12 Points!

So what’s all this Douze Points stuff? Thankfully, it’s not the Eurovision but a visionary snapshot of the best of contemporary Euorpean jazz. Originally the Dublin-based baby of the Improvised Music Company, it’s now become something of a Pan-European festival, heading out for new adventures every second year. Luckily, 2011 is a homecoming years, so between Wed 4 and Sat 7 May you can sample a vibrant cross-section of jazz in all its glorious diversity. Project Arts Centre is the venue, with 3 bands each night from 7pm. The opening night kicks off with Portuguese trumpeter Susana Santos Silva and her Quintet, followed by some gritty improv with Amsterdam’s The Ambush Party and piano magic from London-based trio Phronesis. Thursday features the Lisbeth Quartett from Berlin headed up by impressive young saxophonist Charlotte Greve, innovative Parisian trio Metal-o-phone and Rome’s hard-grooving Neko quartet. Stockholm gets a look in on Fri 6 with adventurous Swedish singer Isabel Sorling and her Quintet, more pianistic lyricism from Geneva’s Colin Vallon Trio, whose debut album for ECM has just been released, and PELbO from Oslo with an exhilarating mix of tuba, voice and drums. The final night starts with Dublin’s own RedivideR – brass & bass spearheaded by drummer Matt Jacobson, Slovenia makes its first festival appearance with Kaja Draksler’s Acropolis Quintet, and wrapping it all up with a sheen of catchy Scandinavian creativity, Elifantree from Helsinki. Tickets are €20/€16 per night or a recession-friendly Festival Pass is €60 – that’s a fiver a band. Check it all out at www.12points.ie, www.projectartscentre.ie

New Music & Jazz

Two shows on Wed 27 April: Some esoteric jazz from Tarab, headed up by Irish-based Italian musician Francesco Turrisi, who launch their debut CD at Whelan’s. With Turrisi on accordion, harmonium and various Arabic and Sicilian frame drums, his jazz/classical background is elaborated by saxophonist Nick Roth and cellist Kate Ellis, while an Irish counterbalance is provided by traditional flautist Emer Mayock and percussionist Robbie Harris. www.improvisedmusic.ie

Meanwhile the Contemporary Music Centre team up with the Irish Composers’ Collective for a Night of New Music in the NCH’s Kevin Barry Room. Kicking off at 6pm with the CMC’s new music::new Ireland salon series (admission free, booking recommended) Movement of Sound is a collaboration between composer/performer Karen Power, who works primarily in the acoustic and electro-acoustic field, with well-known dancer and choreographer Mary Nunan. After a break for wine and tapas, the ICC present the Quiet Music Ensemble, featuring John Godfrey, Séan Mac Erlaine and Isla de Ziah, performing the works of Alyson Barber, Solfa Carlile, Patrick Connolly, Susan Geaney, Aristides Llaneza and Adam McCartney. Pre-concert talk at 8.15pm. www.nch.ie, www.cmc.ie, www.irishcomposerscollective.ie

Sundays@ Noon

Some great music coming up at the Hugh Lane Gallery. On Sun 17 April the Irish Baroque Orchestra Chamber Soloists , led by Grammy-nominee Monica Huggett , play Schubert’s wonderful Quintet, giving audiences a rare chance to hear this masterpiece, with its unusual combination of 2 cellos, 2 violins and viola, performed on period instruments as audiences in the 1830s would have heard it. On Sun 24 pianist and Fulbright Alum Therese Fahy presents inter-changes: the first decade of Irish piano music in the 21st century prior to a US tour as part of the Imagine Ireland festival. Representing a cross-section of Irish contemporary music, from the traditional to the avant-garde, it features works by Siobhan Cleary, Ronan Guilfoyle, Jonathan Nangle, Kevin O'Connell, Ian Wilson, Michael Holohan and Bill Whelan. Guilfoyle turns up again on Sun 1 May when violinist Michael d’Arcy and pianist Izumi Kimura present ‘Celebrating Bartok’, with Sonatas for Violin and Piano by Ronan Guilfoyle and Bela Bartok, and a new work by Guilfoyle to celebrate Bartok’s 130th anniversary. Sun 8 features the Songs of Seoirse Bodley, with soprano Syvlia O'Brien, and on Sun 15 Annette Cleary and Lance Coburn play works for cello and piano by Rachmaninov and Webern. Concerts start at 12 noon and it’s all FREE, but get there early if you want to get a seat. www.hughlane.ie