Esposito Quartet to perform at Tullynally Castle

Tullynally Castle will host the extraordinary evening of music at the end of this month. The Esposito Quartet will present four pieces at the delightful Castlepollard venue.

Mia Cooper (violin), Anna Cashell (violin) Joachim Roewer (viola) and William Butt (cello) will present: Raynaldo Hahn's String Quartet No 1 in A minor, Seóirse Bodley's String Quartet No 4 Strings in the Earth and Air, Glazunov's Three Novelettes (Nos 2, 3, 5) and Shostakovich's String Quartet No 1.

Venezuelan-born Raynaldo Hahn was a popular figure in the musical salons of Paris before the first world war and is best known for his many songs influenced by the style of Massenet and Fauré, as well as his operettas and musical comedies. His lovely first string quartet from 1939 looks back to the influence of Ravel, Erik Satie and Fauré.

Seóirse Bodley, who died in 2023, was one of the most important composers of twentieth-century art music in Ireland. His fourth quartet was commissioned by RTÉ for the Vanbrugh Quartet’s 21st anniversary in 2007.

Alexander Glazunov was a member of the 'Belyayev Circle' in St Petersburg, a group of composers connected with the wealthy patron, amateur musician and publisher Mitrofan Belyayev who supported emerging composers and musicians, frequently holding salons in his palatial estate.

It was for one of these gatherings in 1886 that a 21-year-old Glazunov composed his Novelettes for string quartet, and the Castlepolard concert includes three of them: Orientale, Interludium in modo antico and All'Ungherese.

Shostakovich wrote his short, charming and brilliant first quartet in 1938, shortly after the successful premiere of his fifth symphony. He started writing it on the second birthday of his daughter and said that he ‘visualized childhood scenes… and bright moods associated with spring’

Part of this Esposito Quartet tour is funded by the Arts Council and supported by RTE Lyric FM. It takes place on Saturday, October 25, 2025, and will start at 7:00pm.