening of Oksana Karpovych’s 'Intercepted' (2024)
Venue: Dance Limerick (Chapel), St. John’s Square
3.00 pm Welcome & Introduction
3.30 pm Performance
4:15-5.45 pm Panel Discussion
5.45 pm Reception
6:30-8:00 pm Film Screening
Academics, arts practitioners and performers come together in this interdisciplinary symposium to explore the role of media and creative arts in the telling of (Hi)Stories that challenge dominant narratives about global conflict and forced migration. The symposium kicks off with a live intimate performance of ‘Migrating Musical Selves’ which brings together Ukrainian sounds and stories. Vsevolod Sadovyj and Snizhana Rybal’ska intertwine these staged stories with melodies on unique historical instruments to illuminate the musical trajectories of forced migrants as they navigate new contexts. A panel of international artists and research project leaders will discuss forms of story-telling and how empowering arts can drive academic, political, and public discourse. Panellists include Prof. Florian Schneider (University of Trondheim/Galway); Prof. Monika Wolting (University of Wrocław); Dr. Ailbhe McDaid (MIC). The event concludes with a public screening of the award-winning Canadian-French-Ukrainian documentary Intercepted, by Oksana Karpovych. In this feature-length documentary sound and image merge as the film contrasts quiet compositions of everyday life of Ukrainians since the full-scale invasion with intercepted phone conversations between Russian soldiers and their families. The film raises key questions on fact and fiction, lived realities and media narratives.
The event is FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Participants and listeners are welcome to drop in throughout the day.
Symposium, including Music Performance and Film Screening of Oksana Karpovych’s 'Intercepted' (2024)
Venue: Dance Limerick (Chapel), St. John’s Square
3.00 pm Welcome & Introduction
3.30 pm Performance
4:15-5.45 pm Panel Discussion
5.45 pm Reception
6:30-8:00 pm Film Screening
Academics, arts practitioners and performers come together in this interdisciplinary symposium to explore the role of media and creative arts in the telling of (Hi)Stories that challenge dominant narratives about global conflict and forced migration. The symposium kicks off with a live intimate performance of ‘Migrating Musical Selves’ which brings together Ukrainian sounds and stories. Vsevolod Sadovyj and Snizhana Rybal’ska intertwine these staged stories with melodies on unique historical instruments to illuminate the musical trajectories of forced migrants as they navigate new contexts. A panel of international artists and research project leaders will discuss forms of story-telling and how empowering arts can drive academic, political, and public discourse. Panellists include Prof. Florian Schneider (University of Trondheim/Galway); Prof. Monika Wolting (University of Wrocław); Dr. Ailbhe McDaid (MIC). The event concludes with a public screening of the award-winning Canadian-French-Ukrainian documentary Intercepted, by Oksana Karpovych. In this feature-length documentary sound and image merge as the film contrasts quiet compositions of everyday life of Ukrainians since the full-scale invasion with intercepted phone conversations between Russian soldiers and their families. The film raises key questions on fact and fiction, lived realities and media narratives.
The event is FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Participants and listeners are welcome to drop in throughout the day.
New Music for Harpsichord
Wednesday 19th March
4pm
Tower Seminar & Performance: Theatre 2, Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick
Yonit Kosovske (harpsichord)
Justin Grounds (baroque violin)
Vlad Smishkewych (hurdy gurdy)
Jack Grogan (hang drum)
Yonit Kosovske & Justin Grounds discuss their collaboration of New Music for Harpsichord as a solo and collaborative instrument. Performances of two new compositions will be premiered: "Seams in My Socks", a multi-media harpsichord piece exploring neurodiversity, including sensory issues, autism, stimming, and OCD, as well as "Litany", for harpsichord, hang drum, baroque violin, and hurdy gurdy, in homage to four animals that recently went extinct.
