Acclaimed Austrian flautist returning to beloved Birr

ACCLAIMED flautist Karin Leitner returns to Birr this month to meet up with old friends and to entertain us with her fantastic music playing.
Born and raised in Austria, Karin feels a special attachment to Ireland and often says that she feels Irish in her soul.
She lived in Birr for two years in a cottage on the castle estate where she composed a lot of music. During her time in Birr she performed concerts with Irish musicians, and composed a great deal of Irish music for tin whistle, harp and orchestra. “It is surprising,” she says, “to hear the tin whistle played as a solo instrument with a grand orchestra instead of during a trad music session in a pub.
“Birr has been a place of love and inspiration for me and it's wonderful to be returning this month. It is an artistic town and inspires creativity! I often encourage musicians, writers, playwrights, and painters from other parts of Ireland or other countries to come to Birr and stay and be inspired.”
Karin's visit is being kindly sponsored by the Austrian Embassy in Dublin for this visit and she will be giving a solo performance with orchestral backing tracks. She will play some of the pieces that she composed while living in Birr, “compositions which were inspired by the area and the people.” She will also play some classical Lyric FM Highlights and heartfelt Filmmusic and tell stories of her travels.
Karin has always been international and cosmopolitan in her outlook, crossing bridges and oceans to bring music to far-flung places.
She had a job in the Stage Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, was Principal Piccolo in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, played in the Irish Chamber Orchestra, was teaching flute at the University of Melbourne Australia, and gave music workshops in the slums of Cape Town for underpriviledged children after having been the soloist of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra the night before. She travelled to Nepal during their civil war and gave concerts of hope and inspiration there under the wing of the United Nations. She has given many charity concerts for special projects worldwide.
Karin's concerts are life-affirming, positive, uplifting and inspiring. Her love of music and humanity comes through in her performances; and her expertise in music and performing is of the highest standard.
A long time ago Karin visited Ireland for the first time and immediately fell in love with our country and our people. “I was 16 years of age when I first came to Ireland and I fell in love with the place. I am still in love with it. There's a wistfulness, a magic about the landscape which gets the imagination going, which makes the person viewing it think of fairytales, light and dark, and about stories featuring all sorts of strange and wonderful creatures and invisible spirits of the countryside.
“I love the soft landscapes of the countryside here, the colours (especially in Spring and Autumn), and the ever present green (which is pleasant to look at, especially from the air when flying into Dublin).There's a loveliness and feminine beauty about the scenery.”
She loves the spirit in Irish people (a Celtic spirit, if you will) which responds strongly to the soul and the imaginative world. “Irish people are strongly connected to the invisible force in nature; they are strongly connected to their inner, finer, higher selves. They have immense respect for the Life Force of the Universe. Out of this profound and ancient connection came Irish music and poetry. People were able to positively respond, without any cynicism or negative rationality, to the energy and the beauty of music and poetry. There were no cynical barriers.”
Karin will be performing in Birr Theatre on Friday 22nd September at 8pm.