Music Network has announced the six musicians appointed to the RESONATE: Music Network Artist Residencies programme. The new programme will provide awards of €6,000 to €10,000, in addition to a range of supports to facilitate the musicians in creating new work.

Each musician will create a new work with a number of collaborators between July and November 2021 in association with a venue. The residencies will culminate in a live performance. The selected musicians are: fiddle player and singer Clare Sands (Glór, Ennis), singer-songwriter Emma Langford (Ionad Cultúrtha, Baile Mhúirne), guitarist Eamon Sweeney (The National Opera House, Wexford), uilleann piper David Power (Triskel Arts Centre, Cork City), violinist Larissa O’Grady (The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon), and composer, improviser and performer Philip Christie has been appointed to Regional Cultural Centre in Letterkenny. 

Commenting on the residency appointments, CEO of Music Network Sharon Rollston said: 

Music Network is delighted to embark on this new venture with six of our partner venues. Our shared aim was to create brand new opportunities for professional musicians. RESONATE is our most extensive residency programme to date and will provide the selected musicians with the vital time, space and income needed to devise and produce quality new work for audiences around the country. There was a very strong response to the programme, resulting in six very high calibre musicians working in a range of musical genres being awarded. We would like to acknowledge the time and effort that all of the applicants dedicated to applying for this residency opportunity.

For more, visit: www.musicnetwork.ie/news/music-network-announces-musicians-for-resonate-residencies-in-six-venues-around-ireland

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The Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA) and the Arts Office of Clare County Council have announced that this year’s Duala: Creator-in-Residence Scheme has been awarded to joint applicants fiddle, flute and saxophone player Tara Breen and flute player and traditional singer Nuala Kennedy. The Duala: Creator-in-Residence Scheme is now in its second year and invites the awarded artists to reflect on ITMA’s collections which are of relevance to County Clare. 

Breen and Kennedy will use the residency to work on a new recording project Ag Lorg Ár Líne. The project will see the pair research archival recordings of female traditional musicians from Clare, including concertina player Kitty Hayes, fiddle player Nell Galvin, concertina player Mary Haren, and singer Nora Cleary. The pair will study and reimagine the recordings, culminating in an online performance on 17 September, as part of Culture Night. 

Liam O’Connor, Director of ITMA, commented:

The creativity expressed in the applications for the second Duala Residency, and that of the selected project from Tara Breen and Nuala Kennedy, is a testimony to the continuing value of archival collections to inspire new and innovative artistic work. We are delighted to work with Tara, Nuala and Clare County Arts Office, and particularly appreciate the opportunity to focus on collections and materials relating to women in County Clare that are held in ITMA.

For more, visit www.itma.ie/latest/news/duala-creators-in-residence-tara-breen-and-nuala-kennedy 

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The recording Nine(Birds)Here by NDR Chor in Hamburg has been nominated in three categories of the OPUS Klassik Awards – Germany’s most prestigious classical music awards. The album contains three works by Irish composer Ian Wilson as well as compositions by English composer Ivan Moody and is nominated in the categories of World Premiere Recording, Best Conductor, and Best Ensemble. 

The most substantial works on the CD by the composers – Little red fish and Moons and Suns – are both for choir and saxophone quartet, featuring the Raschèr Quartet conducted by Philipp Ahmann. There are also works for a cappella choir, including Wilson’s nine(birds)here and i carry your heart (both of which are settings of poems by American poet E.E. Cummings), and He who clothed himself with light and Aflame by Moody. The winners of the 2021 OPUS Klassik will be announced at a ceremony in the Konzerthaus Berlin on October 10.

For further information on the OPUS Klassik Awards, visit www.opusklassik.de/

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Bernard Clarke, broadcaster with RTÉ Lyric FM, has recently won first place in the Short Form category of the Prix Marulić International Radio Competition in Croatia for his work Correspondances. The ten-minute piece for radio is a setting of Charles Baudelaire’s poem Correspondances and features fellow Lyric FM broadcaster Liz Nolan. In 2017, Clarke won first place at the awards for his drama Terrible Beauty. 

Prix Marulić – Old Texts Revisited is a festival organised by the Drama Department of Croatian Radio in association with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The competition is open to radio authors and is divided into three categories: Drama, Documentary and Short Forms. The aim of the competition is to celebrate old texts reimagined, with an old text considered any text written before 1921, the year of the first ever radio play. 

To listen to Correspondances, visit https://prix-marulic.hrt.hr/vijesti-engleski/prix-marulic-2021-winners-1942201

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The Association of British Orchestras (ABO) has appointed Jo Buckley and Paul Philbert as new directors to its Board following an election in late June. The announcement follows the recent appointment of harpsichordist Leslie Kwan and policy advisor Chris Loughran to the ABO board as co-opted directors earlier this year.