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
4pm
Tower Seminar & Performance: Theatre 2, Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick
Yonit Kosovske (harpsichord)
Justin Grounds (baroque violin)
Vlad Smishkewych (hurdy gurdy)
Jack Grogan (hang drum)
Yonit Kosovske & Justin Grounds discuss their collaboration of New Music for Harpsichord as a solo and collaborative instrument. Performances of two new compositions will be premiered: "Seams in My Socks", a multi-media harpsichord piece exploring neurodiversity, including sensory issues, autism, stimming, and OCD, as well as "Litany", for harpsichord, hang drum, baroque violin, and hurdy gurdy, in homage to four animals that recently went extinct.
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Lunchtime Concert
Thursday 20th March
1:15pm
Theatre 2
Irish World Academy of Music and Dance
University of Limerick students on the MA Classical String Performance programme at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance present a lunchtime concert of Baroque and Contemporary music in collaboration with MA Course Director André Swanepoel and Aoife Nic Athloaich, both of whom are members of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. This programme also welcomes from Sydney, Australia, Brooke Green (treble viol & composer).
This concert is FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
1:15pm
Theatre 2
Irish World Academy of Music and Dance
University of Limerick students on the MA Classical String Performance programme at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance present a lunchtime concert of Baroque and Contemporary music in collaboration with MA Course Director André Swanepoel and Aoife Nic Athloaich, both of whom are members of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. This programme also welcomes from Sydney, Australia, Brooke Green (treble viol & composer).
This concert is FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
Festival Opening Concert:
Consolation and Confidence
Friday, 21st March
8pm–9:30pm Saint Mary's Cathedral
Ancór, Sagittarius Hiberniensis, Saint Mary's Cathedral Choir, Limerick School of Music Senior Choir
Limerick Early Music Festival Chamber Orchestra
Directed by Peter Barley and Cecilia Madden
Featured Soloists
Aisling Kenny (soprano)
Sarah Thursfield (alto)
Christopher Bowen (tenor)
William Gaunt (bass)
Emerging Artist Award Winner, Kevin Meehan II (baroque violin)
Featuring cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) and choral works by Isabella Leonarda (1620–1704), Giovanni Gabrieli (c.1554/1557–1612), and chamber music by Dieterich Buxtehude (1637–1707), this annual choral concert of sacred music brings together multiple local choirs under the direction of Peter Barley and Cecilia Madden, including Ancór, Saint Mary's Cathedral Choir, and Limerick School of Music Senior Choir, along with the LEMF Chamber Orchestra.
This year marks the launch of the new McCullagh-Ó Briain Emerging Artist Award, recognising an outstanding instrumentalist playing with historically informed style, and named in memory of Bertha McCullagh-Ó Briain — educator and longtime supporter of arts, literature, and culture. The first winner of the award, Kevin Meehan, will be featured in a Buxtehude trio sonata during the evening’s concert.
TICKETS €25/€20
€5 Under 16s
8pm–9:30pm Saint Mary's Cathedral
Ancór, Sagittarius Hiberniensis, Saint Mary's Cathedral Choir, Limerick School of Music Senior Choir
Limerick Early Music Festival Chamber Orchestra
Directed by Peter Barley and Cecilia Madden
Featured Soloists
Aisling Kenny (soprano)
Sarah Thursfield (alto)
Christopher Bowen (tenor)
William Gaunt (bass)
Emerging Artist Award Winner, Kevin Meehan II (baroque violin)
Featuring cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) and choral works by Isabella Leonarda (1620–1704), Giovanni Gabrieli (c.1554/1557–1612), and chamber music by Dieterich Buxtehude (1637–1707), this annual choral concert of sacred music brings together multiple local choirs under the direction of Peter Barley and Cecilia Madden, including Ancór, Saint Mary's Cathedral Choir, and Limerick School of Music Senior Choir, along with the LEMF Chamber Orchestra.
This year marks the launch of the new McCullagh-Ó Briain Emerging Artist Award, recognising an outstanding instrumentalist playing with historically informed style, and named in memory of Bertha McCullagh-Ó Briain — educator and longtime supporter of arts, literature, and culture. The first winner of the award, Kevin Meehan, will be featured in a Buxtehude trio sonata during the evening’s concert.
