FUAIM Concert - The Vanbrugh & Friends,19th November, 1.10pm, St. Fin Barre's Cathedral

19 Nov 2021

The National String Quartet Foundation, Chamber Music Partner to UCC, presents 

The Vanbrugh & Friends 

Keith Pascoe, violin 
Marja Gaynor, violin 
Simon Aspell, viola 
David Kenny, viola 
Christopher Marwood, cello 
Yseult Cooper-Stockdale, cello 

Antonín Dvořák [1841-1904] 
String Sextet in A-major, Op.48 [1878] 

The Vanbrugh and their guests present one of the most loved works from the chamber music repertoire. Dvořák wrote his A major sextet in 1878 at a time when he was finally achieving just recognition as a composer. Brahms was one of his most important supporters and he wrote of the sextet: ‘It is endlessly beautiful. I always have the feeling that people don't admire this piece enough, this splendid invention, freshness and sonorous beauty’ 

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.ie/o/fuaim-music-at-ucc-friday-lunchtime-concerts-35147773143

Watch Online: https://www.youtube.com/user/musicatUCC

THE VANBRUGH 

Keith Pascoe, violin  
Simon Aspell, viola  
Christopher Marwood, cello 

The Vanbrugh has evolved from the work of the legendary Vanbrugh Quartet. Over three decades the quartet gave close to three thousand concerts, presenting the chamber music repertoire to audiences throughout Ireland, Europe, the Americas and the Far East. Commercial recordings include more than thirty CDs of repertoire, ranging from the complete Beethoven quartets to many contemporary Irish works. In 2016 the group was presented with the National Concert Hall’s Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of their contribution to music in Ireland. For this concert the core members of the Vanbrugh, Keith Pascoe, Simon Aspell and Christopher Marwood, welcome three wonderful colleagues, violinist Marja Gaynor, violist David Kenny and cellist Yseult Cooper Stockdale 

Marja Gaynor, violin 

Marja Gaynor was born in Finland but has been based in Cork since 2005. She was awarded a 1st class honours MA at Cork School of Music, and continued her Baroque violin studies at The Royal Conservatoire of The Hague with Pavlo Beznosiuk. 

Marja is a member of the Irish Baroque Orchestra and Camerata Kilkenny. Both ensembles have released much-acclaimed recordings and toured nationally and internationally.  Marja is also a founder member of Giordani Quartet, Ireland’s only chamber group specialising in early Classical repertoire using period instruments. 

Outside Ireland Marja works with the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra and other leading European period orchestras, and is increasingly in demand as a leader, soloist and workshop facilitator. She was the Artistic Director of East Cork Early Music Festival 2013-2015, and has also been invited to act as guest curator for the Kaleidoscope Night concert series. 

With her various areas of interest and expertise (Baroque, traditional music, and improvisation) Marja is much sought after as an arranger, studio musician and collaborator in all genres. Her proudest project to date was her critically acclaimed arrangement of Purcell’s ‘Dido and Aeneas’ (Cork Opera House), and she also arranged and played the strings of ‘Falling Slowly’ for the movie ‘Once’, Oscar winner for best song in 2008. 

David Kenny, viola 

A native of Cork, David Kenny studied with Constantin Zanidache and Simon Aspell at the CIT Cork School of Music. He has worked with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Wexford Festival Opera Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, John Wilson Orchestra and the Irish Chamber Orchestra. He has played Principal Viola with the European Union Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland. In 2016, David was appointed to the viola section of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. 

He has performed at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Music in Drumcliffe and the Interlaken Classics Festival. He has collaborated with the Ficino Ensemble, Musici Ireland and the Vanbrugh Quartet. As violist with the Shandon String Trio he undertook a Chamber Studio mentorship under Richard Lester at Kings Place, London, last year.  

He has participated in masterclasses with Yuri Bashmet, Nobuko Imai, Bruno Giuranna, Maxim Rysanov, Lawrence Power and with members of the Alban Berg, Vanbrugh, Pacifica, Artemis, Vogler, Danel, Danish and Casals Quartets.  

Yseult Cooper Stockdale, cello 

Yseult Cooper Stockdale enjoys a versatile career between the UK and Ireland. She has worked with both RTE orchestras, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Welsh National Opera, Southbank Sinfonia and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. She loves performing as a chamber musician and had a spring tour in 2019 with the Alberi Piano Trio, including performances at Music for Wexford and the Crawford Summer Lunchtime Series. She has also been invited to play with Musici Ireland, Crash Ensemble, Ficino Ensemble and London-based Scordatura Collective. In 2018 she played at inaugural Beckett Chamber Music Festival and has also played as a young artist with the Britten-Pears Orchestra and at Bantry Chamber Music Festival and Chamber Music on Valentia. In 2018 her concerto performances included the Schumann Cello Concerto with the Cork Fleischmann Symphony Orchestra, and Beethoven’s triple concerto with Wexford Sinfonia. She has also performed as soloist in the NCH, playing Elgar, and in 2016 toured with the Esker Festival Orchestra performing the Dvoark concerto.  

She has a keen interest in exploring new music, and has performed over 50 premieres with Kirkos Ensemble and has performed at 5 ICC concerts. Recent projects include an online collaboration with sound artist Philip Fogarty, in association with Music for Galway and supported by the Arts Council.  

Yseult was a recipient of the John Vallery Memorial Prize for highest placed string player at the 2015 Freemasons Young Musician of the Year and was awarded the 2016 Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe scholarship. Yseult has a 1st Class Honours MA, from the CIT Cork school of Music, and BA, from the Royal Irish Academy of Music, where her teachers were Christopher Marwood and Bill Butt. In 2015/16 she studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy", Leipzig, with Peter Hörr.