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Ivan Monighetti, The Heath Quartet , Dermot Dunne

Dublin Guitar Quartet, Malachy Robinson , The Oriel Trio

Ivan Monighetti

Image and biography available to download here
Ivan Monighetti, described by Krzysztof Penderecki as a “phenomenal cellist” was Mstislav Rostropovich’s last student at the Moscow Conservatory. He was a top prizewinner in many international competitions including the 1974 Tchaikovsky competition, and since then he has enjoyed a career which has taken him all over Europe, to America and Japan.

He participated in many important festivals of music such as Ravinia festival, Berliner Festwochen, Santa Fe chamber music festival, Schleswig Holstein music festival, Argerich festival, Holland music session.

As a soloist he has performed with many of the world’s great orchestras and conductors, including the Berlin Philharmonic under Krzysztof Penderecki, the Leipzig Gewandhaus under Kurt Masur, the Gulbenkian Orchestra under Muhai Tang, and the Moscow Philharmonic under Mstislav Rostropovich.

Ivan Monighetti’s sensational appearances at numerous contemporary music festivals have brought him a wide reputation as one of the leading figures in the field of modern music. His CD XXth Century Music for Cello Solo was nominated Best Recording of Year, Diapason d’or. He is constantly expanding his musical range as a result of his work with contemporary composers such as Penderecki, Xenakis, Dutilleux, Knaifel, Schnittke, Gubaidulina, Silvestrov, Ali-Zadeh. Many works written especially for him are now part of the established cello repertoire.

Ivan Monighetti is also highly respected for his expertise in the performance practice of the 18th and 19th centuries and is the founding director of the Moscow early music festival. He has collaborated with musicians such as Anner Bylsma, Nancy Argenta, Simon Standage, Ronald Brautigam, Wieland Kuijken, Alexei Lubimov. He now has a varied career as a cello soloist and a conductor of international repute. In 1998 he made a very successful debut at the English Haydn Festival conducting Haydn’s Nelson Mass and in 1999 and 2000 was re-invited as a principal conductor. With his own orchestra Camerata Boccherini he has toured Poland, Holland, France, Estonia and Russia.

In 2003, Ivan Monighetti played at the prestigious Martha Argerich Festival in Japan and performed the world premiere of the Cello Concerto by Frangiz Ali-Zadeh with Muhai Tang and Mario Venzago, as well as the Penderecki Concerto grosso for 3 cellos conducted by the composer. His CD recording of the 6 Solo Suites by J.S. Bach was awarded the 2003 Frederic prize. The same year he performed with great success at the Viva Cello Festival in Switzerland.

Ivan Monighetti, who is featured on Swiss TV in Ritratto a Monighetti and Monighetti: Storie di famiglia, has recorded on Erato, Harmonia Mundi, Chant du Monde, Orfeo, Berlin Classics, Wergo, DUX.

Ivan Monighetti is professor of cello at the Basle Academy of Music in Switzerland. He is a guest professor at Moscow Conservatory and at High School of Music Reina Sofia in Madrid. He has been a jury member of prestigious competitions like the J.S.Bach competition in Leipzig, and has given masterclasses all around the world.

Dublin Guitar Quartet


The Dublin Guitar Quartet are exclusively devoted to contemporary music. Performances include a mix of celebrated works of the guitar quartet repertoire and modern classics by internationally acclaimed composers such Steve Reich, Henryk Gorecki and Arvo Part.

The structure of the group is unique in that Bolger and Brunnock play eight and eleven-string guitars.This enables them to produce arrangements that would be impossible for a standard guitar quartet. They are also developing the electric side of guitar quartet performance and are producing arrangements for this medium.  

The quartet is committed to performing new Irish works. In March of  2004, Lyric FM broadcast their Mermaid Arts Centre concert over two installments of the ‘Horizons’ programme. This concert included a world premiere of Four Guitars by internationally acclaimed composer Kevin Volans. The composer became interested in the group on hearing their arrangement of a work he originally composed for New York’s Kronos Quartet and this inspired him to compose a radical new work for their repertoire. 

The quartet also gave a performance at the National Concert Hall as part of the Dublin Electronic Arts Festival 2006 (D.E.A.F.) This included a premiere of new work by Donnacha Dennehy. The concert was broadcast on Bernard Clarke’s Nova show on RTE Lyric FM. In 2007 the group commissioned seventeen members of the YCC (Young Composers’ Collective) to produce a set of 1-minute miniatures. These were performed during the Printing House festival of New Music at Trinity College.

