Kildare County Council Arts Service
Arts Service Menu
Music and Dance
The County Kildare Orchestra
Fresh from their tour to the Czech Republic for the International "Islands of Music" Festival which featured performances in the University of Karvina and ‘Zamek Hradec Nad Moravici’- the castle where Beethoven wrote "Moonlight Sonata", the County Orchestra are pleased to announce details of their county wide autumn tour. CKO will perform at Castletown House on Sat. 8th and Sun. 9th September, Riverbank Arts Centre on ……….., and in St. Michaels Church, Athy on Sat. 27th October with guest Regina Nathan, A Christmas time treat not to be missed is the performance of Handels Messiah in Rathangan Church on Sat. 15th December, and in St. Davids Church in Naas on Sun. 16th December. The local authority choir will join the Orchestra for this extravaganza.
Contact County Arts Officer for details
A musical evening with a Christmas flavour starring the Liffey Valley Orchestra with guest Sarah Darlington will take place in Celbridge Library in early December. Contact library for details.
Music Outreach Programme
Over the past two years, the Arts Office of Kildare County Council, in partnership with The Herbert Lodge Arts Centre, the IRMA Trust and Irish Association of Youth Orchestras have provided a subsidised Music Outreach Programme to a number of primary schools in Co. Kildare. This autumn an additional 18 primary schools will join in the programme. A team of highly accomplished musicians will facilitate study of composition, violin, viola, piano, woodwind, voice and music appreciation.
We are currently investigating how instruments can be sourced for the project and hope to form a ‘bank’ whereby instruments can be offered on loan to children. We are therefore appealing to the public to search their attics and garages for unused instruments - from violins to clarinets, to pianos- to donate to the scheme. All donations will be acknowledged in future publicity material.
For details on the Music Outreach Scheme contact County Arts Officer.
Dance
With summer slowly slipping away, the autumn and winter programme of dance- artist- in- residence Cathy O’Kennedy has been finalised and will offer opportunities to dance for almost everyone. The Magic of Dance is a performance and workshop for children and will offer an introduction to different aspects of dance. Part of the Library and Arts Services’ Childrens Book Week, The Magic of Dance will be held in several libraries around the county.Primary school teachers in the north of the county will have the opportunity to participate in Teachers Workshops in Celbridge, which outline ways of introducing dance into the classroom. Children from the North Kildare Schools Project worked with the dance artist last year and will perform this work at the Riverbank as part of the community open day.
On September 8th Kildare based Fluxusdance will perform at the launch of the arts programme at Riverbank, in a work called Giselle: the presence of the past. Created in collaboration with Michael Foley Dance in New York the work is loosely based on the ballet Giselle. Fluxusdance have just had a successful premier of Suil Eile at Samuel Beckett Centre in Dublin. Described by the Irish Times as ‘a fine piece…Cathy O’Kennedys best piece to date…brilliantly danced’ the work explores the myths of pregnancy and childbirth.
Another new initiative is the Laban Guilds Community Dance Leaders Course, which is two-year part –time course for adults culminating in a certificate awarded by the International Laban Guild. Workshops in anatomy, teaching skills and dance making held over ten weekends over two years will equip the participants with the necessary skills to teach in the community. Those interested in taking the course can take part in an introductory weekend, which will be held in mid- November at Riverbank in Newbridge.
For further information on all aspects of the dance programme contact County Arts Officer or Cathy O’Kennedy @ 086-8201328.
