Focus
Must Schoenberg's Crisis be Ours Too?
Contemporary music is still confined to a tiny elite and composing is largely buoyed up by arts council funding or the support of third-level institutions. Composer and pianist Patrick Zuk discusses some recently-published ideas on how we got here...
The Phonography of Roger Doyle
An introduction to a culture-jamming composer.
Ireland, Modernity and the Question of Definition
A reply to John Waters' article on the politics of debate which appeared in the last edition of JMI.
Hamelin : Ian Wilson & Lavinia Greenlaw
Music by Ian WilsonLibretto by Lavinia Greenlaw Opera Theatre Company; cond. David Brophy; dir. Gavin Quinn10 September 2003, Samuel Beckett Theatre, TCDThe story and music of this opera were very united, in how they developed, and in terms of their strengths...
Thwaite: Jürgen Simpson & Simon Doyle
Music by Jürgen Simpson / Libretto by Simon Doyle / Opera Theatre Company / Cond. Philip Walsh / Dir. Dan Zemmett / Project Theatre, 24 September 2003
CD Reviews: At It Again – John Carty
At it again, the whimsically titled new CD from multi-instrumentalist John Carty sees him this time eschewing banjo, flute and tenor guitar to instead confine his talents exclusively to the fiddle. On this recording he draws much of his repertoire from the...
CD Reviews: An Tobar Glé - Neil Mulligan
Neil Mulligan – An Tobar Glé– Shore Records SCD 1049One of the driving influences in the development of traditional music is the process of transmission. Maybe transmission is not always how it looks and feels at first hand – within...
The Politics of Debate
How discussion of culture and society is stymied
Time for the State to Honour its Commitment
Music Network – Ireland’s national music development organisation – has recently proposed an innovative system of national music education services based on national research. Here, Martin Drury, chairman of the report’s advisory group, introduces an initiative that could transform the musical, cultural and community life of towns and townlands throughout the country.In introducing Music Network’s report on the feasibility of a national system of local music education services, and underlining some of its key features, I want to begin by locating it within a wider frame of reference to do with notions of citizenship and of social equality.