‘It takes a village to make a concert happen’: Gemma New on the art of conducting an orchestraThe New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s first woman principal conductor on music, performance and the tingle factorWed Mar 22 2023 - 05:45
Bartók: The Wooden Prince & Dance Suite — refined understatement from Cristian MăcelaruSubtlety the order of the day in Măcelaru’s adaptation of this fine pieceFri Mar 17 2023 - 05:00
Chamber Choir Ireland: Amhráin na Naomh – An unusually strained performance by an accomplished ensembleThe big piece of the evening, Eoghan Desmond’s Amra Choluim Chille, is a curate’s egg of a workThu Mar 16 2023 - 14:57
Maxim Rysanov, Nikita Boriso-Glebsky and Dóra Kokas: Welcome Irish tour by new international string trioMoments of astonishing beauty rubbed shoulders with helter-skelter passages with rough ensembleWed Mar 15 2023 - 14:47
Eoghan Desmond: ‘I struggle to write in a vacuum – I draw inspiration from what I’m working on as a singer’The upcoming premiere of the composer’s new piece, Amra Choluim Chille, may well be the largest-scale setting of a text in IrishTue Mar 14 2023 - 05:45
Finding a Voice festival: An Irish celebration of a multitude of women composersReview: Clonmel programme gives a platform to more dead composers than to living onesMon Mar 13 2023 - 13:24
The biggest Ortús Chamber Music Festival yet: Eight days, eight spaces, eight concertsThe Cork-based festival founded by Mairéad Hickey and Sinéad O’Halloran seems to have emerged stronger from the pandemicMon Mar 6 2023 - 14:41
Gráinne Mulvey: ‘It’s absolutely remarkable. These women were making huge strides’ The composer’s new work for Finding a Voice, the festival of music by women, is inspired by more than a century of activismMon Mar 6 2023 - 05:00
Anna Agafia: Nielsen & Szymanowski Violin Concertos — A passionately classical approachClarity of line is high on violinist’s agenda in approach that you might call passionately classicalFri Mar 3 2023 - 05:00
Der Rosenkavalier: ‘The story is farcical but underneath are real human issues that Strauss portrays in his music’Celine Byrne, Claudia Boyle and Paula Murrihy are in awe of the way Richard Strauss writes for the voiceSat Feb 25 2023 - 05:00
Cellist Leonard Elschenbroich: ‘I’ve been wanting to play Khachaturian all my life’The Sabre Dance is not to everyone’s taste but the German cellist is looking forward to playing Khachaturian’s workThu Feb 23 2023 - 05:00
The NSO celebrated its 75th birthday with this concert. It involved some shameful decisionsWhy did national institution mark significant anniversary without involvement of an Irish composer, soloist or conductor?Mon Feb 20 2023 - 11:24
Tamara Stefanovich: Nicolaou Etudes & Frames – Exhilarating listeningStefanovich can deliver notes as a kind of spray, a latter-day reconstruction of the virtuosic keyboard runs of the 19th centuryFri Feb 17 2023 - 05:00
‘The violin was really something very deep in myself’The musician grew up in the totalitarian state of dictator Enver Hoxha before getting a scholarship in ParisTue Feb 14 2023 - 06:00
David Bremner: Mixed Circuits – Rigorous and delicate treatment of four new worksThe west Cumbria composer has been a stalwart of the Irish music scene since 1999Fri Feb 3 2023 - 04:15
Danielle de Niese: ‘I wish the silly old opera cliches would be blasted away into smithereens’The charismatic soprano on her theatrical style, ‘erotic’ Poulenc and ditching the Viking helmetMon Jan 23 2023 - 05:00
Old Ghosts opera: ‘James Joyce’s writing is as near to music as prose can ever be’ Writer Marina Carr and composer Evangelia Rigaki explain how they approached making an opera inspired by the Penelope chapter of UlyssesSat Jan 21 2023 - 05:00
Crash Ensemble: Reactions – Sounds of the lockdown come alive in mocking commentary, naked voices and racing heart ratesAn eclectic album that explores lockdown connectionsMon Jan 16 2023 - 05:00
‘It’s like love, but musically’: Dutch soprano Lenneke Ruiten on working with Finghin CollinsThe singer partners with the Irish pianist for a varied programme at next weekend’s Midwinter Festival in GalwaySat Jan 14 2023 - 05:00
Eric Lu’s Schubert: Piano Sonatas spacious, unhurried and often exquisiteAmerican pianist is always looking for depth and shows a deep understanding of restraintFri Jan 6 2023 - 05:00
Matthew Locke: The Little Consort – Combative English composer gets stiff upper lippish treatmentViol consort Fretwork invite the ear to seek out the music’s quirkiest detailsFri Dec 16 2022 - 05:00
Teo Gheorghiu: Roots - fresh explorations of personal historiesThe pianist offers thoughtful interpretations of pieces from Romania and beyondFri Dec 2 2022 - 05:00
Thomas Zehetmair: making music beautiful even when he is not heard The new principal conductor of the Irish Chamber Orchestra discusses his art, influences and ambitionsThu Nov 24 2022 - 05:00
Finghin Collins: The bright day is done review - Atmospheric performances but lacking fluidityNew album is a personal selection of 13 piano piecesFri Nov 18 2022 - 05:00
Crash Ensemble: 25 years at the cutting edgeThe contemporary music group celebrates its birthday with a range of special events. But what makes its members tick?Wed Nov 16 2022 - 05:00