TICKETS €25/€20
€5 Under 16s
Music in the Milk Market
Saturday 22nd March 10am–12pm
Milk Market Limerick
LEMF artists in historical costumes roam the Milk Market, accompanied by Rose Minnema’s dancing puppets and marionettes!
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Milk Market Limerick
LEMF artists in historical costumes roam the Milk Market, accompanied by Rose Minnema’s dancing puppets and marionettes!
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Puppet-Making Workshop
(ages 7–12)
Saturday 22nd March
12:30pm–1:45pm Belltable
LEMF welcomes puppeteer Rose Minnema who brings medieval puppets and marionettes to the festival this year. Fresh from the market, Rose and company will guide festival guests in a puppet-making workshop for this family-friendly event. Everyone will leave with their very own puppet or marionette!
€15 carer+child
12:30pm–1:45pm Belltable
LEMF welcomes puppeteer Rose Minnema who brings medieval puppets and marionettes to the festival this year. Fresh from the market, Rose and company will guide festival guests in a puppet-making workshop for this family-friendly event. Everyone will leave with their very own puppet or marionette!
€15 carer+child
Baroque n Roll: Family Concert
(ages 4–8 and carers)
Saturday, 22nd March
Baroque N'Roll
2pm–3pm Belltable
Classicalkids.ie brings "Baroque N'Roll" to Limerick, offering a fun and interactive learning experience for families with pre-schoolers and children up to 7 or 8 years old. Hear and see Early Music from the 1700s performed live on stage. Meet the instruments, play musical games, sing and dance, and learn about musical concepts such as pitch, rhythm, dynamics and tempo. All are welcome to come and have a closer look at the instruments at the end of the concert.
Aura Stone, double bass
Leonie Curtin, baroque violin
Ada Witczyk, baroque violin
€15 carer+child
Baroque N'Roll
2pm–3pm Belltable
Classicalkids.ie brings "Baroque N'Roll" to Limerick, offering a fun and interactive learning experience for families with pre-schoolers and children up to 7 or 8 years old. Hear and see Early Music from the 1700s performed live on stage. Meet the instruments, play musical games, sing and dance, and learn about musical concepts such as pitch, rhythm, dynamics and tempo. All are welcome to come and have a closer look at the instruments at the end of the concert.
Aura Stone, double bass
Leonie Curtin, baroque violin
Ada Witczyk, baroque violin
€15 carer+child
Sound, Spaces, Stories
Saturday 22nd March
4pm–5pm Belltable
Dr Eoin Callery
Join Dr Eoin Callery for a fascinating presentation exploring relationships and interplay between architecture and acoustics, past and present. Dr Callery is an Irish artist and researcher developing interactive virtual acoustic technologies. His creative and research practices focus on electro-acoustic systems relating to chamber music, performance space augmentation, and sound installation. Much of this work is focused on utilizing virtual acoustics as a method for exploring the possibilities of audio virtual/augmented reality. Previously, he lectured at CCRMA (Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics) at Stanford University and is currently directing the MA Composition and Creative Music Practice programme in the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick.
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC (Reserve your place at the link below)
4pm–5pm Belltable
Dr Eoin Callery
Join Dr Eoin Callery for a fascinating presentation exploring relationships and interplay between architecture and acoustics, past and present. Dr Callery is an Irish artist and researcher developing interactive virtual acoustic technologies. His creative and research practices focus on electro-acoustic systems relating to chamber music, performance space augmentation, and sound installation. Much of this work is focused on utilizing virtual acoustics as a method for exploring the possibilities of audio virtual/augmented reality. Previously, he lectured at CCRMA (Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics) at Stanford University and is currently directing the MA Composition and Creative Music Practice programme in the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick.
