19.08.2006: Cora Venus Lunny joins TaraWatch protest:	TaraWatch
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Getting the message out, both nationally and internationally, is the most challenging part of the campaign. And we are recording an album in the hope of widening our support base. Yesterday, Cora Venus Lunny came on board the campaign, and has offered to play on the Tara of the Kings album, as well as play at a concert. She's as hot as they get, in terms of new Irish talent. http://www.myspace.com/coravenuslunny http://www.coravenuslunny.com/ http://www.rte.ie/radio1/venusinblue/ http://www.intercuts.com/blog/archives/2005/08/irish_times_cor.html Established as one of Ireland's leading classical musicians since her teens, Cora Venus Lunny Cora Venus Lunny is active as a soloist and chamber musician on both violin and viola, interpreter of contemporary classical music, jazz violinist and composer. Born into a musical family of Irish and German parents in Dublin, Cora Venus was given her first violin at the age of three, immediately showing a natural aptitude and love for the instrument. A brief fling with movie acting failed to distract her, and a life in music became her ambition. From the age of thirteen she studied intensively with highly respected violinists around Europe, including Rimma Sushanskaya, Joji Hattori, Alexander Arenkov, Arkady Futer, Lara Lev and Vladimir Spivakov. Cora Venus has performed at all of Ireland's major concert venues - both in the Republic and the North - including the Waterfront Hall, Belfast and the Point Depot in Dublin. Her concerto performances in Northern Ireland which included the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.1 with the Ulster Orchestra, were received with great acclaim. Since her first performance on live national TV at the age of five, CVL has recorded many times for numerous TV and radio channels in Ireland and the UK, and her debut at the Kremlin was publicised on Russian radio & TV. In 2002, Cora was a guest musician on Sinead O'Connor's album of traditional Irish songs, "Sean Nos Nua", her first excursion into the truly "non-classical" world. This inspired her to improvise more and experiment with other genres of music. A few months in Vienna among the classical establishment became an unintentional sabbatical, and confirmed for Cora that despite her love for classical music, she needed to broaden her musical horizons. Cora's involvement over the past few years with MIT Media Lab, playing Tod Machover's Toy Symphony on the Hyperviolin, has taken her to Berlin (playing with the Deutsche Sinfonie Orchester Berlin under Kent Nagano), Boston and NYC - where she performed with the Boston Modern Orchestra under Gil Rose. The 2003 season saw Cora performing concertos by Bruch and Beethoven in the North and Republic of Ireland. A jam with Nigel Kennedy in Dingle in the summer (which appeared in Philip King's recently broadcast documentary) resulted in his inviting her to Berlin with his band, to play some Polish folk music and a bit of Jimi Hendrix. Subsequently Cora Venus accompanied Kennedy on a tour of Taiwan, Japan and New Zealand as second soloist, playing Vivaldi Double Concertos and the odd bit of Bartok. In 2004, Cora's musical travels took her as far as Iceland and the Faeroe Island, and saw her make her first foray into film score composition. A highlight of the 2005 season was Cora's first live performance on viola: she appeared in duo with the legendary Vladimir Spivakov in Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast, with the Ulster Orchestra under the direction of Spivakov. This summer she undertook a highly successful tour of the Auvergne in duo with harpsichordist Paulina Tkaczyk, and the 2005 / 2006 season sees her performing several times in Moscow, finishing various recording projects, and starting two new duo partnerships, with Brahms Guitarist Redmond O’Toole, and pianist Irena Gulzarova.

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