‘When my life was more stable, my music was more active, more gritty. When my life has been chaotic my music has calmed down’
New Music Dublin 2024: The composers Bekah Simms, Raymond Deane, Linda Buckley and Rhona Clarke on their creative processes
Linda Buckley
Aosdána names five newly elected members
Writer Anne Enright and visual artist Amanda Coogan among association’s new members
Fiachra Garvey: From sheep dipping to Shostakovich
Pianist and farmer talks about agriculture, classical music and protecting his hands
Dua Lipa, Stephen Rea and Emma Dabiri: This week’s unmissable online events
Plus Marian Keyes, Frank McGuinness, Mick Fleetwood and the National Symphony Orchestra
Get a musical fix with 20 Shots of Opera
Irish National Opera commissioned 20 short operas that were composed and quickly produced for video
Linda Buckley: From Ocean’s Floor review – Moodily dark soundtrack
The Kinsale composer’s work is dominated by morphings of electronic sounds
Putting Irish-language songs centre stage
The Irish Language Art Song Project: its promotion of Irish music is nonpareil
The best classical music to see this week
The Irish Language Art Song Project , the next in NSO’s Bruckner series and pianist Simon Trpceski
Marty Morrissey helpless mirth gets trumped by melancholy
Radio review: RTÉ’s preview of 2020 turns unexpectedly sombre, as Second Captains get more sport from a determined diplomat
NCH’s chamber music series offers flexibility amid closure uncertainty
Collaboration part of long tradition of composers coming together with mixed results
Ordnance Survey: Relative Phase – Artist formerly known as Somadrone finds his bearings
Startling soundscapes and sublime electronica from a modern maverick
Dublin Dance Festival review: A riot of movement and sound
From individual empowerment to groupthink, dancers tackled disparate themes
Evolution of women composers a missing link in new concert series
Why does the NCH need €20,000 before it will bother exploring music by women?
Review: ‘Man At The Door (Number 54)’ and ‘Pilgrimage’ at Cork Midsummer Festival
The common theme at the Sunbeam Bingo Hall and Sirius Arts Centre performances was personal identity
Louth and clear: a maverick’s musical adventures in Dundalk
Louth Contemporary Music Society’s Book of Hours Festival was unfailingly adventurous
Máire Carroll in the Kirkoskammer series: this week’s classical highlights
Also, Two-day festival in the Oriel from Louth Contemporary Music Society
Louth music: Eamonn Quinn ‘first backstage laureate’ of Belmont Prize
Founder of Louth Contemporary Music Society singled due to ‘burning passion for contemporary music’
Women composers find a voice: The week’s best classical music
Finding a Voice festival’s all-female finale; Vanbrugh & Michael McHale; Philippe Cassard
Gig of the week – The Spike Cello Festival
The second edition of Dublin’s genre-blind alternative festival is back next week to once again challenge cello orthodoxy
Kilkenny Arts Festival: a compelling chain of events and emotions
From Antarctica to Ukraine and Schubert to Brexit, a one-day exploration of the festival
Schubert dip and Caesar salad: Classical and opera treats this week
Schubert: Dreaming the Sublime, Giulio Cesare, and Rediscovering Irish State Musick
Sea to the West classical album review: Layered sounds for solo soprano
SEA TO THE WESTElizabeth Hilliard (soprano) ****Métier MSV 28551
‘Composing music is almost like trying to remember a dream’
‘Composing the Island’ celebrates 100 years of music by Irish composers, written between 1916 and 2016. What do composers think about Irish music now?
RTÉ takes a fresh approach to new music
Can the Music of Our Time series at the NCH remedy the weaknesses of the national broadcaster’s long-standing approach to new music?
Belfast opera director lands a tricky new job in Norway
Norway’s top opera job is being taken up by Annilese Miskimmon. The post comes with its own dramatic history
Who was the best composer of the late 19th century?
That question was arguably answered in concerts at the National Concert Hall and University Church last week
A glorious gamelan with a distinctive Irish accent
What attracted Iarla Ó Lionáird, Duke Special and Julie Feeney to collaborate with Cork Gamelan Ensemble?
Diabelli’s Variations and the Hugh Lane’s mysterious moving piano
The original theme lacked grandeur, but such portmanteaus can be a source of creativity
What? . . . Wow: not much new about David Lang’s festival of minimalism
Why this year’s festival turned to the US for a curator is hard to fathom
David Lang: ‘Minimalism existed for about a minute ’
In curating the What? . . . Wow festival, Lang is examining the legacy of his neighbourhood, and the 1960s New York scene that gave the world minimalism
We have lift-off: Irish cultural calendar 2015
A year of Yeats. The return of the Gathering. The zaniness of TedFest. The muckiness of the National Ploughing Championships. The musical magic of Electric Picnic. The spectacular scenery of Earagail Arts Festival. And much more. Consider yourself told
A series on great symphonies searches for meaning in music
In the first Great Symphonies Close Up concert, Charles Hazlewood explores Dvorák and shows a flair for the apt metaphor
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