One of the many initiatives managed by our music service, Donegal Music Education Partnership, is a number of ensemble groups, one of which is the Donegal Chamber Orchestra. This year it celebrates its twentieth anniversary. How and why was it set up and what does it do? In this month’s blog, Artistic Director, Víctor Yélamo, tells us more about it.
The Donegal Chamber Orchestra (DCO), based at the Regional Cultural Centre, features classical string players from across the county, and is dedicated to helping students, amateur and semi-professional musicians to achieve the highest level of excellence in performance. The Orchestra is led by the husband-and-wife duo of Hungarian violinist Orsolya Szabó-Yélamo and Spanish cellist Víctor Yélamo, both accomplished professional players.
How it all started
In September 2005, Orsolya took up the full-time position of Violin Resource Tutor with Donegal ETB/DMEP. With the aim of developing the level of the students learning classical strings, she started to teach ensembles regularly, from there the idea of starting a Chamber Orchestra emerged. The creation of the group was the culmination of a three-week course in the Abbey Vocational School, in June 2006. The closing concert marked the first public appearance of the ensemble.
The Orchestra practices weekly on Saturdays and prepares five different programmes yearly, with music from contrasting periods and styles. We are a small group of musicians that gives us the flexibility to play in a variety of venues, and have performed in places like Mussenden Temple, Glenveagh Castle, RDS Dublin, Donegal Castle and Conwal Parish Church, our main concert venue in Letterkenny.
To mark the beginning of our 20th Anniversary celebrations, we went back to Donegal Town, on Saturday June 27, to play in the historical
Church of Ireland. This programme focused on the music of Britten, who died 50 years ago, plus pieces by Purcell, Marcello, Bach and Mozart.
Highlights from the last twenty years
Some highlights of these years have been our Italian trip in 2009, the world premiere of works specially written for us and the ongoing collaboration with local artists and choirs.
Our tenth anniversary concert was a very special event, when we were joined on stage by two of the main persons behind our music service: Sister Concepta Murphy and Donegal ETB Director of Schools Dr Martin Gormley, both key figures in the development of DMEP.
In 2019, we played a memorable concert in the Regional Cultural Centre with the legendary flamenco guitarist Juan Martín. In recent years we had very successful concerts as part of the Sound Festival at An Grianán Theatre.
As part of the orchestra’s anniversary celebrations, a gala concert will take place at An Grianán Theatre on Sunday, October 25, and we will perform Vivaldi’s Gloria at St Eunan’s Cathedral, on November 28, with The Conwal Singers.
Thanks
We are extremely thankful to everyone who has been part of the Orchestra’s journey, supporting us over the years – performers, families, parents (especially Naomi and Brian Fleury, who have been kindly looking after the promotion materials of the group, as well as running www.donegalstrings.com), managers and Dr Martin Gormley, who established the Donegal Music Education Partnership as we know it today.
–
If you are aged thirteen years+ and would like to join the Donegal Chamber Orchestra, auditions are open to string players who are prepared to commit to the Orchestra’s rehearsal and concert schedule. You should contact DMEP by emailing musiceducation@donegaletb.ie. There are opportunities for violins, violas, cellos (Grade 5 RIAM or equivalent and above) and double bass (Grade 3 RIAM or equivalent and above).
–
* Image credit: John Soffe