The highlight of the social diary in Sligo this week was undoubtedly the first performance by the Vogler Quartet, Berlin, at the Hawk's Well Theatre. It marked the start of a three-year residency by one of the world's leading string quartets, in a pilot project unique to Ireland and the Continent.
The aim of the project is to promote music in the county and it will include regular performances by the quartet to build up an audience for the highest-quality music.
Much of the emphasis is on education, however, and in particular on getting more young children playing music. The members of the quartet will take a direct role in programmes involving schools and third-level colleges. Children from as young as five will be encouraged to play and an "instrument bank" will be built up to make it more affordable for everyone.
Inaugurating the residency, the chairman of the Arts Council, Mr Brian Farrell, said Sligo was the envy of many parts of the country. If this experimental project proved successful, it was hoped to replicate it in other areas. A unique collaboration involving Sligo County Council and Corporation, the Arts Council and Music Network had brought the residency about, he said. The ESB is also supporting the scheme through its sponsorship of the Music Education Programme and the Vogler Spring Festival, which will take place annually during the May bank holiday weekend. The festival will be under the artistic direction of the Vogler Quartet with a series of invited guests. Each year a new work will be commissioned from an Irish composer. Its premiere will take place at the festival. The Voglers beat off competition from as far away as Russia and the US to get the residency, which was advertised in the international media. Mr Tim Vogler said there was no other project of its kind in Europe, and he was glad the mood in Ireland was different from his native Germany, where the emphasis was on saving money and cutting spending on orchestras.
He said they would also learn by taking their music to an audience of people who were not regular concert-goers. "We are used to people coming to hear us and applauding, but that way you are in danger of losing the sense of what music can do."
The next concert by the Vogler Quartet will be a joint performance with the RTE Vanbrugh Quartet at St John's Cathedral in Sligo on December 4th.