Focus
Challenging and Curious – New Music Dublin: Days 1 and 4
New Music Dublin took place at the National Concert Hall and other venues in the city from 25 to 28 April with many world and Irish premieres. Brendan Finan reviews days 1 and 4. For a review of days 2 and 3 by James Camien McGuiggan, see the link below.
Excellence But Lacking Surprise – New Music Dublin: Days 2 and 3
New Music Dublin took place at the National Concert Hall and other venues in the city from 25 to 28 April with many world and Irish premieres. James Camien McGuiggan reviews days 2 and 3. For a review of days 1 and 4 by Brendan Finan see the link below.
Revealing the Thinking Behind the Music: Seán Clancy's 'Four Sections of Music Unequally Divided'
Composer Seán Clancy has just released a recording of 'Four Sections of Music Unequally Divided' on the Birmingham Record Company label. James Camien McGuiggan reviews.
The Coloniser’s View: Stanford's 'Shamus O'Brien'
Retrospect Opera has recently released a recording of Charles Villers Stanford's 1896 opera 'Shamus O’Brien', telling the story of an Irish rebel. Brendan Finan reviews.
The Importance of Ensembles to the New Music Scene
The Music Current contemporary festival was held at the Project Arts Centre in Dublin last week from 2 to 6 April and featured TAK Ensemble, Dublin Sound Lab, Black Page Orchestra, Nadar Ensemble and lovemusic collective. Adrian Smith reviews.
The Return of the Bothy Band
TG4 has broadcast a new documentary film on the reformed 1970s group The Bothy Band including interviews and a performance in Dublin. Adrian Scahill reviews.
Bringing to Light a Forgotten Anglo-Irish Composer
Harpsichordist, conductor and musicologist Bridget Cunningham has just released an album of work by the eighteenth-century Anglo-Irish composer Thomas Roseingrave. James Camien McGuiggan reviews.
Marking the Loss of Traditional Music Listening Spaces
A new film on a renowned Irish traditional music pub in Dublin, 'Brendan Gleeson’s Farewell to Hughes’s', has recently been released. Adrian Scahill reviews.
SXSW Protest is About More than Palestine
The protest by ten Irish bands at SXSW in Austin, Texas, was about the crisis in Palestine, but it is also about more than that, writes Toner Quinn.
The Erotic and the Murderous: Irish National Opera's 'Salome'
Irish National Opera's production of Richard Strauss' 'Salome' opened on 12 March at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. Adrian Smith reviews.