Natural setting for staging 'Plight of the Bumblebee'
APIARY Beewise to host music and film
With apologies (or not! ) to Rimsky-Korsakov, Summerhill concertina player Brenda Castles is staging a concert later this month called the 'Plight of the Bumble Bee' consisting of a short film about bees accompanied by newly-composed live music, funded by the Arts Council of Ireland.
It will be presented on Saturday 26th August at the Bee Wise apiary in Kilmessan, where people can see the story of honey, view a glass beehive, walk nature trails, see Irish tea trees in flower and more.
The event will consist of a guided walk through the nature trail at Bee Wise with a talk by beekeeper Paddy Gorman. Then there will be a short film by David Grant about bees -the bee in Irish folklore and religion, the bechbretha (Brehon bee laws), issues facing bees in Ireland, how we can help and more. The film will be accompanied by seven newly-composed pieces of music in the traditional Irish genre, composed by Castles and played live by Erin Hennessey (classical violin), Tony Byrne (guitar) and Castles herself on concertina. Refreshments will be provided by Kinsale Mead Co.
Brenda Castles explans: "The idea was inspired by the parallels between bees and my instrument. The concertina is a hexagonal shaped instrument just like the honeycomb cells used by bees and it makes use of drones just like a hive has drone bees. I have noticed the huge decline in insects in the countryside around my home in Summerhill in recent years and wanted to do something to help inform people about the issues bees face and how they can help. So I visited the Bee Wise apiary with videographer David Grant to film the honey bees and then Clarkes fruit farm in Stamullen to look at and film the pollinating bumble bees."
Pieces she composed for The Plight of the Bumble Bee include 'The Worker’s March', 'The Waggle Dance', 'Plight of the Bumble Bee' and 'Planxty Gorman'.
Previous works include her debut album, 'Indeedin You Needn't Bother', a solo album of traditional Irish music on concertina, self-produced and released in December 2016 to critical acclaim and positive reviews. The album was launched with concerts in the Cobblestone pub, at Fleadh Nua in Ennis and at the Catskills Irish Arts Week, New York and it entered the top 10 selling albums in Custy's Music shop charts and the top 10 in the Japanese charts; and 'The Light side of the Tune' (2021) featuring previously unrecorded versions of common tunes in the tradition, launched at Temple Bar TradFest.
Erin Hennessey performs as a soloist and chamber musician across Ireland and the United States and is deeply invested in reviving the music of under-represented composers.
As a freelance violinist, she works with the National Symphony Orchestra, RTE Concert Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra, and Irish National Opera, and is an avid chamber musician, recently performing the Irish premiere of Bastien David’s quartet 'L’impatiente' in New Music Dublin and the world premiere of Ina Boyle’s chamber opera 'Maudlin of Paplewick' for the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival.
In 2021, she received the Gaiety Bursary to typeset, perform, and record Ina Boyle’s Phantasy for violin and chamber orchestra, which she premiered in November 2021; the work has since been performed by soloist Daniel Hope and Irish National Symphony Orchestra.
Guitarist Byrne worked with the Galway Arts Festival Ireland and is an original cast member of multi award-winning show, 'Trad' which was performed at the Perth and Adelaide International Festivals, Australia and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scotland with an extended six week run in London's West End.
He produced Daoirí Farrell’s 'Trueborn Irishman' album which won two BBC Radio 2 folk awards in 2017 and 'Tapestry' by Irish/Iranian ensemble Nava who continue to tour all over Ireland and Europe.
Byrne has performed on over 50 recordings and co-arranged a reworking of Beatles song 'Blackbird'. He also featured with Julie Fowlis as part of the Disney Movie 'Brave' with her song, 'Touch the Sky' being nominated for an Oscar.
For tickets, see beewise.ie