The Irish composer Seóirse Bodley turns eighty this month, and the occasion will be marked by a concert of his music at the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, on Sunday, 28 April, as part of the the Sundays at Noon series. The concert will include two of Bodley’s settings of Goethe, Mignon and the Harper and his song cycle Gretchen.

Sylvia O’Brien (soprano), Owen Gilhooly (baritone), Imelda Drumm (mezzo-soprano), David Adams (piano) and a choral ensemble conducted by Ruaidhraí Ó Dalaigh will perform Bodley’s works. The event will also feature the launch of a new book by Dr Lorraine Bodley Byrne, titled A Community of the Imagination: Seóirse Bodley’s Goethe Settings.

Bodley, born in Dublin, studied composition in Ireland and Germany before taking up a teaching post at University College Dublin, which he held for many years. He is currently Emeritus Professor at UCD’s music department. Bodley’s Third Symphony was commissioned for the opening of the National Concert Hall in Dublin, and he was elected a Saoi of Aosdána in 2008.

hughlane.ie/sunday-concerts