Latest Issue

Rethinking Opera

Christopher Fox

If we want new opera to relate to our twenty-first century experience, we must return to first principles, says Christopher Fox

A Whole New Thing

Alice Echols

Alice Echols tells the forgotten story of the daring, cross-racial experimentation that happened across rock, funk and disco during the 1970s.

Obair le Déanamh

Breandán Ó hEaghra

Breandán Ó hEaghra hears the Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland in New York

'To have crossed his path as a listener was enriching; to have had him as a mentor was unforgettable,' writes Tony MacMahon of the uilleann piper Séamus Ennis. In New York and Dublin in the 1960s, MacMahon lived with, played with and learned from Ennis, and here he recalls some of the rituals and skills of the artist that made him unique.

The Musical Priest

Ciaran Carson

He was a cantankerous eccentric who stressed that the Irish language and music were inseparable. Richard Henebry should not be forgotten, writes Ciaran Carson

Ghost Story

Tim Lawrence

Arthur Russell, cellist and composer, was born in 1951. In 1973, he moved to New York City and lived in the same East Village apartment for almost twenty years. A recent revival of interest in his music has manifested itself in several recordings, a film documentary and a biography entitled Hold On To Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973–1992 by Tim Lawrence. Here, Lawrence tells the story of the composer’s final work, World of Echo. Russell died of AIDS on 4 April 1992.