02 April 2012

Public Record Office To Host Titanic Festival Of Creative Arts

The Public Record Office NI will host an evening of music and music theatre on 12 April from 6pm as part of the Titanic Festival of Creative Arts.

Director of PRONI, Aileen McClintock said: "PRONI welcomes its partnership with the Belfast Titanic Company, in association with the Arts Council NI and Music Theatre for Youth. The event will involve a tableau of music, word and dance, performed by Music Theatre for Youth, a song cycle commissioned from David Byers, and a piano recital devised by musicologist Una Hunt."

Chair of the Belfast Titanic Company, Richard Mackenzie said: "The Belfast Titanic Company is excited to be a partner with the Public Record Office and Music Theatre for Youth as part of the Titanic Festival of Creative Arts. Together we will be presenting a unique event combining local history and contemporary art in words, dance, poetry and music - a stimulating combination of old and new to match the fine new building which now houses PRONI in the Titanic Quarter."

The programme will reflect the songs and music of the first two decades of the twentieth century at a time when Titanic was being planned and built. Music Theatre for Youth (MT4uth), established in 2005, will perform ‘Docks and Shipyards’, a series of linked vignettes comprising Belfast traditional songs, poetry and dance. Pianist Una Hunt, who is best known for her many appearances in concert and on television with world renowned flautist James Galway, will introduce and perform a programme of ‘Music from the Edwardian Era’ in conjunction with two young Irish singers – Rachel Kelly and Gavin Ring. In partnership with the Arts Council NI, a newly commissioned song cycle from Belfast composer David Byers will form the centrepiece of the evening.

(GK)