7 March 2020 – 7:30pm
Anita’s Gallery, Mountshannon, Co. Clare
Michelle O’Connor, vielle
Wolodymyr “Vlad” Smishkewych, harp, sinfonia/organistrum, percussion
Musical explorations and poetic symbols from Ireland to Iberia
Part of the Borderlines Project
From sacred medieval songs filled with poetic symbolism, from the dolmens and stone crosses of Ireland to the Campus Stellae of Santiago, and from ancient Celtic hymns to troubadour and trouvère music with origins along the pilgrimage and cultural paths of historic Europe, STARS & STONES explores the symbolic meaning behind these recurring medieval themes, including musically-inspired carvings on stone crosses, monuments, figures in the tympana and statues in churches where musical allegory was frozen into the carved stone, and music inspired by melodies that originated in the great stone sanctuaries of the middle ages: cathedrals and cloisters. This musical pilgrimage crosses the North Atlantic and includes stops in Ireland, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and more, and explores the intertwined history of place, pilgrimage, physical and allegorical symbol, using as inspiration the images found along these paths of stars and stones.