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC (Reserve your place at the link below)
Slovo:
The Tale of Igor
Saturday 22nd March
8pm–9pm Belltable
Wolodymyr Smishkewych (voice, lyre)
Vsevolod Sadovyj (early percussion and winds)
Snezhana Rybalska (early bowed strings and winds)
In the year 1185, as the Kievan-Rus’ empire was beginning to crumble, a little-known prince on its eastern borders led his outnumbered band into battle against the Kumans, a host of Mongolian invaders. This battle and its aftermath would become the Slavic literary epic known as The Song of Igor’s Campaign. Its conclusion was not what one would expect; the hero was not a fearless Beowulf, a mighty Roland, nor even a betrayed Siegfried. Igor Sviatoslavich's only claim to fame resulted from a bad military decision stemming from cockiness, pride, or stupidity. Yet, its outcome remained true to the great epics; the ending was not an overwhelmingly happy victory or love affair. Rather, it was a stark lesson to be learned against making war for war’s sake, subdued with a ray of hope that things would be better in the future. With a tapestry of sound on voice and the husli (lyre), this retelling of Prince Igor’s story brings to the stage images and sounds that might shock operagoers more familiar with Borodin’s version of the tale.
7:00pm Preconcert talk with Dr Sabine Egger (Mary Immaculate College) on the impact of the creative arts on historical narratives (free for ticketholders).
€25/€20/€5 U16s
8pm–9pm Belltable
Wolodymyr Smishkewych (voice, lyre)
Vsevolod Sadovyj (early percussion and winds)
Snezhana Rybalska (early bowed strings and winds)
In the year 1185, as the Kievan-Rus’ empire was beginning to crumble, a little-known prince on its eastern borders led his outnumbered band into battle against the Kumans, a host of Mongolian invaders. This battle and its aftermath would become the Slavic literary epic known as The Song of Igor’s Campaign. Its conclusion was not what one would expect; the hero was not a fearless Beowulf, a mighty Roland, nor even a betrayed Siegfried. Igor Sviatoslavich's only claim to fame resulted from a bad military decision stemming from cockiness, pride, or stupidity. Yet, its outcome remained true to the great epics; the ending was not an overwhelmingly happy victory or love affair. Rather, it was a stark lesson to be learned against making war for war’s sake, subdued with a ray of hope that things would be better in the future. With a tapestry of sound on voice and the husli (lyre), this retelling of Prince Igor’s story brings to the stage images and sounds that might shock operagoers more familiar with Borodin’s version of the tale.
7:00pm Preconcert talk with Dr Sabine Egger (Mary Immaculate College) on the impact of the creative arts on historical narratives (free for ticketholders).
€25/€20/€5 U16s
Concert & Panel: Still, She Rises!
Sunday, 23rd March
2pm–3pm Concert
3:15pm-3:45 Panel
Belltable
Róisín Ní Gallóglaigh (voice)
Ada Witczyk (baroque violin)
Brooke Green (treble viol, composer)
Sarah Groser (bass viol)
Xenia Pestova Bennett (toy piano, composer)
Vlad Smishkewych (hurdy gurdy, percussion)
Yonit Kosovske (harpsichord, clavichord, artistic director)
This afternoon concert on period instruments celebrates chamber music by contemporary female composers from Ireland and around the world. Featured on this programme are several works by Australian composer and viol player Brooke Green, including the Limerick premiere of "Fuming: Johanna Fitzgibbon of Limerick" for Baroque trio. This concert also features the world premiere of "Baile" by Xenia Pestova Bennett, whose new work for toy piano, clavichord, viola da gamba, and recorded women's voices explores the universal themes of home, migration, and belonging. Other repertoire on the programme includes Jean Ahn's duo "Archimedes' Principle" and Tal Arbel's "Alchemy".
Stay around for a panel discussion with Ada Witczyk, who has inspired over 200 contemporary compositions for baroque violin; Brooke Green, whose compositions often draw inspiration from human stories and social justice; and Xenia Pestova Bennett, who enjoys a career as a composer and performer on modern piano, magnetic resonator piano, and toy piano. This panel will be chaired by harpsichordist Yonit Kosovske, a champion of new music for harpsichord as a solo and collaborative instrument.
