Festivals in Ireland 2025: From Longitude to All Together Now - a guide to 80 of the best
From Brigit and Dublin Lunar New Year to Culture Night, Space Week and Cork Jazz Festival, here’s our round-up of cultural showcases to catch this year
National Symphony Orchestra
‘I would now identify as Irish rather than British. It was a very proud day when my Irish passport showed up’
Composer Stephen McNeff was born in Belfast, then grew up in south Wales. His Irishness has become increasingly important to his identity
The extraordinary life of a Waterford composer who was the leader of 19th century English opera
In Ireland, as an 18-year-old, he had been organist of Thurles cathedral and also taught at the Ursuline convent there, and he had been a violinist at the Theatre Royal in Dublin
Riverdance composer Bill Whelan: ‘I think we forget how important ritual is, and we’re losing it’
Composer, arranger and performer on Riverdance’s effect on Ireland, contemporary trad music, AI and facing down eternity
‘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
Bach’s St Matthew Passion: ‘When you’re unpacking a role like the Evangelist, it’s so vast, so enormous’
The tenor Gavan Ring on the work that he’ll be singing at the National Concert Hall in Dublin on Good Friday afternoon
Elina Garanca at the NCH review: A pleasure from beginning to end
The Latvian mezzo-soprano, with her husband on the podium, was effortlessly attractive in her self-assurance and ownership of her surroundings
Classical review: Finghin Collins a tower of strength in Killian Farrell’s unusual, stimulating NSO concert
Show’s Irish half includes music by Ina Boyle and Charles Villiers Stanford
Matthew McDonald and NSO/Jaime Martín review: The orchestra is in better form than it has been for years
Playing Gerald Barry’s From the Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra’s principal double bassist is heroic in the face of impossible odds
Dance music event at National Concert Hall to be repeated despite ‘abuse of facilities’ and ‘worrying feedback’
Last October’s Haunted Dancehall featured over 25 dance artists taking over NCH and its grounds for a series of late night gigs
‘Being a musician, saving was never much of an option’
Me & My Money: John Finucane, artistic director of Music in Monkstown 2023
‘Health and safety’ issues at National Symphony Orchestra referred to WRC by union
Siptu says members are frustrated by failure of management to address ‘psychosocial risk factors’
NSO/Gemma New: You wouldn’t run a soccer team this way. So hats off to the guest conductor
The National Symphony Orchestra churns through an extraordinary number of musicians. The New Zealand conductor rode the beast with some success on Friday
Obituary: Kenneth Montgomery: Doyen of Irish conductors known for generosity towards colleagues
The Belfast native enjoyed a distinguished career which saw him work with the Ulster Orchestra, the NSO, Sadler’s Wells Opera and the Glyndebourne Festival
‘It takes a village to make a concert happen’: Gemma New on the art of conducting an orchestra
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s first woman principal conductor on music, performance and the tingle factor
The NSO celebrated its 75th birthday with this concert. It involved some shameful decisions
Why did national institution mark significant anniversary without involvement of an Irish composer, soloist or conductor?
RTÉ’s cost savings update won’t be music to everybody’s ears
‘Mixed emotions’ on National Symphony Orchestra’s move may resurface with future cuts
John Kinsella obituary: Prolific composer and head of music at RTÉ
Died a month before poet brother Thomas and had just started work on 12th symphony
National Concert Hall: The best bits from 40 years of performance
Artists from all genres share their favourite moments from within the hallowed walls
Women, Irish and living composers are still being shut out by classical establishment
RTÉ NSO and National Concert Hall remain choked by the past in certain respects
Travails on permanent repeat at RTÉ
Ad competition, licence fee evasion and ascent of Netflix complicate life at Montrose
Gender balance not being taken seriously by Irish music organisations
Female composers are grossly underrepresented, but fixing the issue may not be easy
Orchestral manoeuvre will undermine RTÉ in the long term
Helen Boaden’s report reveals treatment of orchestras that is counter-productive
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE...
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Six Nations 2025
Get the latest news, analysis and match reports from the M6N and W6N championships
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
Family NoticesOpens in new window
Weddings, Births, Deaths and other family notices