A Hothouse Flower, an orchestra, 1,500 eager primary schoolchildren and Prokofiev . . . just some of the participants to be found in Galway's Black Box later this week in search of Peter and the Wolf.
Or Peadar agus an Mactire to be more precise because the three performances of the Prokofiev classic on Friday and Saturday will be narrated in Irish by Liam O Maonlai. Music will be provided by the Intermediate Orchestra of the Royal Irish Academy, conducted by James Cavanagh. He will introduce the string quartet which plays the part of Peter, along with the cheerful flute representing the bird, the stealthy clarinet portraying the cat, the oboe joining in as Peter's grandfather, and all the other instruments with which the classic is associated.
Also planned is a "grand zoological fantasy", the Carnival of the Animals, by the French composer, Saint-Saens. The suite of 14 short pieces, written for fun in 1885, is said to have done more for the composer's reputation than any of his more serious works.
The depiction of lions, hens, fish and birds has been described as humour through music. Again, Liam O Maonlai will present the introductions to the pieces, written in Irish by author Gabriel Rosenstock.
The music project has been put together by Naionra na bhFor bacha, an Irish language preschool group on the edge of the Connemara Gaeltacht, in co-operation with the Music Association of Ireland Ltd.
In preparation for the two Black Box concerts on May 7th and 8th, introductory music workshops have been organised in schools stretching from Oranmore to Rosmuc, from Shantalla to the Aran Islands. Plearaca Conamara has given a hand, and the response from the schools to the workshop invitation has been "overwhelming", according to the organisers.
Three musicians have given their time for the workshops, playing a cello, a violin, an oboe and a set of percussion instruments, and Donnagh Collins has been providing the children with background knowledge of the orchestra.
Dramatist Beartla O Flatharta has been stimulating an exploration of the texts, while artist Caitriona Regan has been involved in creation of canvases in each school, representing the pupils' images of the experience.
Liam O Maonlai has promised to give some time, and is due to fly out to the Aran Islands tomorrow. Mr Ciaran Ryan, who was instrumental in putting the whole project together to raise funds for Naionra na bhForbacha, says that for a large number of children this will be their first time to hear a live orchestra.
"Priest on the run in Galway" was the tantalising title to a flyer in April, distributed to publicise the city's annual early music festival. Red Priest, said to be Britain's most dynamic, theatrical and outrageously different baroque ensemble, will perform the music of Vivaldi and his contemporaries during the festival, which runs from May 13th to 16th.
Taking the theme "Trade Winds - Music and Merchant Adventurers", the event will celebrate European and Irish music, dance and culture from the 13th to the 18th centuries, offering an "exuberant mix" of dance, pageantry and costume in the halls and on the streets of the medieval quarter.
Part of this year's programme will be dedicated to music in medieval Ireland, and two leading researchers and performers in this field have been booked. Using replicas of Celtic instruments, Altramar Medieval Ensemble, from the University of Indiana, Bloomington, will present Crossroads of the Celts, a concert of music, songs and tales in old and middle Irish, Welsh, old French, and Hiberno-Latin.
Also, Dr Ann Buckley of Cambridge University will explore the archaeological, iconographical and written evidence for music making in medieval Ireland, in a talk illustrated with slides and accompanied by music from Altramar.
A late-night concert will be given by the St Cecilia singers. A combination of local groups - the Cois Cladaigh Chamber Choir, the Galway Boy Singers, Galway Cathedral's organist, Ray O'Donnell, the Shantalla Singers and the West Winds Brass Quintet - will present A Merchant's Progress, a programme of renaissance vocal and instrumental music charting the progress of a Galway merchant as he visits the ale-houses and great cathedrals of Europe.
Tenor Dr Ronan Tynan and the Galway Concert Orchestra will perform in Leisureland, Galway, on May 21st in aid of the National Liver Transplant Unit at St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin. The concert is the brainchild of Mr Pat Heaney, chairman and conductor of the Galway Concert Orchestra, who was himself the recipient of a liver transplant.