Broadcasting on Tuesday March 11th at 2pm.
In this special episode, Harpsichordists Rachel Factor and Yonit Kosovske present a duo performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge (The Art of the Fugue) BWV 1080. Composed in Bach’s final decade of life, this monumental masterpiece was scored for unspecified instrumentation and represents the summit of his contrapuntal exploration in monothematic and imitative composition. Rachel and Yonit have been collaborating together as a harpsichord duo for over eight years in concerts throughout Ireland and the UK. Their imaginative programming has spanned five hundred years of repertoire, from Buxtehude to Contemporary works by living composers from Ireland and around the world. Their duo performances have featured compositions originally written for keyboard, as well as arrangements and transcriptions from lute, organ, orchestra, and string trio. In addition to their performances of Bach’s Art of the Fugue, the duo’s previous projects have included their Spanish & Latin dance programme Fantangled and their TranScripted recital programme featuring works by Baroque composers from Germany and Italy.
In this radio programme, produced by Near FM, we hear the concert in full interspersed with an in depth interview with the musicians as well as audience reaction. Broadcasting on Tuesday March 11th at 2pm
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) – The Art of Fugue – Contrapunctus 1, Contrapunctus 2, Contrapunctus 3, Contrapunctus 5, Contrapunctus 6 a 4 in Stylo Francese, Contrapunctus 8 a 3, Contrapunctus 9 a 4 alla Duodecima, Contrapunctus 10 a 4 alla Decima, Contrapunctus 12 a 4, Fuga a 2 Clav, Fuga a 3 Soggetti
Credits – Series Producer is Dorothee Meyer Holtkamp, Radio Programme mixed by Paul Loughran, Interview and presentation by Cliodhna Ryan, Concert recorded by Gay Graham and Gabor Zajzon, special thanks to Brian Magee. Audience reaction by Dorothee Meyer Holtkamp. Cover photo by Emmet White. Made with the support of Coimisiún Na Mean with the Television License fee.
Rachel Factor concertises on harpsichord as a soloist and chamber artist. She has performed with many of Ireland’s leading ensembles at prestigious festivals throughout Ireland and has participated in concerts recorded for and broadcast by RTÉ lyric fm. Rachel has performed multiple times at The Handel-Hendrix House Museum in London. She has a keen interest in Irish Baroque music and contemporary music, of which she has premiered works by many emerging composers in Ireland and has performed with Irish Composers’ Collective and Crash Ensemble. With the Irish and Baroque fusion group Sonamus Rachel has recorded a successful CD, Music of Ireland. Rachel is also the harpsichord professor at The Conservatory of Music and Drama at TU Dublin and an examiner for the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Rachel co-directed the Alchemy Music Concert Series with Eamon Sweeney. Rachel’s initial studies were with Gillian Smith and later with Dr. David Adams. Rachel also received tutelage from Carole Cerasi, Laurence Cummings, Malcolm Proud, and Christophe Rousset. Rachel was the recipient of The Arts Council 2017 Artist Bursary Award, and recipient of the Music Network Capital Scheme 2010 and 2019. Rachel gratefully acknowledges support from the Arts Council and Music Network. Rachel is playing a single manual Flemish harpsichord after Ioannes Ruckers crafted by Andrew Wooderson.
Yonit Kosovske performs as a soloist and collaborative artist on harpsichord, modern piano, fortepiano, clavichord, and chamber organ. Dedicated to repertoire from the 1500s–Contemporary, Yonit regularly champions music by female composers and works outside of the mainstream canon of Classical Western Art Music. Forthcoming at the 2025 Limerick Early Music Festival (March 21–23), Yonit’s ensemble will give the world premiere of Baile, a newly commissioned work composed by Dr Xenia Pestova Bennett for amplified clavichord, toy piano, viola da gamba, and recorded women’s voices reflecting on the universal themes of “home, migration, and (be)longing”, made possible with support from the Arts Council Music Commissions Award. Yonit is also founding Co-director of the annual Limerick Early Music Festival and year-round series H.I.P.S.T.E.R. (Historically Informed Performance Series, Teaching, Education, and Research), as well as Artistic Director of WAVE~LINKS, a documentary video series exploring connections between music-making and artisanry. Yonit is an Associate Professor in Music at the University of Limerick, Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. She holds a Doctor of Music from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, a Master of Music from San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor of Music from Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts. Yonit is playing a single manual Italian harpsichord built by Colin Booth.
