Chamber Orchestra Ireland-Bound

The chamber orchestra, conducted by Jeffrey Grogan and joined by four faculty guest artists, will travel to the Republic of Ireland over the spring break to perform concerts in Galway, Limerick, and Dublin. The tour is a component of an exchange program between Ithaca College and the University of Limerick's Irish World Music Centre.

The four string faculty members --- Susan Waterbury, Rebecca Ansel, Debra Moree, and Elizabeth Simkin --- will conduct master classes at the music center, a graduate school offering performance and academic courses in music and dance. The faculty members will also perform with the chamber orchestra as the Ariadne Quartet. In addition to playing the works of various American composers, the two Ithaca College ensembles will join faculty musicians from the music center in playing works by pianist and composer Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, a leading proponent of traditional Irish music and director of the center.

Funded by an anonymous gift in 1999, the exchange program supports a series of performances and enables students from the music center and Ithaca College to study at the partner institution for various lengths of time.