A Romantic Composer: Tale and Recital

The French Romantic composer Mel Bonis was born in Paris in 1858. She composed over 300 works, was a student of César Franck, a classmate of Claude Debussy at the Paris Conservatoire and was described as the 'perfect musician' by Camille Saint Saëns. However, her name and music remain unknown to many audiences outside France.

Award-winning Irish flautist Martina Rosaria O'Connell was inspired to change this by Ireland’s current revival of interest in female composers such as Ina Boyle and Rhoda Coghill. Martina has created a pioneering flute transcription of one of Mel Bonis’ works. In the same manner that César Franck’s Violin Sonata in A major was transcribed for flute and brought to America by Jean Pierre Rampal in a national concert series that helped greatly to disseminate the work, Martina intends to spark interest for Bonis. During her Liam Swords research residency at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in 2023, she created the entire transcription of Bonis's Violin Sonata in F Sharp Minor for flute. Tonight Martina returns to the CCI, accompanied by Irish pianist David Vesey, to share the story of composer Mel Bonis and perform the world premiere of this unique transcription.