Spero Quartet bring spring season tour to All Saints Church

When the Spero Quartet formed in 2020, it brought together three of Ireland’s finest musicians, Jennifer Murphy, Yseult Cooper Stockdale and David Kenny, with Canadian violinist Brigid Leman.

The group are playing in Mullingar (February 10) as part of their spring season, and music lovers who get tickets for their show, promoted by Mullingar Arts Centre at All Saints Church (8pm) have much to look forward to.

The programme is: Mozart - Quartet In D Major K.499 ‘Hoffmeister’; Garth Knox - Satellites; Shostakovich - Quartet No.9.

As a chamber musician, Jennifer Murphy has performed with the Grammy nominated ARC Ensemble, the Art of Time Ensemble and the Amici Chamber Ensemble, and has performed works by Laurie Anderson, Magnus Lindberg and Osvaldo Golijov, in collaboration with the composers.

She recently completed a chamber music tour of Australia, the US and Canada with Lincoln Center Stage.

Summer festival performances include the Rockport Chamber Music Festival and Stoughton Chamber Music Festival (USA), the West Cork Chamber Music Festival (Ireland), Creative Dialogue (France), Music by the Sea Festival, Toronto Summer Music, Domaine Forget, and the Banff Centre Masterclasses (Canada).

Yseult Cooper Stockdale studied in Cork, Dublin and Leipzig and enjoys a versatile career between Ireland and the UK. She has worked with both RTÉ orchestras, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Welsh National Opera, Southbank Sinfonia and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

As chamber musician she has played in groups including the Alberi Piano Trio, Music Ireland, Crash Ensemble, Ficino Ensemble and London-based Scordatura Collective.

Yseult has a keen interest in exploring new music, and has performed more than 50 premieres with Kirkos Ensemble.

Brigid Leman was born in Ottawa, Canada. She studied in San Francisco, Zurich and Weimar and from 2012 to 2019 worked with the Hamburg State Opera under Simone Young and Kent Nagano.

In 2020, she moved to Ireland, where she has played in Luminosa String Orchestra (Galway) and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. She teaches violin in the Junior Department at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin.

David Kenny studied with Constantin Zanidache and Simon Aspell at the CIT Cork School of Music and played principal viola with the European Union Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland.

In 2016, David was appointed to the viola section of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

An experienced chamber musician, David has performed at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Music in Drumcliffe Festival, Interlaken Classics Festival and has collaborated with the Ficino Ensemble, Musici Ireland and the Vanbrugh Quartet.

The Spero Quartet tour is supported by the National String Quartet Foundation and its major funders, the Arts Council and RTÉ.

Book your tickets here or call Mullingar Arts Centre on 044 934 7777.