Enoch Arden by Richard Strauss

Enoch Arden, a poem by A. L. Tennyson, was the inspiration for a melodrama for piano and narrator by Richard Strauss. It was composed in 1897 for actor Ernst von Possart who was influential in securing a position for Strauss as conductor of the Bavarian State Opera. Strauss and Possart toured extensively with this work, and it proved hugely popular with audiences.

Cellist Annette Cleary and pianist Réamonn Keary have collaborated to create a new arrangement of the work for cello, piano and actor. With renowned actor Barry McGovern as narrator, we are very excited to see this piece in Wexford.

Annette Cleary Cello

Réamonn Keary piano

Barry McGovern narrator

Annette Cleary and Réamonn Keary have been performing as a cello and piano duo for several years. In addition to exploring the standard repertoire they also specialise in rediscovering works that have unfairly fallen into obscurity, in particular works by female composers. In 2018, in the first Sounding the Feminists series at the NCH, they performed a cello sonata by the much-neglected Leokadiya Kashperova, and in a concert in August 2020 in Berlin they resurrected from obscurity the wonderful sonata by Melanie Bonis. Their most recent project involves a unique performance of the Rita Strohl cello sonata that includes narrator Barry McGovern with commissioned text by poet Josephine Collins. Annette and Réamonn also enjoy arranging songs for their combination of instruments; past performances have included arrangements of songs and works by Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and Richard Strauss, and they are currently arranging songs by Fauré, Poulenc and other French composers. Future concerts include a performance of Enoch Arden by Richard Strauss.

Barry McGovern's recent theatre work includes Woyzeck in Winter (Galway Arts Festival, Barbican and Dublin Theatre Festival); First Love (Gate); Krapp's Last Tape, Watt (adapted from Beckett's novel) and I'll Go On (adapted from Beckett's Three Novels) (all at Edinburgh International Festival); Ohio Impromptu, Act Without Words 2 and That Time (Walt Disney Hall, L.A.); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Abbey Theatre); Waiting for Godot (Mark Taper Forum, L.A.) and Endgame (Kirk Douglas Theatre, L.A.). Other theatre includes Sweeney Todd, The Home Place, Waiting for Godot, Endgame, Happy Days, A Christmas Carol, The Price, Glengarry Glen Ross (Gate), Faith Healer (Island Theatre Company) and Philadelphia, Here I Come! (Gaiety).

TV and Film includes Braveheart, Royally Ever After, Citizen Lane, The Cured, Aithrí/Penance, My Name is Emily, The Tudors, Miracle at Midnight, Na Cloigne, Game of Thrones, Gift of the Magi, Waiting for Godot, Joe Versus the Volcano, Dear Sarah and The Treaty. On radio he has directed a number of plays including Beckett's All that Fall and Pinter's Silence and played in Embers and Rough for Radio 2. A former member of the RTÉ Players and the Abbey Theatre company, he served on the Arts Council from 1984 to 1988. He has co-written two musicals with Bryan Murray and incidental music for some plays. He has recorded the complete Beckett novels Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable with RTÉ and the Lannan Foundation and gives frequent readings from Beckett's poetry and prose. He has taught at the University of Los Angeles at Davis and at the University of Notre Dame and was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Letters by Trinity College Dublin.