AN evening of beautiful, stirring music is in prospect this Sunday evening when an ensemble of local classical musicians get together for a special concert.

The Scotia Ensemble, with the aid of the Arts Act Grant from Kerry County Council, will perform “An Evening of Irish Songs and Music” with guest artist mezzo-soprano Caitriona O’Sullivan, at the Rose Hotel, Tralee.

Caitriona, is a Tralee native who holds first class honours degrees and master’s degrees in music, and specialises in Irish traditional music.

She has also had chart success as a singer-songwriter. She has appeared on television and radio nationwide and has been a judge on “Glor Tire” on TG4 for 13 years.

For the performance, the ensemble will perform various pieces of Irish classical music and they will accompany Caitriona in beautiful arrangements of traditional Irish songs and some of her own compositions, from Raglan Road to “I Know My Love”.

Tickets for the concert which begins at 8pm are €15/€10 concessions and can be obtained at the venue on the night.

Comprised of professional musicians based in Kerry, the Scotia Ensemble was set up early this year with the aim of promoting music performance and education throughout Kerry.

The ensemble was recently awarded an Arts Act Grant from Kerry County Council with a view to achieving these goals.

The players making up the ensemble live and work in Kerry and have played in orchestras and venues all over the world. The ensemble is led by professional Violinist/Violist, Niamh Varian Barry, who is Artistic Director and lives in Dingle.

Niamh, who has a degree in music from the Cork School of Music and a Masters in Performance from the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, is a multiple prize winner and has played in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall, New York, to Seoul National Theatre in South Korea. She had this to say about the ensemble:

“We have so many fantastic musicians living in Kerry but few enough opportunities to perform at a professional level unless we travel to Cork, Limerick or Dublin. We decided that Kerry needed a dedicated professional ensemble to give players a performance outlet and to further promote classical music performance and education in the County. We’ve managed to gather together some of the best musicians in the County and hopefully we’ll be able to expand once the ensemble establishes itself. We’ve started a mentoring programme to give gifted young musicians a chance to perform with the ensemble.

We also hope to eventually set up the Scotia Chamber Music Festival in Kerry to bring together young, amateur and professional musicians from various parts of the County and beyond to perform chamber music.”

For further information contact:- scotiaensemble@gmail.com