OCM ACADEMY QUARTET
2 JULY 2024
12.30pm
The OCM Academy Quartet was founded in 2022 as part of a project conceived by the prestigious Orchestra da Camera di Mantova. It consists of Filippo Ghidoni and Filippo Pedrotti, violins, Clara Costa, viola, and Stefano Beltrami, cello. Coming from different cities and backgrounds, the young musicians, who graduated under 35, were selected for a training course that led them on national and international stages for a year, collaborating in the orchestra's ranks.
The quartet took part in the Mantua Chamber Music Festival - Trame Sonore 2023 performing two concerts at Palazzo Te. The quartet performed at the Teatro Bibiena in Mantua and took part in the Universo Musica festival in Brescia.
Today it is the protagonist of the projects Sei/Ottavi and Made in Oficina OCM, as resident youth quartet of the Mantua Chamber Orchestra.
FREE EVENT AS PART OF THE WEST CORK MUSIC FRINGE 2024 FESTIVAL
KAREN UNDERWOOD
The Music of Nina Simone
13 JULY 2024
Singer, writer, storyteller, and public speaker Karen Underwood, resides in Cork. From Chicago, Illinois, Karen found her way to Cork in 1997. Karen has performed at The Cork opera House, The Everyman, The Olympia, The Gate, Vicar Street, Millennium Forum Theatre, The National Concert Hall and Marley Park and countless other venues in Ireland.
Karen has produced several shows.
Singing Nina, the music of Nina Simone
The story of soul, the journey of soul music in America
Of Ladies lost and found, the stories of divas that left us too soon and women that inspire her today
Generations, the stories of her childhood and later becoming a mother
Soul in the City, An annual festival each year since 2014 which she produces highlighting soul music
The Black American songbook, Karen’s interpretation of Black American music from the underground railroad to Cork.
In October 2023 Karen sold out 5 shows for the Cork Guinness Jazz Festival at Cork Opera House.
Now Karen returns to Baltimore Castle with the music and life of Nina Simone with renowned pianist, Gary Beecher and band.
Tickets available to purchase on Eventbrite or at Baltimore Castle
SEAN KEANE
6 SEPT 2024
"There is a simple lucid clarity to Sean Keane's singing voice which - like a laser - cuts through the cacophonous clatter and bang of a noisy world. He is a storyteller, whose voice is the sound of everyman; as ancient history [simultaneously] as vital as a digital radio signal, winging its way across the heaven in search of new civilisations. Sometimes he can sounds as lonely as an emigrant standing on the prow of a ship taking him away from his native homeland and more times he can sound like a cyber survivor, full of strength and valour that provides comfort to those who battle unequally with the hostile emotional landscape of the modern world. Sean Keane is a touchstone of great singing tradition. He is the past, the present and the future." Shay Healey, songwriter, broadcaster and journalist. Sean is also an ambassador for Safe Home Ireland, an Irish emigrant support service that provides a range of services to more than 2,000 people every year.
Tickets available to purchase on Eventbrite or at Baltimore Castle