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Santa Cruz Baroque Festival 10/9/22
October 9, 2022 @ 3:00 pm-5:00 pm
Santa Cruz Baroque Festival presents O’Carolan Celtic Concert at Santa Cruz County Veterans Memorial Hall, celebrating the 350th Birthday of Turlough O’Carolan, Ireland’s most famous composer.
Linda Burman-Hall, Director, harpsichord, virginal
Shelley Phillips, harp, Baroque oboes, folk flutes
William Coulter, guitar, bodhran
Barry Phillips, ‘cello
Deby Benton Grosjean, traditional fiddle, Baroque violin
Steve Coulter, harp
A contemporary of J.S. Bach, Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738) was Ireland’s most famous harper. Though blinded by smallpox at age 18, a patron gave him a harp, a horse and a guide, and he supported himself for 50 years as an itinerant harpist, becoming the most famous of all Celtic composers. O’Carolan composed in part by improvising, his works transcribed by others. The melodic lines that have come down often run through an ornate chordal harp texture. To play the tunes, musicians must decide suitable tempos, rhythms, harmonies, textures, and ornaments, and like O’Carolan, never repeat anything exactly. His music includes the most joyous tunes in the entire ‘6 Celtic Nations’ repertoire as well as airs of extraordinary melancholy.
This project is supported by UCSC, in honor of Linda Burman-Hall’s award of an Edward A. Dickson Emerita Professorship (2019-2023). The performance will be eventually released as a CD recording. Thanks to UCSC Emeriti Associates, the Committee on Emeriti Relations, the Vice Chancellor, Chancellor, UCSC Endowments, and Music Department for support.