A Celebration of Romanian Culture - Launch of Romanian Books and Music Collection

6:00 Guests Reception 
Romanian wine and finger food will be served

6:15 Official Welcome

• Mayor of Limerick, Cllr. Gerry McLaughlin
• Ambassador of Romania to Ireland, His Excellency, Mr. Iulian Buga

6:40 Launch of Romanian Book and Music Collection
Limerick City Librarian, Mr. Damien Dullaghan will present an introduction to the Romanian Book and Music Collection in the Limerick Library

6:45 Introduction to Irish and Romanian Historical context with Dr. Matthew Potter
A comparison of the history of two countries situated at the opposite edges of Europe. In his speech Dr. Potter will highlight not only the main moments in Irish and Romanian history but also what our histories have in common.

Dr. Potter graduated from the University of London with a first class honours degree in history in 1989 and from NUI Galway in 2002 with a Ph.D in history. Having worked for Limerick City Council for many years, he has been later appointed to the staff of the History Department in the University of Limerick. He is the author of many books on the history of Limerick including  “The Government and the People of Limerick: The History of Limerick Corporation/City Council 1197-2006” which is the first scholarly account of the entire history of an Irish municipal authority ever written. 

7:15 Romanian Poems by Mihai Eminescu (1850-1889)
A reading of the acclaimed poem  “The Legend of the Evening Star” (Luceafarul) in both English and Romanian.

"While Eminescu is often described as the essence of the Romanian soul, modern literary language in Romania is also much indebted to him. His work encompassed every genre of poetry (love, philosophical, cosmological, mythological, historical, socio-satiric, etc.) as well as prose and journalism. 
Eminescu is considered Europe's last great romantic not in the least because he gave voice of such unmistakable music to the sadness of love. His legacy, however, transcends the confines of Romanticism, the literary and philosophical Western traditions, the far east influences and even the obvious imprint of the Romanian folklore. Blessed with the touch of genius, his synthesis is a personal world of meaning about the life of man and of the cosmos in archetypal images of universal worth." www.luceafarul.com

7:45 Break

8:00 Romanian Music Concert with The Contempo Quartet
The evening will conclude with a mixed program of Romanian traditional music transcending into classical compositions performed by Contempo.

ConTempo String Quartet was formed in 1995 in Bucharest, Romania. Recognised as one of the world’s top string quartets, ConTempo has won a record of 14 International Prizes and performed more that 1,000 concerts all over the world, including Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Berliner Philarmoniker, Theatre Chatelet in Paris, Opera House in Tel Aviv, Gedai Hall in Tokyo and Palazzo Quirinale in Rome. Based in Galway, over the past ten years ConTempo have worked with over 15,000 students across Ireland. They have presented 275 concerts in Galway city and county, performing 240 works from 85 composers, both classical and contemporary. www.contempoquartet.com

The evening's concert will include:

Romanian Traditional music including 

Transylvanian Dance

Hora Spiccatto

Men's Dance (Calusul) 

Classical works including

Dvorak - American String Quartet

Paul Constantinescu - Presto from Concerto for strings