Buckley is the Chief Executive of the Dunedin Consort, previously holding roles with Britten Sinfonia, Northern Sinfonia, Live Music Now, and Delphian Records. She graduated from Cambridge University with a First-Class degree in 2004, and went on to gain a PhD in Musicology from Durham University, focusing on the role of the slow movement in Beethoven’s music. She is also a freelance writer, specialising in programme notes for concerts and recordings, and the author of the 2014 Royal Conservatoire of Scotland/New Music Scotland Mapping Report on the provision of new music in Scotland. Buckley also sits on the Board of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh.

Paul Philbert MBE is Principal Timpanist and Player-Director of Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He studied at the Purcell School of Music and at Trinity College of Music, establishing himself as a professional musician as the founding Principal Timpanist of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in 1998. Philbert has appeared as a guest performer with ensembles in the UK and Asia including the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Seoul Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, and the Hallé. In 2015, he became the founding Principal Timpanist of the Chineke! Orchestra. He was also appointed Principal Timpanist of the Orchestra of Opera North, a position he held for three years before moving to Scotland where he is now the Principal Timpanist, and a Player-Director with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. 

ABO Chair, Simon Webb said: 

I’m delighted to welcome Paul and Jo to the ABO board. They will bring perspectives and insights that will be of great value to the ABO and our work on behalf of our members. Over the last few months, the ABO board has been reflecting on its role. A key decision over that period of reflection has been to broaden access to the board to ensure we hear from the widest range of voices as we work to champion, connect, and develop the UK’s orchestral sector. Jo and Paul bring a breadth of experience that will enrich our work at the ABO.

For further information, visit www.abo.org.uk

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Glyndebourne has announced the appointment of two new members to its Board of Trustees: Sharmila Nebhrajani, Chair of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE​), and solicitor Helen Ward.

Sarah Hopwood, Managing Director of Glyndebourne, said:

The strength of the Board has been felt more than ever this past year as we’ve sought their support and expertise to help us face difficult decisions arising from the pandemic crisis. We are thrilled to be gaining the talent and insight that Sharmila and Helen have to offer and to be further diversifying the experience and skill set of the Board.

Glyndebourne has also announced a new pilot initiative bringing together a group of six volunteers to work with the Board and executive management to bring different perspectives to the company’s strategic thinking. The ‘Creative Conspirators’ will meet four times a year to explore the challenges faced by company, with a focus in the first year on attracting new audiences.

Glyndebourne’s Creative Conspirators are:
Jamal Edwards, entrepreneur and founder of the online urban music platform SB.TV
Dr Zahira Jaser, Assistant Professor at the University of Sussex Business School
Professor Anthony Lilley OBE, Director, Scenario Two Ltd
Joy Nazzari, Founding Director of brand consultancy dn&co
Jack Pepper, composer and broadcaster
Zerlina Vulliamy, Founder President of Oxford Contemporary Opera 

For more, visit: www.glyndebourne.com/

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The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) has announced the appointment of Jaime Martín as its new Chief Conductor. Martín is currently Chief Conductor of the RTÉ National Symphony, Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Gävle Symphony Orchestra in Sweden and was recently announced as the Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España (Spanish National Orchestra) for the 2022/23 season.

Martín – who established himself as a prominent conductor following a career as a flautist – will begin his tenure at the MSO in 2022. 

For further information, visit www.mso.com.au/media-centre/press-releases/mso-announces-chief-conductor-jaime-martin 

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The City of Derry International Choir Festival has announced Eoghan Desmond as the selected composer for a new choral work celebrating the life and legacy of Colmcille. The commission is part of the Derry City and Strabane District Council and Donegal County Council year-long celebratory programme of events marking the 1500th anniversary of the birth of Colmcille, and has been commissioned in partnership with the Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland. The work will be written for choir and solo cello and is due to be premiered at this year’s choir festival by chamber choir Codetta and Derry cellist Kim Vaughan.

Desmond is a member of Chamber Choir Ireland, and a Lay Vicar Choral in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. He holds a PhD in Composition of Sacred Choral Music from the University of Aberdeen and has composed choral works for ensembles such as The Sixteen, Sestina and Chamber Choir Ireland.  

Dónal Doherty, Artistic Director of the Festival, said:

We’ve commissioned a number of new choral works for this year’s festival and we’re particularly delighted to announce the selection of Eoghan Desmond as the composer of a work celebrating the life and writings of Colmcille. I’m confident that the premiere performance will be a significant moment in this year’s Choir Festival and will become a firm favourite in concert programmes over the coming years.

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3e159od 

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For June appointments, see here.