COMING TO IRELAND IN JULY: WASBE(WORLD ASSOCIATION FOR SYMPHONIC BANDS AND ENSEMBLES)Ireland will host the 13th International Conference of the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE).This prestigious event will be held in the Irish National Events Centre (INEC), Killarney, from July 8th through July14th. “We went to the Midwest Band Conference in Chicago in 2002, and got lucky on the day we pitched for it” says Fergus O’Carroll, chairman of the Local Organising Committee, with a smile! Five years later, this conference promises much. Our aim is to deliver quality music and entertainment to our international visitors as well as to our Irish audience. It promises to surprise all those who attend by displaying the richness and persity of wind band music, as well as highlighting our own homegrown talent. There will be no fewer than ten premiers, among these: John Kinsella’s “Prelude and Toccata” written for the Irish Youth Wind Ensemble. A highlight of this conference will be the first performance outside Russia of an opera by Shostakovich, written for an animated film “The Priest and his Servant Balda” and presented with projected animation! During the week-long Conference, there will be thirteen major concerts with bands from Belgium, Ireland, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States of America. Among them: the Band of the Irish Defence Forces, Chetham’s School of Music Wind Orchestra, the International Youth Wind Orchestra, the Irish Youth Wind Ensemble, Nagoya University of Arts Wind Orchestra, and the Swiss Army Symphonic Wind Orchestra. Other events will feature visiting bands from Canada, Finland and Germany. Choral concerts with wind ensemble will take place in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Killarney. But there is more to this conference than concerts. Research and repertoire sessions will be offered as well as pre-concert talks and masterclasses. These sessions aim to promote a fruitful exchange of ideas between composers, conductors, performers, publishers and educators. Some of the familiar names taking part in these workshops will be Dame Evelyn Glennie the exceptional percussionist, Gerhard Markson, a charismatic conductor, Timothy Reynish, a tireless promoter of music for winds and Ian Wilson one of our internationally recognised composers. A Trade Exhibition, an integral part of the conference, will allow instrument manufacturers and music publishers to answer questions, offer instruments for testing, or preview new publications. Trade exhibitors can email: wasbe2007@ovation.ie to book a stand. The week-long conference will be complimented by a Fringe Festival of daily, open-air concerts performed by Irish and visiting bands. Admission is free and concerts will take place twice daily at Muckross House and in Killarney Town Centre. To participate in the full week of conference events, become a Conference Delegate and register online. A full list of events and concerts is available here. Tickets for indvidual concerts can be booked by emailing: tickets@wasbe2007.com or purchased at the door in the INEC in Killarney. Admission is €20 (Concessions €10). WASBE is an international organisation of wind band conductors, composers, performers, publishers, teachers, instrument makers and friends of wind music. It is the only organization completely dedicated to enhancing the quality of the wind band throughout the world and exposing its members to new worlds of repertoire, musical culture, people and places. To find more information about WASBE, visit their website at www.wasbe.org.
Patron: Mary McAleese, President of Ireland |
||