The dramatic world of bioethics

ArtScape: Bioethics and new drama. Huh? At first glance the connection may be hard to see, and yet it's got the potential for a surprising marriage.

The Irish Council for Bioethics (ICB) this week launched a national playwriting competition. The ICB points out that recent medical and technological advances, such as genetic modification and stem cell research, have raised many ethical questions, and it decided to draw on Ireland's literary tradition, and to merge arts and science in order to raise public consciousness and stimulate discussion on these complex but ever more pertinent issues.

The upshot is this competition with a nifty prize worth more than €11,000 (a €7,500 commission to write a full-length play based on an initial proposal, €500 for research expenses, and a staged reading worth €3,000, in association with Fishamble Theatre Company).

Orlaith McBride (director of the National Association for Youth Drama and an Arts Council member), who's on the competition's steering committee, said, "The nature of bioethics is that it challenges us to pose contemporary questions that confront humanity - a challenge that good theatre should also pose".

The competition is not restricted to Irish residents, but proposed plays must be of Irish interest, with strong bioethical content. The ICB reckons "Because of its ability to pose contemporary questions that confront humanity, bioethics is an area well suited to the realm of drama". And what meat those issues offer, to judge by the list of possible bioethical topics the ICB suggests: human enhancement, using DNA to solve crime, organ donation and transplantation, biometrics, end-of-life issues, control of infectious diseases, and stem cell research.

Those shortlisted will receive €250 to write 10 pages of dialogue, before a winner is selected. Entries to the Irish Council for Bioethics, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2. The closing date for entries is January 12th. For more information, see www.bioethics.ie or tel: 01-6380920.

RTÉ festival takes to Adams

It has been an open secret for months that the 2007 RTÉ Living Music Festival will feature the music of John Adams, writes Michael Dervan. Adams has long been credited as the most often performed composer of orchestral music from the US. He was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to write a work commemorating the 9/11 attacks, and his response, On the Transmigration of Souls, was premiered in 2002.

His 1987 opera, Nixon in China, has travelled the world, and his 1991 opera, The Death of Klinghoffer, based on the 1984 hijacking of an Italian cruise ship by Palestinian terrorists, continues to stir controversy. His most recent operas are Doctor Atomic(which was premiered in San Francisco last year), and A Flowering Tree(premiered in Vienna last month).

The nature of the bulk of the Living Music Festival programme leaked out with the publication of the National Concert Hall's calendar of events for February, and RTÉ has now filled in the gaps by announcing details of other events at the National Gallery of Ireland and Vicar Street.

The festival, directed by jazz bassist Ronan Guilfoyle, surveys Adams's output, from the seminal Shaker Loopsof 1978 up to four works from 1996 - the piano concerto Century Rolls, Hallelujah Junctionfor two pianos, the clarinet concerto Gnarly Buttons, and Scratchbandfor amplified ensemble. Strangely, however, none of the composer's work from the past 10 years will feature.

Major works to feature include Harmonielehre(from the RTÉ NSO under Pierre-André Valade), John's Book of Alleged Dances(from the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet), and the Chamber Symphony(from the London Sinfonietta under Bradley Lubman).

Other composers represented will include Michael Gordon (Acid Rain and ac dc), Bartók, Gerald Barry, Kevin Volans (a new work for two pianos and strings), and György Ligeti.

Highlighting the festival's jazz flavour, Ligeti's Études for piano will be contrasted with improvisations by Simon Nabatov.

RTÉ has commissioned new works from two jazzmen, Greg Felton of the trio White Rocket and composer and trombonist Ed Neumeister. There will also be a full evening programme of Jim McNeely with the Stockholm Jazz Orchestra, and a late-night set from Tim Berne's Big Satan. Further information on the festival - which runs February 16th to 18th - from RTÉ, at 01-2082617.

Money, money, money

Few surprises on B-day these days, and in line with that trend, there wasn't a mention of the arts in this week's Budget; all the good news had been announced in the Estimates. On Thursday in the Dáil John O'Donoghue welcomed the increases for his three areas, saying he would continue to highlight the necessity to invest in the arts. "Government must nourish the broader aspects of society and may not weigh up all matters in purely economic terms. After many years of neglect, I have striven largely successfully to increase Government investment in the arts and cultural areas and will continue to do so. Under my stewardship the arts have been pushed boldly into the core of Government policy." Out of the overall €216.56 million for arts in 2007, the Arts Council's share is up 11 per cent to €80m.

There is a 9.4 per cent increase (from €10m to €13m for current spending, and from €2.9m to €4m for capital) for national cultural institutions (National Museum, National Library, National Archives, Chester Beatty Library, Irish Museum of Modern Art and the National Concert Hall). The National Gallery comes under a separate heading and its funding is up 25 per cent, from €9.439m to €11.765. Culture Ireland receives €4.5m (a 50 per cent increase on 2006; this follows a 50 per cent increase from the previous year) for promoting Irish arts abroad.

The Irish Film board budget increases 15 per cent to €19.659m (€17 million of it capital allocation). The increased current funding is for marketing Ireland as a film location, in particular to help the newly opened office in Los Angeles in raising the profile of the Irish audiovisual industry.

Initial capital funding of €250m was allocated for a new national children's museum, which aims to open in 2009 on Military Road, adjacent to Imma.

The proposed interactive science centre, exploration station, has a board of trustees chaired by former DCU president Daniel O'Hare. The OPW is involved in its design and building.

Helix to jazz up in New Year

Next year the Helix will host a series of top quality jazz events, writes Ray Comiskey. Part of a drive by the venue to raise its profile, the series has been put together in association with Note productions and will open next April with a visit by the Wayne Shorter Quartet, to be followed in May by the Charles Lloyd Quartet. Both of these have been heard here in recent years, and both remain major attractions. Fans are likely to be even more excited by the other two concerts in the series. October sees the first visit to Dublin of the great Jan Garbarek Group with Rainer Brüninghaus, Eberhard Weber and, instead of Marilyn Mazur, who was percussionist when they played Cork a few years back, it will offer the first chance to hear Manu Katché. The series will climax in December with Thimar, the "transcultural" band project initiated by Tunisian oud player Anouar Brahem, with bassist Dave Holland and baritone saxophonist John Surman.

Some of the best young Irish-based musicians will also be involved: sharing the bill with Wayne Shorter will be Danish guitarist Mikkel Ploug's quartet, which includes drummer Sean Carpio; the others are US saxophonist Bill McHenry and bassist Jeppe Skovbakke.

Appearing in the Charles Lloyd concert will be pianist Greg Felton's quartet, with saxophonist Michael Buckley, bassist Cormac O'Brien and Carpio, whose new project will also feature, as part of the bill with Thimar.

The Improvised Music Company also has significant plans for 2007. Definites so far are Dave Douglas's intriguing Keystone, a sextet featuring new music written as a soundtrack for the early films of the tragic silent film actor Fatty Arbuckle; Douglas will headline the Bray Jazz Festival in May. Chris Potter's Underground, with Craig Taborn, Adam Rogers and Nate Smith, will be here in January; and EST, the Esbjorn Svensson Trio, will return for a tour in March. The IMC's world music programme includes Chinese pipa virtuoso Liu Fang. Moroccan Majid Bekkas, Malian Afel Bocoum and Brazilian Hamilton De Holanda.