Music fans are in for a Sunday treat on March 30 as Vanbrugh and Friends perform work by Mozart and Brahms in the city’s St Joseph’s Church on Presentation Road at 3pm.

The Vanbrugh has been synonymous with music-making of the highest quality in Ireland for decades.

The current trio evolved from the work of the Vanbrugh Quartet which was based in Cork as RTÉ’s Resident Quartet from 1986 to 2013 and as Artists-in-Residence at University College, Cork from 1990 until the retirement of violinist Gregory Ellis in 2017.

Over three decades the quartet performed almost 3,000 concerts, presenting the chamber music repertoire in Ireland, Europe, the Americas, and in Asia. They also recorded more than 30 CDs, ranging from the complete Beethoven quartets to contemporary works by Irish composers.

The National Concert Hall awarded the Vanbrugh Quartet a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016, in recognition of their contribution to music in Ireland.

Since Gregory Ellis’s retirement, Keith Pascoe, Simon Aspell, and Christopher Marwood continue to perform together as the nucleus of the Vanbrugh and are joined by guest artists for performances.

On March 30, they will be joined by Marja Gaynor on violin and Ed Creedon on viola, to perform two beautiful and contrasting works for string quintet.

Mozart, who was a viola player as well as a composer, decided to add a viola to his Quintet in C major K515, writing it for a quintet rather than a quartet. It begins in a light-hearted way before evolving to a piece of depth and melodiousness.

The musicians’ second piece is the Brahms Quintet, originally written for clarinet and strings. With its glorious and romantic themes, it’s one of the most popular works for chamber music.

This concert is being presented in partnership with the National String Quartet Foundation.

Standard tickets are €20, with a  concession rate of €18. Social Inclusion tickets, at €10, are available.

Booking at www.musicforgalway.ie

Pictured: Christopher Marwood, Simon Aspell and Keith Pascoe of the Vanbrugh.