The Ficino Quartet presents a revival of its memorable contribution to the National String Quartet Foundation’s 2020 Beethoven Reflected project, marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. The Foundation commissioned Amanda Feery, Garrett Sholdice, Cora Venus Lunny and Benedict Schlepper-Connolly to write short works inspired by and reflecting Beethoven’s breathtaking A minor quartet Op.132. The four pieces are performed as introductions to each of the quartet’s movements, creating a seamless whole with a multiplicity of new resonances and connections.

Ficino Quartet

Elaine Clark, violin
Lynda O’Connor, violin
Nathan Sherman, viola
Ailbhe McDonagh, cello

Programme

Beethoven – String Quartet in A minor Op.132 [1825]
Amanda Feery – From Ashes [2019]
Garrett Sholdice – The Secret Cause [2019]
Cora Venus Lunny – Theft [2019]
Benedict Schlepper-Connolly – Foreign Hand [2019]

Formed in 2013, the Ficino Ensemble has been committed to exploring the vast chamber music repertoire and presenting thoughtfully programmed concerts. The group regularly performs as a string quartet, and the addition of winds and percussion gives the possibility of playing large-scale chamber works. The members share a dedicated approach to contemporary music and have premiered many works. In 2019 they collaborated with several composers of the Irish Composers Collective, where the musicians worked on pieces with the composers and premiered several new works for flute, harp and viola. Ficino Ensemble was recently joined by the Con Tempo String Quartet in a performance of works by Brahms, Mendelssohn and Enescu as part of the Dublin Enescu Festival. In 2018 they performed a concert with Olwen Fouéré as part of MusicTown in Dublin, which included a performance of Thomas Ades’ Four Quarters and Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 132. The group have recorded two acclaimed albums, Winter and Folk Songs.  Ficino Ensemble takes the name from Marsilio Ficino, the Renaissance philosopher who regarded music as a “contemplation of the divine”. ficinoensemble.com

Elaine Clark, violin
Born in Aberdeen, Elaine Clark studied with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she won several awards and prizes. After graduating with a First Class Honors Degree, she continued her studies with Viktor Liberman at the Utrecht Conservatory in the Netherlands.In 1996, she was appointed Co-Leader of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and has performed many concerti, including those of Berg, Brahms (Double Concerto), Bach, Tchaikovsky, and Mozart (Fifth Violin Concerto, as soloist and director) with various orchestras in Scotland and England. Since joining the RTÉ NSO, she has been a regular soloist with the orchestra, most recently in performances of Prokofiev Concerto No. 1, Tippet’s Triple concerto as well as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, for which she was soloist and director.

As a member of the contemporary music group, Concorde, Elaine has specialised in contemporary violin repertoire, giving many Irish and world premieres and working closely with many distinguished composers. Elaine can be heard performing on Concorde’s most recent CD, Reflections, and also What Was, the recently launched CD by Judith Ring. Elaine is very much in demand as a chamber musician and has performed numerous concerts around Ireland with the Clarion Horn Trio. In 2007, she was invited to guest-lead the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for a series of concerts and since then, has also guest-led the Ulster Orchestra and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Lynda O’Connor, violin

Lynda O’Connor is one of the most celebrated Irish violinists of her generation. Showing particularly early promise she made her debut solo performance at the age of four in the National Concert Hall, Dublin, which began her International career as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral leader.

Lynda’s soloist career has included many memorable performances including Mozart Sinfonie Concertante with Nobuko Imai and Bach Double Violin Concerto with Chee-Yun Kim alongside Camerata Ireland. In 2016 she performed as a soloist with Gilles Apap and the International Mahler Orchestra at a Menuhin Tribute concert in Frankfurt. Lynda has also toured France with the Wexford Sinfonia performing Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. More recent performances include Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, Beethoven, Bruch and Mozart Violin Concertos with Camerata Ireland, SinfoNua, Dublin Orchestral Players, Greystones Orchestra and the Orchestra of Ireland.

As a chamber musician, Lynda has collaborated with a dazzling array of artists including Barry Douglas, John O’Conor, Michael McHale, Finghin Collins, Alessio Bax, Celine Byrne, Fionnuala Hunt, members of the Vanbrugh Quartet and members of the Pavão Quartet. In 2011, Lynda made her debut USA broadcast in Boston with Barry Douglas. Lynda is a full time/founding member of a number of chamber ensembles including Ficino Ensemble, a large chamber group established by viola player Nathan Sherman, Belisama Trio with cellist Ailbhe McDonagh and pianist Orla McDonagh, Trio Elatha, a classical/traditional crossover group with guitarist Brendan Walsh and cellist Ailbhe McDonagh, and a duo with pianist Alexander Bernstein. With these groups Lynda has enjoyed performances across USA, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Germany, UK and Ireland.

Lynda is in demand as an orchestral performer, both at home and abroad, as a principal player, working with the International Mahler Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Ireland, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony, The Wexford Opera Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Ireland, the Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra, Plano Symphony Orchestra, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, among others. She has toured internationally with these orchestras, including performances in Carnegie Hall, Cadogan Hall as part of the BBC Proms, China, Mexico, Washington as part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris as resident artists with Camerata Ireland, St Petersburg, Moscow, Belgium, Germany, Warsaw as part of the International Beethoven Festival, Spain, Shanghai, Beijing and Finland as part of the Naantali Music Festival.

Nathan Sherman, viola
Nathan Sherman is a viola player who enjoys a versatile career. He was immediately attracted to the darker sonorities of the viola from a young age and chose to explore the instrument and its repertoire further at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, the Royal Academy of Music and the Escuela Superior de Musica Catalunya in Barcelona. Nathan is especially interested in contemporary music, where the viola has its richest and most diverse repertoire. He has premiered many works for viola, and has played and recorded with Crash Ensemble, Kirkos, and Evlana, and recently released a critically acclaimed album of new music for viola and percussion Totemic on Ergodos Records. He regularly performs in the historical performance groups Irish Baroque Orchestra, Camerata Kilkenny and Ensemble Marsyas, and with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra and Ulster Orchestra. Nathan is Artistic Director of Ficino Ensemble and runs a community-based orchestra called the Offbeat Ensemble which raises money for music education projects for children.

Ailbhe McDonagh, cello
Irish cellist Ailbhe McDonagh performs throughout Ireland and internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY, and the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, Ireland, she studied with world-renowned cellists Steven Doane, Nora Gilleese, Aisling Drury-Byrne and William Butt. McDonagh gave her debut recital with celebrated Irish pianist John O’Conor at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, Ireland. Over the last ten years, she has performed throughout Europe, Asia and the USA and has appeared as a concerto soloist numerous times all over Ireland and abroad. Performances include concerts at Carnegie Hall, the Yale Norfolk Festival, Schleswig Holstein Music Festival, Great Irish Houses Festival, for the Irish President at Áras an Uachtaráin and on Irish national television and radio. She has recently formed a new duo, The McDonagh Sisters with pianist Orla McDonagh. Keenly interested in contemporary music, McDonagh collaborates with several composers and other artists worldwide, most recently recording a CD of contemporary music for Bridge Records in New York. A composer and arranger in her own right, she has had several piano compositions published for the RIAM Local Centre Examinations. McDonagh joined the cello faculty of the RIAM in 2010. Upcoming engagements include performances with her new piano trio The Belisama Trio and a tour of Ireland with her classical/traditional crossover group, Trio Elatha along with other solo recitals. McDonagh’s debut CD called It’s a Cello Thing was released on 27 April 2012 and was named “CD of the Week” on RTÉ Lyric FM.