merrion street

Friday 17th May, 2013 Dinny McGinley TD Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht will travel to Vienna tomorrow to represent the Irish Government at the musical recital by the Irish Baroque Orchestra at the renowned Benedictine Abbey located above the town of Melk which is among the world's most famous monastic sites.

While there the Minister will attend a luncheon hosted by the Irish Ambassador which will have in attendance teachers of Irish from the Department of Linguistics, University of Vienna. The University in recent years has received funding to support a programme of teaching the Irish language at the University. Records at the University confirm that over 90 students have participated in various Irish language courses in the last academic year.

Minister Mc Ginley said he was very pleased that there was such a positive response overseas for the Irish language. "I am very much looking forward to meeting with Maire Ni Charra and Theresa Illes of the University to discuss the teaching of Irish overseas. I am interested in hearing first hand of their experiences in this area"

As part of the International Culture Programme during Ireland's Presidency of the European Union – Culture Connects - The Irish Baroque Orchestra joined by an Irish traditional harpist and singer, will perform a unique concert at the Melk Baroque Festival, to reflect Ireland's musical landscape in the 18th Century.

The programme comprises music heard in Dublin and Cork at that time, and includes Handel, Dubourg, Pasquali and the works of traditional harpist Turlough O’Carolan. In addition, the orchestra joins the festival's mass performance of Corelli's concerti grossi (May 20th), to celebrate this composer's 300th anniversary.