Irish Chamber Orchestra with Abel Selaocoe

Irish Chamber Orchestra
Abel Selaocoe Cello/Director
Nicola Sweeney Leader/Director
Bernhard Schimpelsberger, percussion
Alan Keary, bass

Janáček: Suite for Strings
Abel Selaocoe: Qhawe
Abel Selaocoe: lbuyile l'Africa
Debussy arr. Bosso: Cello Sonata, L.135
Sibelius: Romance Op 42 C maj
Abel Selaocoe: Lerato
Abel Selaocoe: Kea Morata  

South African cellist, vocalist and director Abel Selaocoe is one of today’s most magnetic performers – a captivating, free-spirited presence on stage whose improvisational approach always generates an electric atmosphere. His own genre-blurring music brilliantly fuses his native folk traditions with Western classical music. Read Spotlight on Abel Selaocoe

‘[Abel] Selaocoe is a unique artist… among the most thrilling I’ve experienced.’ (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

He leads the always inspirational Irish Chamber Orchestra, percussionist Bernhard Schimpelsberger and bassist Alan Keary for a thrilling blend of old and new in a dazzling fusion of Europe and Africa.

Janáček’s evocative Suite for Strings, Debussy’s passionate Cello Sonata, and Sibelius’s tender Romance are heard alongside Selaocoe’s own uniquely vibrant music celebrating his African roots, love, and heroism. Highlights include his ‘powerful, inventive and irresistibly enjoyable’ (BBC Music Magazine) Hymns of Bantu: Kea Morata.