The 2014 Pipeworks Festival will take place from 18-27 June in Dublin, Maynooth, Dundalk, Armagh and Belfast in a bid to showcase the best of Ireland’s organs.
Enriching the programme at many levels, with recitals and masterclasses, are the five members of the competition jury; revered organist and pedagogue Dame Gillian Weir (UK), Pier Damiano Peretti (Itlay), Todd Wilson (USA) and Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin (organist at the famous church of St Sulpice in Paris) with Jon Laukvik (Norway) returning to chair the jury.
A major theme of the festival is music of our own time and place, with a series of innovative workshops for composers (organised in association with the Irish Composers Collective), and premières of new works for the organ from both within and without the country.
One of the highlights of the 2014 festival will be a performance by the Crash Ensemble collaborating with Pier Damiano Peretti in presenting the world premiere of his new work for organ and instrumental ensemble.
As far as the strong choral element to the festival goes, The Hilliard Ensemble, disbanding at the end of 2014, will be performing twice as part of their year-long swansong; Ireland’s own premiere ensemble Chamber Choir Ireland will also feature, as will Dublin’s three cathedral choirs and the Mornington Singers. And as always, the range of performers and festival venues (including spectacular churches and cathedrals in Dublin, Maynooth, Dundalk, Belfast and Armagh) guarantees a ten-day feast of music to truly celebrate the King of Instruments.