Orpha Phelan: ‘I’m very bossy, and I’m clear and organised. I can make things happen’The director faced a tight schedule when taking on the challenge of Don Pasquale for Irish National OperaMon Nov 14 2022 - 05:00
The many attractions of William Tell and RossiniDirector Julien Chavaz is relishing the ‘scary’ challenge of bringing the opera to an Irish stage for the first time since 1877Sat Nov 5 2022 - 05:00
Renaud Capuçon: Vivaldi and Chevalier de Saint-George - An intriguing couplingNimble, unaffected, modern-instrument accounts of 18th-century worksFri Nov 4 2022 - 05:00
Alena Baeva: ‘Concert platforms are a place where miracles can happen’Russian violinist discusses her musical journey, the joy of learning and war ahead of performing in DublinMon Oct 31 2022 - 05:00
The Selenites review: A persuasive musical focus on magicWexford Festival Opera: Conor Mitchell’s short piece feels like a scene being set for something largerThu Oct 27 2022 - 14:54
Cinderella review: Not quite happy ever afterWexford Festival Opera: Alma Deutscher’s first full-length opera is a fairytale that lacks menace or nuanceThu Oct 27 2022 - 10:22
Wexford Festival Opera 2022: Opening weekend veers from the mundane to the magicalA hot-and-cold La Tempesta, an updated Lalla-Roukh and a star turn by Jennifer Davis in a rare production of Dvorak’s ArmidaMon Oct 24 2022 - 15:44
‘We had to be that much more qualified to be treated as an equal’ In founding the Chineke! Orchestra, Chi-chi Nwanoku set out to fill a void in classical music and succeeded spectacularlyMon Oct 24 2022 - 05:00
Alina Ibragimova: Telemann Fantasias for solo violin – Approach of ‘less is more’ proves highly appealingThe talented Tatar violinist makes the most of the contrasts in Telemann's musicFri Oct 21 2022 - 05:00
‘People see opera as very glamorous from the outside’Soprano Jennifer Davis on performance hangover, social-media abuse, and creating a phonetic system to learn Dvorak’s Armida for Wexford Festival OperaThu Oct 13 2022 - 05:00
The Kreutzer Project: Building a bridge between Beethoven and JanáčekNew York chamber orchestra The Knights bring together two musical bedfellowsFri Oct 7 2022 - 05:00
Augustin Hadelich: Recuerdos - A musical response to warHomage to Benjamin Britten brings reflective spaciousness and tonal beauty to the concertoFri Sep 16 2022 - 05:00
The Marmen Quartet: a seamless transitionThe quartet have changed their personnel but the bond is just as strong with the new membersMon Sep 5 2022 - 05:00
Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn review: Musical siblings at their best when slower-pacedIn the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective’s sympathetic performance, Piano Trio in D minor is the richest work in this collectionFri Sep 2 2022 - 05:00
What makes a winner?: ‘A winner is that person who speaks straight to the heart’Dearbhla Collins, artistic administrator of the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition, reflects on the necessary ingredients for successSat Aug 20 2022 - 05:00
Schubert Unfinished & Great Symphonies: Vivid recordings full of period-instrument colour Belgian conductor René Jacobs approaches the symphonies like an art restorer revealing long-hidden detailFri Aug 19 2022 - 00:00
Kilkenny Arts Festival: Schubert on speed in the Marble CityThe festival’s music programme also featured two Russian landmarksTue Aug 16 2022 - 00:00
Semele review: Hande’s musically rich oratorio lacks clarityIt is, of all things, the representation of Somnus, god of sleep, that brings the evening to a higher levelFri Aug 5 2022 - 12:55
Coleridge-Taylor: Nonet, Piano Trio, Piano Quintet — Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective provide fine advocacyThe piano trio is tighter and more fiery than the others, but oddly unsatisfactoryFri Aug 5 2022 - 05:00
‘There’s no way of knowing what’s going to happen to musical life, or general life, in Ukraine’Ahead of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra’s appearance in Dublin, pianist Anna Fedorova talks about what’s happening in her countryThu Jul 28 2022 - 05:00
Michelle O’Rourke and Ficino Ensemble: Folk Songs - Celebration of remarkable voiceEarnest-sounding engagements with folk songFri Jul 15 2022 - 06:00
HandelFest 2022: Bringing Messiah — and Dublin’s 18th-century music scene — back to life Peter Whelan is keen to celebrate Handel in the city where Messiah was premiered, but also to put him in a wider musical contextThu Jul 14 2022 - 06:00
Gary McCann: Visceral experience of opera about images and music burnt into the memory Designer from Portadown discusses his approach to Puccini’s Tosca in a co-production between Opera Wrocławska and Irish National OperaSat Jul 9 2022 - 06:00
The West Cork Chamber Music Festival’s Covid solutionReview: Bantry seems unlikely to run out of bright ideas while Francis Humphrys is running the showTue Jul 5 2022 - 15:03
‘Total freedom’: Kirkos get experimental in a former hair salon in DublinThe ensemble can take chances in their Prussia Street home, as well as helping others, such as by hosting the premiere of a David Bremner operaSat Jul 2 2022 - 05:00