Inaugurated in the year 1970, the Dublin International Chamber Music Festival emerged as a “Tribute in Grand Irish Houses” at the Carton and Castletown estates, promising its attendees an aesthetic amalgamation of poetry and music amidst glorious settings. Tickets at that time were priced between 10 and 40 shillings, which is roughly €10 to €40 in today’s currency; tickets for the 2024 festival range from €5-€50.
The festival underwent numerous metamorphoses along the way, including various name changes. In 2021, it finally embraced its current moniker, acknowledging the shift of focus from grand houses to the capital city, Dublin. The venues also changed, with many not being actual residences.
Retrospectively, in 2014, the festival was titled ‘KBC Great Music in Irish Houses’. Even then, events had already started taking place at the National Botanic Gardens, Smock Alley Theatre, and the Waterways Ireland Visitor Centre. Ticket prices varied from being free to around €60, factoring inflation. However, the musical pieces were solely focused on deceased male, white composers.
This year, the festival commenced with a performance featuring compositions by both living and deceased female authors, including Ruth Crawford Seeger, Ann Cleare, Juri Seo, and Kaija Saariaho. There was also a midday concert highlighting chamber and choral music by Errollyn Wallen, a British composer born in Belize. Additionally, the American-Irish clarinetist Berginald Rash’s concert/interview emphasised his journey as a black artist in the domain of classical music, with all his performances showcasing works by black composers. A piano recital featuring musical pieces by black women and performed by Irish women was also part of the line up.
This year’s star attraction was the Leonkoro Quartet hailing from Berlin. Last month, John Gilhooly, the director of Wigmore Hall, London, was personally lauding the young string quartet in Dublin while unveiling the forthcoming season’s Wigmore Series Dublin at the brand new Whyte Recital Hall of the Royal Irish Academy.
The enchanting opening chord of Leonkoro’s inaugural piece at the Castle Hall in Dublin Castle last Friday was a sight to behold. The group, exhibiting remarkable precision, began the initial chord sequence from Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte—a compellingly delicate spectacle of an assortment of glimmering, glowing hues. Despite the sound occasionally teetering on the edge of perceptibility, one was captivated and wanted to savour each note, each subtle clash and collision.
The music, influenced by a Brentano Quartet interpretation of Haydn’s Quartet in G, Op 77 No 2, was filled with an enjoyable element of recurrence and astonishingly mystical transformations evoked by Shaw.
Similarly, Leonkoro’s performance during evening’s usual pieces was equally satisfying. These included Janáček’s passionate and dramatic First String Quartet, which was influenced by Tolstoy’s short story, The Kreutzer Sonata, and the perennially intriguing and eerie String Quartet in C minor, Op 51 No 1, by Brahms. The latter was Brahms’ first string quartet to be published after composing over 20, only to reject them.
Leonkoro is slated to perform again in Dublin at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Their setlist includes Haydn, Berg, and Ravel performance on Tuesday, 4th February 2025. It would be ideal to mark this date in your calendars already.