Given current Covid 19 restrictions, the 2020 Ardee Baroque Festival will be an exclusively online event. On Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 November, enjoy a weekend of early music events with some of the country’s leading musicians from the comfort of your home.

All events will be available to watch for free on www.ardeebaroque.com

Beethoven 250 with Finghin Collins, violinist Claire Duff and cellist Sarah McMahon of the Irish Baroque Orchestra.

Saturday 28 November 7:30pm

One of Ireland’s most prominent concert pianists, Finghin Collins makes a rare foray into period instrument performance in this special online concert from Ardee Baroque Festival. Collins teams up with two of the members of the Irish Baroque Orchestra, violinist Claire Duff and cellist Sarah McMahon, to celebrate Beethoven’s 250th anniversary in a very special way – by performing three of the composer’s early works on period instruments.

Cello sonata Op. 5 No. 1 (1796)

Violin sonata Op. 12 No. 1 (1798)

Piano trio Op. 11 (1797) Gassenhauer Trio

For this concert, Finghin will perform on a 1994 copy by Paul Poletti of a Walter fortepiano. Anton Walter was an exact contemporary of both Mozart and Beethoven. It will be fascinating to travel back in time and hear this music as it might have sounded more than two centuries ago.

Bach duos with violinist Claire Duff and cellist Sarah McMahon of the Irish Baroque Orchestra.

Sunday 29 November 3pm

In our Sunday afternoon concert by Claire and Sarah, we hear some of the great solo and duo works written by JS Bach. Bach's works for unaccompanied string instruments were often considered oddities, however today they are considered an essential part of the solo string repertoire and require adept players to express much of the rich polyphonic textures.

The two-part inventions were originally scored for keyboard. In this concert they will be played by violin and cello, whose respective registers ensure a voicing faithful to the original setting.

Bach Sonata no.1 in G minor for solo violin BWV 1001

Bach Two-part inventions from 15 Inventions for keyboard BWV 772-786 (Cöthen, 1720-23)

No. 8 in F, BWV 779

No. 9 in F minor, BWV 780

No. 10 in G, BWV 781

No. 12 in A, BWV 783

Bach Cello suite in D minor

The festival is funded by Louth County Council.