They have also been successful in bringing new music to unlikely audiences. They have played as guests of ‘rock’ groups such as The Redneck Manifesto (Dublin) and Final Fantasy (Canada) performing in venues such as Vicar St., Whelan’s of Wexford Street, the Project Arts Centre, Crawdaddy and the Roisin Dubh, Galway. They also gave the opening concert at the inaugural Guitar Festival of Ireland (2004) which included performances by John Williams and Louis Stewart. 

In 2005 the quartet undertook a tour of Ireland in which they performed in venues such as Galway’s Town Hall Theatre, the Market Place in Armagh and Crawdaddy at the Pod in Dublin. The quartet was also invited to perform at the Crash Ensembles’ ten year anniversary concert last October 08.

In July 2008, the quartet was honoured to share the stage with legendary American composer Philip Glass at St. Patrick’s Cathederal, Dundalk. The quartet performed arrangements of two of Glass’s string quartets Mishima and Company and were given a complimentary introduction by the composer himself.

Their debut album, Deleted Pieces was released in March 2005. The disc includes works by Henryk Gorecki, Kevin Volans, Leo Brouwer and the Redneck Manifesto. They are currently working on two releases. The first is a Music Network/Arts Council funded recording of works by established and emerging Irish composers for classical guitar quartet. They have recently completed mixing a recording of arrangements for electric guitar quartet by internationally established composers.

Malachy Robinson
Double Bass


Malachy Robinson is a dedicated chamber musician, taking in everything from early music to contemporary classical and jazz. He has been principal double-bass with the Irish Chamber Orchestra since 1995, having studied in London at the Guildhall School of Music (graduating at the top of his year with the Dove Memorial Prize for General Excellence) and at the University of London where his Masters Degree was in Historical Musicology.  His interest in historical performance has involved him with orchestras such as the Irish Baroque Orchestra and the Academy of Ancient Music. He is a founder member of Trio Quattro and Armoniosa (two period instrument trio sonata groups in which he plays the G-violone da gamba) and of the new-music Crash Ensemble and the Nuevo Tango Quartet (playing the music of Astor Piazzolla). He has performed with the Vanbrugh, Callino, Parisii, T’Ang and Vogler String Quartets, Daghda Dance Company (choreographer Yoshiko Chuma), the Brian Byrne Big Band and regularly performs with the cabaret diva Camille O’Sullivan. He has premiered many Irish works for double-bass; recently he recorded Pianura for RTE, a new work by Ian Wilson for unaccompanied bass, and they collaborated on another much larger work Schattentiefe – for double-bass with live recording and playback – which was premiered in Dublin in September 2006.

The Heath Quartet


Over the last year the Heath Quartet has won 1st Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2008 Tromp International Competition in Eindhoven and 2nd Prize at the 2009 Haydn International Competition in Vienna along with Special Prizes for the best interpretation of a work by Haydn and of a commissioned composition.  As part of the Tromp prize the Quartet went on to give recitals throughout the Netherlands, including their Concertgebouw debut, and in 2010 record at the Muziekcentrum Frits Philips and undertake a two week residency at The Banff Centre in Canada.

The Heath Quartet was formed in 2002 at the Royal Northern College of Music, under the guidance of the late Dr. Christopher Rowland.  During 2007/08 they studied with Alasdair Tait at the Reina Sofia in Madrid and in autumn 2008 were appointed Leverhulme Junior Fellows at the RNCM.  Other teachers have included Gabor Takacs-Nagy and members of the Alban Berg, Smetana, Endellion, Lindsay and La Salle Quartets.

Engagements during 2008/09 included recitals at the Purcell Room, Sage Gateshead (broadcast by BBC Radio 3), Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the North Aldborough, Devizes and Swaledale Festivals.   They took part in the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove and in 2009 returned as resident quartet to the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh.   Future plans include recitals at Wigmore, Bridgewater, Perth and Queen’s Hall Edinburgh, and concerts in Italy, Austria (Musikverein), Belgium, the Netherlands and China.

During their studies at the RNCM the Quartet won all the major ensemble prizes and on graduating in 2005 received the prestigious Sir John Barbirolli Memorial Prize. In 2005 they won the Philharmonia Orchestra/Martin Musical Scholarship Fund Ensemble Award which led to their Purcell Room debut and in 2006 were made a laureate of the Geneva International String Quartet Competition.   They have given concerts throughout the UK, under the auspices of the Countess of Munster Recital Scheme Making Music Concert Promoters Society, Park Lane Group and Tunnell Trust and in 2008 were MBF Young Artists in Residence at the Lake District Summer Music Festival.

The Quartet has enjoyed collaborating with Ashley Wass, Alasdair Tait, Timothy Orpen, the Parisii Quartet and Psappha, and worked with several leading composers including Louis Andriessen, Anthony Gilbert and Hans Abrahamsen, the latter in a Radio 3 broadcast from the Proms.  They took part in the European premiere of Steve Mackie’s ‘Gaggle and Flock’ for string octet, and received unanimous critical acclaim for their performance of Ligeti’s Quartet No.2 and Thomas Ades’ Arcadiana for The Park Lane Group at the Purcell Room.

