National Orchestra announces future plans for music in Ireland

The National Orchestra plans to establish its own recording label. It will also commission more original Irish music, work with the Department of Education on enhancing the presence of music in schools and plan a greater presence on RTE television and radio, an Oireachtas committee heard yesterday.

Mr Niall Doyle, director of music at RTE, told the Joint Committee on Heritage and the Irish Language that these plans would be included in a report to be published in the autumn.

This follows a consultative process conducted between RTE, members of the classical music community and the general public on issues these groups feel should be addressed by the National Orchestra.

The orchestra has been "very active and anxious to address these", he said, and a series of initiatives and strategies lay ahead to expand its role.

The orchestra comprises six separate units. These are the National Symphony Orchestra, the RTE Concert Orchestra and the RTE Vanbrugh String Quartet, the RTE Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Chamber Orchestra and the children's Cor na nOg.

The orchestra, which has an annual income of £8.2 million, was "a shoestring operation" in the international context, Mr Doyle said, and would need to develop ways of increasing its income. The NSO should tour more frequently, both around Ireland and internationally, he said. However, to take the NSO away from its Dublin base for one day cost between £7,000 and £10,000 in addition to the normal salary costs. The cost of taking it abroad could be anything between £70,000 and £150,000 a week.

Mr Chris Flood TD asked those representing the orchestra and RTE, who included Mr Bill Dowdall, principal flautist with the NSO, and Mr David Carmody, principal french horn player with the RTE Concert Orchestra, whether there was a degree of elitism in the orchestra's recruitment policies.

Mr Doyle said that in its recruitment campaigns the orchestra "cast its net as wide as possible", advertising in all the national press. However, he said provision for musical education was very poor and the average Irish school-goer was not encouraged to value classical music.

Mr Carmody said those who did make careers in music in Ireland did so "largely by accident".