ArtScape: The building of a new €10 million integrated arts centre in Thurles, Co Tipperary, is nearing completion, writes Brian O'Connell. The Source Arts Centre and Library will be home to a new state-of-the-art 250-seat theatre with retractable seating, a fly tower and an orchestra pit.
A gallery/exhibition space, café and branch library will complete the centre, which is expected to open its doors by early July.
As the final touches are put to the centre, artistic director Claudia Woolgar, who was formerly in charge of the Kilkenny Arts Festival, has appointed a venue manager in the guise of ex-Firkin Crane employee Ger Riordan (until recently a project manager with Cork 2005). Recruitment of front of house and production staff is currently taking place.
"We're nearly there as regards the actual building itself," says Woolgar, "the seating is in place and the painting nearly finished. What we've got now is a very modern building situated in a scenic location along the banks of the River Suir, with the entrance via a boardwalk along the river."
Source was conceived when a group of local people decided to set about raising funds for a dedicated performance space in north Tipperary. An approach was made to the local county council, which gave its support to the project and will retain control over half the venue space, for use as a public library and community centre.
Given the vibrancy of both amateur dramatics and visual arts in the area, the building will open with a North Tipperary Youth Drama performance in mid-July, followed by a visual arts exhibition in August and September. A full programme of events, including a planned co-production, will follow for the autumn, when the official opening takes place.
"There is an abundance of goodwill locally as well as great anticipation from drama and musical societies in the area," says Woolgar. "Our idea is that the building will be a reflection of the vibrancy of the local and regional arts community, and we also hope to be able to complement activities in the area by throwing ballet, dance and music into the mix." For further information contact Source Arts Centre, Thurles, on 0504-29361.
Spoiled for choice at NCH
With announcements of concert details for the coming 12 months piling up, the end of the 2006-7 season looks like providing an unusual bonanza at the National Concert Hall, writes Michael Dervan. The London Philharmonic plays under Kurt Masur with Vadim Repin as soloist on Thursday, April 26th, 2007, and the following day ace Brazilian guitarist Fabio Zanon premieres Benjamin Dwyer's Second Guitar Concerto with the RTÉ NSO. May brings a stream of piano concertos; Rachmaninov's Fourth with Nikolai Demidenko on Friday 4th; Beethoven's First with Peter Tuite on Friday 11th (Tuite was the audience favourite among Irish competitors at the recent AXA competition); Bartók's phenomenally demanding Second with Barry Douglas on Friday 18th (all with the RTÉ NSO); Piotr Anderszewski playing Mozart's Concerto in A, K488 with the London Symphony under Myung-Whun Chung on Tuesday 22nd; and Boris Berezovsky (winner of the 1990 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow) in Rachmaninov's Third with the Ulster Orchestra under Yan Pascal Tortelier on Thursday 24th.
Maxim Vengerov plays Mozart violin concertos with the UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th, and the RTÉ NSO plays Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand on Saturday 26th at the National Basketball Arena.
A season ticket for the RTÉ NSO subscription concerts, the third season to be presented in association with Anglo Irish Bank, will get you discounts of up to 30 per cent, but the Mahler 8 is not part of the regular season, which includes performances of all the other Mahler symphonies under Gerhard Markson.
The orchestra also completes its Shostakovich cycle with Symphonies 12-15, and offers a German-language performance of Handel's Messiah as adapted for late 18th-century taste by Mozart. The season features NSO debuts by conductors Antony Hermus and Mikhail Agrest, violinist Nicola Benedetti, pianist Simon Trpceski, and cellist Ha-Na Chang. There are also return visits by Paul Mann and Giordano Bellincampi, two conductors who impressed greatly on their first appearances with the orchestra. The season includes the premieres of works by John Buckley and Kevin O'Connell and also works new to the orchestra's repertoire by Magnus Lindberg, Ian Wilson, and Einojuhani Rautavaara. Prices for individual concerts have risen slightly (€9-€30) and student standby tickets will be available for €5 one hour before each concert. Details from 01-4170077.
The Ulster Orchestra, celebrating its 40th birthday this year, has appointed Brian Irvine as associate composer. The first concert of the new season opens with his A Pocket Full of Kryptonite (Friday, September 22nd), and he'll also have a new work premiered at a BBC invitation concert on Friday, September 1st.
Mahler features in Belfast, too, under the extraordinary conductor/management guru Benjamin Zander (he conducts Mahler's First on Friday, March 9th, 2007), and the orchestra's celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Elgar will run to five works as opposed to the NSO's three. Season highlights in Belfast include Gillian Weir in Poulenc's Organ Concerto (Friday, October 6th), Nikolai Demidenko in Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto (Friday, October 14th), Haydn's Nelson Mass under principal guest conductor, Kenneth Montgomery (Friday, November 24th), a return visit by the orchestra's one-time leader (and former principal conductor of the RTÉ NSO) János Fürst (Friday, January 12th), a debut by Douglas Boyd, who recently made a sensational first appearance with the Irish Chamber Orchestra (Friday, January 26th), and Mendelssohn's Elijah under Christopher Bell (Friday, March 30th).
The Ulster Orchestra is taking three of its programmes to Dublin (in November, January and May), and also plays at the Wexford and Belfast Festivals under the Finnish conductor, Tuomas Ollila. Season ticket discounts range up to 27 per cent, and prices for concerts remain unchanged from last year. Details from 048-90668798.
Dwyer steps down from DIFF
Michael Dwyer, this paper's film correspondent, has announced that he is to stand down as director of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival after next year's event, writes Donald Clarke. Dwyer established the festival in 2003 as an unofficial replacement for the then recently defunct Dublin Film Festival, which he had been instrumental in setting up 17 years previously.
"It was not at all easy for me to make the decision to step down," he said. "But the 2007 festival will be my fifth DIFF, and it's a demanding task and it's not uncommon for festival directors to move on after five years." David McLoughlin, chairman of the DIFF board, though grateful for Dwyer's contribution, remains confident that the event can survive and flourish. The board has elected to appoint a designate director in the autumn to shadow Dwyer until the fifth festival in February 2007.
"We have planned the transition to the next director with a long-term strategy in mind," McLoughlin told The Irish Times. "Michael is, of course, very keen on seeing his good work continued and will remain on the board." Potential applicants can contact the festival at chairman@dubliniff.com.
Maritime film festival
Distinguished mariners all, what else do Thor Heyerdahl, Tim Severin, Ellen MacArthur and Eric Tabarly have in common? All four are the subjects of documentaries to be screened at the second annual Tory Island Maritime Film Festival from June 28th to July 2nd, writes Lorna Siggins. "Seafaring adventures" is the theme, and more than 30 maritime documentaries will be shown on three screens, including on a new 5mx4m cinema screen, according to the organisers.
British yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur is the subject of two films - on her single-handedVendée Globe race success in 2001, and her solo global circumnavigation record set in early 2005.
There are a number of films on Thor Heyerdahl's voyages, ranging from Kon Tiki to Ra, and on Tim Severin's adventures - while the 30th anniversary of his epic "Brendan voyage" is to be celebrated at the five-day event. The Irish recreation of the famous Shackleton Antarctic rescue is recorded in Ealú ón an tAntartach by Crossing the Line Films. US documentary-maker Maria Brooks has several contributions, including Shipping Out, the story of America's seafaring women who work in the merchant marine.
For further information, tel: 074-9100905 or e-mail info@toryfilmfestival.com.