Premiere of Gerald Barry Opera Tops Bill at New Music Dublin 2017

Thomas Adès, who will conduct the Irish concert premiere of Gerald Barry’s new opera.

Premiere of Gerald Barry Opera Tops Bill at New Music Dublin 2017

World premieres by Ed Bennett, Seán Clancy and Stephen Gardner, and Irish premieres of Adès’ 'Totentanz' and 'Living Toys', also feature in the 2017 edition.

The Irish concert performance premiere of the new opera by Gerald Barry, Alice’s Adventures Underground, recently co-commissioned by the Barbican, Britten Sinfonia and Los Angeles Philharmonic, will top the bill at New Music Dublin 2017, the programme of which has just been announced. 

Planned in consultation with acclaimed composer, conductor and pianist Thomas Adès, the festival, which takes place from Thursday 2 to Sunday 4 March, will open with a concert featuring Adès and Barry in piano duet, Crash Ensemble performing work by the two composers, and a world premiere by Stephen Gardner.

Friday features two concerts: a performance by Michelle O’Rourke (soprano) and Michael McHale (piano) that features work by Linda Buckley and the world premiere of a new set of songs by Andrew Hamilton; and a concert featuring the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Adès (conductor), Simon Keenlyside (baritone) and Christianne Stotijn (mezzo-soprano) performing a new RTÉ commission by Ed Bennett, Barry’s La Plus Forte and the Irish premiere of Adès’ Totentanz.

Saturday begins with the RTÉ Contempo Quartet and Hugh Tinney performing the world premiere of Seán Clancy’s Four Lines of Music Slow Down and Eventually Stop, Linda Buckley’s Haza and Adès’ Piano Quintet; this is followed by ‘Tiny Portraits in Tiny Rooms’ featuring works by Ivan Fedele, Ondřej Adámek, Unsuk Chin and Kaija Saariaho; a performance by Quiet Music Ensemble featuring works by Karen Power, Yoko Ono and Cat Lam; and the main concert is a performance of Barry’s Alice’s Adventures in Underground featuring the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Adès (conductor), Claudia Boyle, Clare Presland, Hilary Summers, Joshua Bloom, Peter Tantsits, Daniel Norman and Stephen Richardson. 

A festival club, starting at c. 9.45pm each evening, will feature performances curated by Kirkos, Crash Ensemble and Kaleidoscope. 

Commenting on the programme, Adès said

I am delighted to be working with Gerald Barry, a long-time collaborator and friend, on devising what I think is an exciting programme of music for New Music Dublin 2017. Aware of the wealth of musical talent that exists in Ireland, I am very much looking forward to returning to Dublin to collaborate and perform with such accomplished composers, ensembles, orchestras and performers. This year’s festival has a largely vocal and operatic theme and I am particularly pleased to be conducting the Irish premiere of Barry’s new opera, Alice’s Adventures Underground. 

Adès gave the world premiere of Alice’s Adventures Underground in Los Angeles on 22 November, and will give the UK premiere at the Barbican Cente on 28 November.

Tickets for New Music Dublin 2017 will go on sale on Friday 25 November at 10am. To book, visit www.nch.ie or phone 01-4170000.

Published on 22 November 2016

comments powered by Disqus