Television presenter Sean Rafferty will join the Ulster Orchestra at the University’s Coleraine campus to celebrate New Year with the annual Viennese Concert.

Billed as a ‘Viennese Johann Strauss Gala’, the concert will recreate the elegant refinement of Vienna during the second half of the 19th century, when Strauss was the leading composer of dance music in Europe.  

The programme for the evening will include a selection of the world’s most popular classical pieces by the Strauss family, Heuberger, Millöcker and Stoltz:  Voices of Spring, Fledermaus Quadrill, Radetzky March and The Blue Danube. Sean Rafferty will introduce the favourite waltzes, polkas, marches and songs.

The Orchestra will be performing with Irish soprano Ailish Tynan and Stephen Barlow will conduct.

Ailish Tynan is rapidly gaining a reputation in opera, oratoria and recital. Recent engagements have included concert work with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and recitals for the City of London Festival. Her future plans include a US debut as Zerlina in Don Giovanni for the Seattle Opera.

Since making his international debut in 1989 conducting The Rake’s Progress for Vancouver Opera, Stephen Barlow has established a distinguished international reputation conducting many of the major Orchestra’s and Opera Companies around the world. In 1997 he was appointed Music Director of the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra.  His recent recordings include Joseph James’ Requiem with Sumy Jo and his children’s composition Rainbow Bear in collaboration with his wife, Joanna Lumley.

The University of Ulster, Coleraine Borough Council and Causeway Coast Arts, who promote the Ulster Orchestra concerts in Coleraine, would like to thank the Lodge Hotel and Travelstop for their generous sponsorship of the Viennese Johann Strauss Gala.

The annual Viennese Concert will take place in the Diamond, University of Ulster, Coleraine on Wednesday 4 January at 8pm.

Tickets are £9, £7 for senior citizens, £2.50 for full-time students and those in receipt of benefits £1 for children under 18.

Tickets can be purchased from the University’s Cultural Development Office, the Riverside Theatre, Coleraine campus and Coleraine Tourist Information Centre. For telephone bookings contact: 028 7032 3232. 

The Theatre closes on 23 December and does not re-open before the concert.

For further information, please contact:

Trina Porter
Telephone: 028 71675511
Email: Trina Porter