Hup!

“Hup!” is the Irish equivalent of the Spanish “Olé!” - an exclamation uttered by bystanders to encourage the participants in folk music and dance performances. That is why the Irish composer and ethnomusicologist Micheál Ó'Súilleabháin - holder of the first Chair of Music at the University of Limerick and director of the Irish World Music Centre - chose Hup! as the title of an orchestral piece designed, he says, “to capture something of the spirit engendered in a session of Irish traditional music which might take place in a pub or in a private house.” A work in three movements, Hup! was first performed by the Irish Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Rachel Warby in the University Concert Hall in Limerick City in 2000. On that occasion the optional part for an Irish traditional dancer (hard-shoe-tap style) was performed by Colin Dunne of River Dance. On this occasion there will be no dancer and we will hear only the lively third movement, which is also called Hup!