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THE Scotia Ensemble will be bringing Baroque music to Killarney on Saturday, October 22. The Scotia Ensemble is Kerry’s first and only professional orchestra, set up in January 2016 with the aid of an Arts Act Grant from Kerry County Council.

The musicians in the orchestra are working professional musicians based in Kerry, but who perform all around the country and internationally and you can catch a performance in St Mary’s Church of Ireland, Killarney on Saturday, October 22.

Members of the Scotia Ensemble have played with orchestras in Ireland, England and the US and have performed in venues all over the world, from the National Concert Hall to Carnegie Hall in New York. The ensemble’s leader, Niamh Varian-Barry and principal cellist, Maria O’Connor, also perform regularly with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. The orchestra also includes three talented young musicians drawn from the county as part of the orchestra’s gifted students mentoring programme.

For this series of concerts the orchestra have decided to go back in time and to focus exclusively on Baroque music. This concert will feature some of classical music’s greatest and best-known composers, namely Bach, Handel, Corelli and Vivaldi. The orchestra will perform some of the all-time favourite works from this era, such as Pachelbel’s Canon, Corelli’s Christmas Concerto, the Albinoni Adagio for Strings and one of Bach’s famous Brandenburg Concertos. Many of the pieces played by the orchestra have featured in countless films, television shows and adverts, and will be familiar to all audiences.

The Scotia Ensemble Baroque Series will take place on Saturday, October 22, at 8pm in St Mary’s Church of Ireland, Killarney. “We’re running a special competition where you can win two free tickets and a €40 voucher for The Ross Hotel in Killarney, where you can go for delicious pre-concert cocktails or a meal,” said a spokesperson for the Scotia Ensemble. “Check out the competition and details about other promotions, concerts and recordings on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/scotiaensemble. Pre-book with scotiaensemble@gmail.com for discounts."
 

 
Scotia Ensemble performing at the Culture Night Kerry evening of Classical music and song  at St Mary's Church of Ireland, Killarney.
PICTURE: EAMONN KEOGH