The Oriel Trio
Vourneen Ryan Flute


Vourneen Ryan began her studies with Doris Keogh at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. In 1995, Vourneen was awarded a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she studied under Edward Beckett, Philippa Davies, Sarah Newbold and Paul Edmund-Davies. Vourneen held the position of sub-principal flute with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra from 2004-2007 and now freelances regularly with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, RTE Concert Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia and the Scottish Ballet.

Vourneen has given many recitals at home and abroad including chamber music recitals with Merchant Winds quintet, Fusion wind quintet and the Oriel trio. She recently performed on the critically acclaimed Louth Contemporary Music Society’s CD “A Place Between” and has just been awarded a Performance and Touring award from Music Network for a performance of Shchedrin’s The Sealed Angel that will be promoted by LCMS in October 2010. Along with her performing career, Vourneen has recently been involved in setting up a Career and Enterprise programme for students at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Vourneen is a recipient of Countess of Munster, Hattori Foundation and Arts Council of Ireland bursaries.

Cian Ó Dúill (viola)

Cian Ó Dúill began his viola studies at the Cork School of Music and then graduated with an honors degree from the Royal Academy of Music, London. In 2003 he graduated from the University of Limerick with a 1st class honors MA performance degree, having studied with Professor Bruno Giurana.

Cian was a founder member of the Regent String Quartet and the Rothko Trio and has toured with the Vanbrugh, Callino and Carducci String Quartets, the Avalon Ensemble, Chroma and the Crash Ensemble. He is also a member of the Chamber Players, a London based string sextet with whom he has recorded music by Mozart and Brahms and has performed at Cheltenham, Warwick Arts, Chichester, Aldeburgh, Wye Valley and West Cork Chamber Music Festival.

He has performed concertos with orchestras in Ireland, the UK, and Spain and performed Bach’s Brandenburg concerto No. 6 as part of Cork’s European Capital of Culture 2005 celebrations. Cian is a member of the Irish Chamber Orchestra and the London Mozart Players.

Clíona Doris, concert harp


One of Ireland leading concert harpists, Clíona Doris has extensive experience as a soloist and chamber musician. She has performed throughout Ireland, Britain, Europe and the United States. Her broadcasts include performances on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Ulster, RTÉ Lyric FM, National Public Radio USA, ClassicFM TV, UTV, BBC Television and RTÉ Television.  In 2005, she was the soloist at the BBC Proms in the Park from Belfast, which was broadcast internationally as part of the BBC Last Night of the Proms.

An active exponent of contemporary music, Clíona has premiered works by Elaine Agnew, Donnacha Dennehy, Jason E. Geistweidt, Philip Hammond, Brian Irvine, Deirdre McKay, Neil Martin and Ian Wilson.  Her latest CD, a pale yellow sky released on the RTÉ lyricfM label, features contemporary music by Irish composers.  Other recordings include in blue sea or sky, a solo CD on the Riverrun Label and a performance of Handel’s Harp Concerto with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra recorded for the RTÉ lyricfm label.

Clíona graduated with the Doctor of Music Degree in Harp Performance and Music Literature from Indiana University, Bloomington, USA, where she studied with the acclaimed harpist, Susann McDonald.  She is a graduate of Queen’s University of Belfast and began her harp studies at the Belfast School of Music with Denise Kelly.

She is currently Head of DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama in Dublin.  She was Chairman of the Ninth World Harp Congress Dublin 2005 and is on the Board of Directors of Music Network and the Contemporary Music Centre of Ireland.

Dermot Dunne Accordion


Since winning the RTE Musician of the Future competition in 1996, Dermot Dunne has become a regular performer throughout Ireland as a soloist and chamber musician, appearing at all major venues and festivals including the NCH, the Helix, Ulster Hall, Belfast Opera House, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Galway Arts Festival, Proms in the Park, Vogler Spring Festival and West Cork Chamber Music Festival.   He has performed as soloist with the Ulster Orchestra, RTE Concert Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra and Irish Chamber Orchestra – with whom he has toured as both soloist and conductor.   Dermot will again tour with the ICO in early 2010.   Equally well known internationally, Dermot has performed in England, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Ukraine.   The styles he performs range from baroque to modern and from Bulgarian folk to Argentinean – which Dermot regularly performs with Latin group Lunfardia, who released their first CD to great acclaim in 2008.   Born in Dublin, he commenced accordion studies with Paddy Kavanagh, later studied with Patricia Kavanagh and then at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Kiev with V.V. Besfamilnoff.