Foreword

Music in Great Irish Houses has reached its 41st year – still a constant in Ireland’s cultural calendar in these ever-changing times. While we should now be positive about the future, it is reassuring to know that chamber music, the music of friends, will once again resound in some of the nation’s most historic buildings. So, the Festival is on the road again and this is thanks in no small measure to that other Festival constant – KBC Bank. Not only have they secured this year’s Festival but they have already nailed their colours to the mast for next year.

With the encouragement of its Board, the Festival continues to grow and evolve, thanks to the vision of Artistic Director, Ciara Higgins. We will of course, continue to present acclaimed international artists alongside their Irish counterparts, and we will be visiting some new venues as well as returning to a number of perennial favourites. The dramatic surrounds of Christ Church Cathedral, the Baroque Chapel of the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham and the Chapel of Trinity College Dublin will feature this year, and we will be reacquainting ourselves with the Festival’s spiritual home Castletown House, as well as the Orangery in Killruddery House, the Freemason’s Hall in Molesworth Street and the more modern Sugar Club in Leeson Street. We will also be heading north of the border once again when we pay a return visit to Hillsborough Castle at the invitation of Secretary of State, Owen Paterson. Transport from Dublin by coach will be available for this concert. As always, we are indebted to the owners and custodians of all these wonderful buildings for their kind permission and assistance.

We are honoured that the Minister for the Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs, Jimmy Deenihan T.D. has taken the time out of his busy schedule to officially launch the 2011 programme of events. We wish him well in his challenging new brief and we are very grateful to the OPW for their long-term involvement in the Festival.

We are delighted that this year we will be able to offer our supporters an on-line ticketing system. All ticket issues will now be in the hands of Tickets Ireland, and will lead to a more efficient and more easily accessible means of booking tickets for all concerts with dedicated on-line and telephone access. As always, the Friends of the Festival will benefit from a Priority Booking period, facilitating personalised reservations for their favourite concerts as before. Booking fees and the concert interval receptions, sponsored by Wyndham Wines and Tipperary Water, are included in the published ticket prices.

The Festival thrives with the loyalty and support of our Friends and our sponsors. Our long-term event sponsors such as Schering-Plough and Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard continue to assist our endeavours, and we are most grateful for the concrete recognition of the Department of Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs, the Arts Council and Fáilte Ireland. RTÉ lyric fm have constantly supported our programming. Our title sponsors, KBC Bank, without whose support the Festival simply could not happen, continue to show their generosity by committing to us once again – and, mirabile dictu, not only for this year but for 2012 as well.

I wish you all an enjoyable June and I hope that you will enjoy the music and the surrounds that make up the magic that is the 2011 KBC Music in Great Irish Houses Festival.

Faoi taithneamh na gréine a bheimís mar aon leis an ceoil.

LAURIE CEARR, General Manager