NSOI: Jessica Cottis conducts

National Symphony Orchestra Ireland
Jessica Cottis, conductor 
Darragh Morgan, violin 

Grieg Holberg Suite
Siobhán Cleary Canto (World Premiere NSOI commission)
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4

Acclaimed for her dynamic conducting, Jessica Cottis returns to National Symphony Orchestra Ireland with the ‘hugely impressive’ (The Strad) violinist Darragh Morgan for an evening bridging tradition and innovation. 

Darragh Morgan gives the world premiere of Canto, an evocative work composed for him by Siobhán Cleary. Dedicated to her late sister and inspired by the Italian philosopher-poet Giacomo Leopardi, it is an ‘emotional journey shaped by love, fear, and the enduring impact of trauma’ that depicts ‘a woman setting out to meet her lover on a moonlit night. The landscape around her is serene and full of promise. As a storm gathers, the natural world becomes a reflection of her growing fear and inner turmoil. Overwhelmed by the violence of the elements, she becomes paralysed, frozen in terror, and is finally turned to stone’. 

Borrowing from Baroque dance forms and glossed with Norwegian folk accents, Grieg’s Holberg Suite charms with its elegance, buoyant rhythms and lyrical beauty.

Tchaikovsky’s impassioned Symphony No. 4 seethes and surges with dramatic emotional intensity and striking contrasts of mood from its baleful, brass-led opening ‘fate’ motif through brooding darkness and playful asides to the life-affirming energy of its rousing finale.

Presented by NCH