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Cassiopeia Winds

Wind Quintet

Cassiopeia Winds
Cassiopeia Winds
Date & Time
Thursday 15th May 2025, 8pm
Venue
Russborough House
Ticket Info
Tickets €42 / €21 student concession
(+ booking fee)

For group bookings or for those having any issues booking, please contact manager@westwicklowfestival.com
Artists
Catriona Ryan / Flute
Matthew Manning / Oboe
Deirdre O'Leary / Clarinet
John Hearne / Bassoon
Cormac Ó hAodáin / French Horn
Programme
F. Danzi Wind Quintet in G Minor, Op.56 No.2
Joan Trimble Three Diversions for Wind Quintet
Arturo Márquez Danza de Mediodía
D. Milhaud La Cheminée du Roi René
Ronan Guilfoyle Groove Merchants
G. Briccialdi Potpourri Fantastico on Rossini's “The Barber of Seville”
Adele O’Dwyer The Cynical Clown

Prepare for an evening of dazzling musicianship as Cassiopeia Winds, Ireland’s leading wind quintet, take to the stage on Thursday 15th May. Renowned for their virtuosity and infectious joy in performing, this quintet brings a vibrant and eclectic programme to the festival.

Cassiopeia Winds, featuring principal players from the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and RTÉ Concert Orchestras, have captivated audiences with their sensitivity and humor-infused performances. Their programme promises a rich journey through time and style, from Briccialdi’s delightful ode to The Barber of Seville and the evocative French and Spanish hues of Milhaud and Márquez to the playful and jazzy inflections of Irish composers Ronan Guilfoyle, Joan Trimble, and Adele O’Dwyer. Don’t miss this chance to experience one of Ireland’s finest chamber ensembles in an evening of musical delight.

Sundays at Noon Concert Catch-up : Cassiopeia Winds

Cassiopeia Winds is a group of five of Ireland’s top wind players committed to sharing their passion for the superb wind quintet repertoire with audiences throughout Ireland. The players inspire and refresh their audiences by their infectious enthusiasm for the music they are playing. Members of the group introduce each piece in the programme, engaging with and developing a rapport with their audience, drawing them in so that they feel almost like a sixth member of the group.

Cassiopeia Winds was formed in 2010 by five friends with a passion for wind music. Though the ensemble has the capacity to expand or contract to suit its innovative programming, at its core is a quintet of players whose members are among the finest in the country, including players from the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. Cassiopeia also has a great interest in contemporary music and in supporting the work of Irish composers and have commissioned, premiered and toured new wind quintets from John Buckley and Jonathan Nangle, as well as premiering and touring a new quintet written for them by Adele O’Dwyer. In 2022, with funding from the Arts Council, they commissioned a new work from Raymond Deane which they premiered in the NCH in March 2023.

The ensemble aims with each performance to run the full and varied gamut of the wind repertoire from 19th-century to contemporary works. They have a dedication to bringing the lesser-known works of this repertoire into the Irish and international concert halls and festivals. Their concerts represent the startling originality and exoticism and the inimitable palette of tone colours of the wind ensemble. Cassiopeia Winds has had the great pleasure of collaborating with well-loved and renowned musicians Finghin Collins, ConTempo Quartet, Melvin Tan, and Lise de la Salle, among others. They have performed at the Galway Midwinter Festival, the New Ross Piano Festival, the Sligo International Chamber Music Festival, the Castleconnell Autumn Series, the Joan Trimble Centenary Celebration, Music for Galway and have recorded three pieces at a live performance of the long-running RTÉ Radio 1 programme Sunday Miscellany. They have been regular performers at Dublin’s Kaleidoscope Night and have toured Ireland four times with the generous support of the Arts Council.

Cassiopeia Winds are:

Catriona Ryan – Flute
Matthew Manning – Oboe
Deirdre O’Leary – Clarinet
John Hearne – Bassoon
Cormac Ó hAodáin – French Horn