Beside the Sea at Riverbank Arts Centre

Beside the Sea is a new music performance by composer Ian Wilson, written in response to his father’s death after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. A staged work for violinist, soundtrack and found objects, the piece explores ideas around memory, personhood and how to evoke a life and its trajectory through music. It examines how much of a role memory has in making a person and what part music can also have in that.

The performance is the culmination of a long-term strategic creative collaboration between the HSE, Tallaght University Hospital and composer Ian Wilson for onsite performances, within Kildare County Council’s Arts, Health and Wellbeing programme.

“This is very personal work which nonetheless should have broad appeal – the subjects of love, loss, and memory occupy most of us sooner or later, directly or indirectly. It has been a beautiful challenge putting Beside the Sea together and I’m pleased that we have been able to bring a lot of compassion and tenderness – even joy – to the finished work.” – Ian Wilson

Featuring violinist Dušica Mladenović, director Olivia Songer and designer Jack Scullion, Beside the Sea is a universal and uplifting story of changing minds and bodies, of ageing, using elements of Ian’s father’s life as found objects around which the narrative has been built. The work’s title is multifaceted and ambivalent, referencing musical, physical, temporal, and cognitive domains.

“This work is a profound vessel to explore themes of ageing, health and memory, hopefully leading to increased understanding and compassion.” – Lucina Russell, Kildare County Council Arts Officer

Beside the Sea is funded by an Arts Council of Ireland Music Project Award and supported by Kildare County Council Arts Service and HSE Health Promotion & Improvement.

About Ian Wilson
Ian Wilson is an Irish music composer who has written over 200 works, including operas, concertos, 20 string quartets, a range of orchestral and chamber music and multi-media pieces. His compositions have been performed and broadcast on six continents and presented at festivals including the BBC Proms, Venice Biennale and Frankfurt Bookfair. www.ianwilson.ie

Tickets 
Beside the Sea takes place at Riverbank Arts Centre on Friday 16 September at 8pm. Tickets are priced at €18/€15 and are available from the Box Office in person or over the phone, Monday-Friday 9.30am-5pm; Saturdays 10am-1pm. Online bookings incur a €1 booking fee per ticket.

Book online at https://riverbank.ticketsolve.com/shows/873629392/events