Concert: €15/€10/€5 U16s
Panel FREE with concert ticket
Photo: Laurence Crane
2pm–3pm Concert
3:15pm-3:45 Panel
Belltable
Róisín Ní Gallóglaigh (voice)
Ada Witczyk (baroque violin)
Brooke Green (treble viol, composer)
Sarah Groser (bass viol)
Xenia Pestova Bennett (toy piano, composer)
Vlad Smishkewych (hurdy gurdy, percussion)
Yonit Kosovske (harpsichord, clavichord, artistic director)
This afternoon concert on period instruments celebrates chamber music by contemporary female composers from Ireland and around the world. Featured on this programme are several works by Australian composer and viol player Brooke Green, including the Limerick premiere of "Fuming: Johanna Fitzgibbon of Limerick" for Baroque trio. This concert also features the world premiere of "Baile" by Xenia Pestova Bennett, whose new work for toy piano, clavichord, viola da gamba, and recorded women's voices explores the universal themes of home, migration, and belonging. Other repertoire on the programme includes Jean Ahn's duo "Archimedes' Principle" and Tal Arbel's "Alchemy".
Stay around for a panel discussion with Ada Witczyk, who has inspired over 200 contemporary compositions for baroque violin; Brooke Green, whose compositions often draw inspiration from human stories and social justice; and Xenia Pestova Bennett, who enjoys a career as a composer and performer on modern piano, magnetic resonator piano, and toy piano. This panel will be chaired by harpsichordist Yonit Kosovske, a champion of new music for harpsichord as a solo and collaborative instrument.
Concert: €15/€10/€5 U16s
Panel FREE with concert ticket
Photo: Laurence Crane
Carlos Núñez Band: Celtic Stories of the Cantigas
Sunday, 23 March
8pm–9:30pm
Saint John's Cathedral
V94 H521
Carlos Núñez (bagpipes, recorders)
Pancho Álvarez (guitars, gitterns, vielles, lyre)
Xurxo Núñez (percussion)
María Sánchez García (vielle, fiddle, voice)
Vlad Smishkewych (organistrum, sinfonia, voice)
Renowned the world over for his energetic concerts of traditional Galician music, global emissary of the bagpipe Carlos Núñez is also a keen researcher of Celtic history and equally passionate about early music. In his programme exploring the Cantigas de Santa Maria—the 12th century Iberian collection of over 400 songs—Núñez and his ensemble bring together medieval bagpipes, fiddles, gitterns, harps, and hurdy-gurdies to delve into this repertoire, which sounds convincingly related to the traditional music of the Celtic nations. Stories of Merlin, seafaring monks, and sea monsters are just a few of the themes in the tales told by the miracles of Saint Mary from the medieval song collection of King Alfonso X "The Learned" of Castile.
€25/€20/€5 U16s
8pm–9:30pm
Saint John's Cathedral
V94 H521
Carlos Núñez (bagpipes, recorders)
Pancho Álvarez (guitars, gitterns, vielles, lyre)
Xurxo Núñez (percussion)
María Sánchez García (vielle, fiddle, voice)
Vlad Smishkewych (organistrum, sinfonia, voice)
Renowned the world over for his energetic concerts of traditional Galician music, global emissary of the bagpipe Carlos Núñez is also a keen researcher of Celtic history and equally passionate about early music. In his programme exploring the Cantigas de Santa Maria—the 12th century Iberian collection of over 400 songs—Núñez and his ensemble bring together medieval bagpipes, fiddles, gitterns, harps, and hurdy-gurdies to delve into this repertoire, which sounds convincingly related to the traditional music of the Celtic nations. Stories of Merlin, seafaring monks, and sea monsters are just a few of the themes in the tales told by the miracles of Saint Mary from the medieval song collection of King Alfonso X "The Learned" of Castile.
€25/€20/€5 U16s
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