OnTheTown:There will be "magical evenings . . . gossamered with the ornate elegance of G-clefs and quavers" over 10 days in June. So extolled John O'Donoghue TD, the Minister for Arts, when he launched the programme for this year's IIB Bank Music in Great Irish Houses festival.
There will be a number of innovative features in this year's line-up, including a "funkier" series of lunchtime and evening concerts at the National Gallery, with a performance by lutenist Edin Karamazov, who recently recorded with Sting, being one to mark. The festival will also feature a number of masterclasses for young musicians and a pre-concert discussion with some of the stars, while Scottish percussionist Colin Currie will work with children from Dublin's Pearse Street area, in preparation for a family concert on Sunday, June 17th.
The main nine concerts will feature "many collabortions between Irish and international artists, people coming together for the first time", explained the festival's new artistic director, Ciara Higgins. She cited Irish tenor Robin Tritschler who will play with Chinese guitarist Xuefei Yang in Russborough House on Monday, June 11th, and British trumpeter Alison Balsom, who will play with Camerata Ireland and Barry Douglas in Dublin Castle on Sunday, June 10th.
Cellist Aisling Drury Byrne, who attended the launch at the IIB Bank headquarters in Dublin's Sandwith Street, said she was especially looking forward to a string sextet concert at Kilruddery House on Friday, June 8th, which will feature three musicians from the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra and Irish musicians Sarah Sexton, Sarah McMahon and John Lynch.
Among those who attended the launch were violinist Catherine Leonard; the festival's former artistic director, pianist Hugh Tinney; Olive Braiden, chairwoman of the Arts Council, which has provided funds to the 37-year-old festival for the first time this year; John O'Conor, pianist and director of the Royal Irish Academy of Music; and soprano Virginia Kerr. Pianist Finghin Collins, who was also there, will perform at the festival on two nights.
"It's a fantastic line-up," said pianist Dearbhla Brosnan, as she looks forward to hearing violinist Arabella Steinbacher play with Latvian pianist Robert Kulek at the restored Victorian College of Physicians at No 6 Kildare Street.
"She is only 25" and her playing is "stunning", Brosnan added.
[ info@musicgreatirishhouses.com ]
Presenting pictures perfect
The dramatic dive of Waterford hurler John Mullane, catching a ball mid-air, as captured by Cathal Noonan, of Inpho Photography, was the best image as far as Frank Lynch, branch manager of AIB, was concerned. A Waterford supporter, he said he loved the black-and-white image because "Mullane is winning and because of his expression".
His AIB colleague, Michael Doorley, a Tipperary man, said he loved the shot too, as he put county allegiances and tribal loyalties to one side.
"Black and white has a more timeless quality," he said. The two men gazed at the photograph in rapt enjoyment.
This Noonan shot is just one of the 109 photographs currently on display at the AIB branch on Dublin's Lower Baggot Street.
The AIB Press Photographers Association of Ireland (PPAI) exhibition "recognises the excellence of press photography in Ireland", said Aidan Crawley, deputy president of the PPAI, which represents 250 photographers. "All the photographers like to be recognised by their peers. Winning an award is deemed a great honour, and also to be included in the exhibition is very important to the individual photographer. This is our showcase of the work we put in during the year as press photographers."
"We are looking to encapsulate whatever event it is, to take a picture that sums up the event," said David Conachy, of the Sunday Independent, who won prizes in four categories for his photographs during the year, including three first prizes.
Actors' agent Teri Hayden and her husband, film and television producer Brian Palfrey, both loved the photograph of Daniel Day-Lewis and Rebecca Miller by Mark McCall because "they're just laughing".
Solicitor Mary O'Malley said A Circle of Swans, a photograph by Bryan O'Brien of this newspaper, was "beautiful". O'Brien, who is currently on assignment in East Timor, won the overall prize and is AIB PPAI Press Photographer of the Year.
There were 1,500 entries to the competition this year, its 29th since its inception.
The AIB PPAI Exhibition is now on tour, visiting AIB branches around the country until Aug
A benefactor bids farewell
More than €850 million has been given to the island of Ireland by Atlantic Philanthropies, the organisation which has aimed to strengthen the Irish university sector over the last 17 years. Tributes were paid on his retirement to John Healy, the president and chief executive officer of Atlantic Philanthropies, which was founded to channel money donated by self-made billionaire Chuck Feeney.
"John Healy turned out to be the perfect choice by Chuck," said Dr Tom Mitchell, former provost of Trinity College Dublin (TCD). "The contribution of Atlantic Philanthropies to Irish higher education in the 1990s . . . was absolutely vital because for the first time it gave Irish universities significant research funding that enabled them to take their places among the research nations of the world."
"If Atlantic Philanthropies had not stepped in, the Irish university sector would be quite backward," said Prof Ferdinand Von Prondzynski, president of Dublin City University (DCU).
The stars of academia, as well as the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, turned out in force to salute Healy. The roll-call of university luminaries included TCD Provost Dr John Hegarty; former presidents of University College Cork, Dr Michael Mortell and Prof Gerry Wrixon; former presidents of the University of Limerick, Dr Ed Walsh and Prof Roger Downer, the university's current acting president, Dr John O'Connor, and its president designate, Prof Don Barry, who is due to take office in May. Dr Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh, president of NUI Galway; Dr Hugh Brady, president of University College Dublin; and Dr Danny O'Hare, the former president of DCU, were all in attendance.
Others at the reception included Dr Don Thornhill, former chair of the Higher Education Authority and current chair of the National Competitiveness Council; Dr Paul Mooney, president of the National College of Ireland; and Prof Joyce O'Connor, the college's former president.
Healy's wife, Yvonne Healy, a former journalist with this newspaper, his mother, Mrs Nora Featherstone, and his sister, Sr Elizabeth Healy, were also at the retirement reception in Dublin's Chester Beatty Library.
Dedicated trend-setters of fashion
'Climb every mountain," sang the members of Gloría, Dublin's Gay and Lesbian Choir, under the direction of Michael Finlay. Meanwhile, trapeze artist Kelsey Long spun slowly on a rope over the heads of the singers.
It was the fifth Nokia Young Fashion Designer Awards - a lavish, highly charged affair at Dublin's Olympia Theatre with 12 finalists competing for the overall prize.
What singles out a winner is someone "who has an exciting vision - it is something that is quite visceral, that makes your heart beat faster, that has a freshness and a vitality, something you haven't seen before", explained Paula Reed, style director of the weekly glossy magazine Grazia, and one of the judges, before the show.
"Fashion is very subjective," said Reed's fellow judge, the Florence-based designer, Pauric Sweeney, whose own collection of autumn/winter 2007 bags were also on show. Other participating judges included Dublin-based designer Leigh Tucker and London-based designer Jonathan Saunders and the buying director for Topshop, Caren Downie. All agreed that choosing the winning designer was a difficult decision.
But taking part in the competition "is a fantastic opportunity", said Nigel Cheney, head of fashion and textiles at the National College of Art and Design, which had four students in the final, while eight students were from the Limerick School of Art and Design (LSAD). "The competition really helps them to hone their ideas," Cheney added.
From a total of 300 entrants, Deirdre Brennan, of LSAD, came out the winner, and was presented with €5,000 and a work placement with Topshop. There were two runners-up, Sarah Greer and Jane Horgan, both also from LSAD.
Among those at the show were designers John Rocha and Helen Cody, actor Holly White, of Dan and Becs fame and RTÉ Off the Rails presenters Caroline Morahan and Pamela Flood.