More Hugh Lane

Some more great free music at the Hugh Lane Gallery, with an extra treat for the next 3 Saturdays (1.05pm) when the 3 Irish pianists selected to participate in the 2012 Dublin International Piano Competition (which runs from May 4-15) showcase their programmes. On Sat 31 you can hear Ben Shaffrey play Beethoven, Brahms and Liszt; on Sat 7 April Nadene Fiorentini plays Berg, Ravel, Granados and Chopin; and on Sat 14 Marie Carroll plays Ravel, Messiaen and Chopin. Meanwhile back in the Sundays @ Noon slot Duos for Harp and Cello sees NSO veterans Andreja Malir and Martin Johnson team up for works by Ravi Shankar, Jane O’Leary and Tedeschi, while on Sun 8 pianist Peter Tuite continues his joint survey of the Complete Haydn Piano Sonatas. A concert featuring contemporary composers Jennifer Walshe and Alessandro Bosetti on Sun 15 promises to be something quite different: ‘both local artists and composers that have been exploring the uncharted territory between music, speech and noise in a variety of forms ranging from experimental radio play, opera, instrumental music and performance, making use of an extremely broad palette of unconventional sounds. Alessandro Bosetti's approach is close to sound anthropology and incorporates social, behavioral and sociological aspects while in Jennifer Walshe's work a big role is played by text, narratives and mischievous humor.' And on Sun 22 Paul Hillier conducts the National Chamber Choir in An Irish Colloquy, including Tarik O’Regan’s The Spring, Arvo Pärt’s The Deer’s Cry, Nicholas Maw’s Five Irish Songs, excerpts from Piers Hellawell’s Isabella’s Banquet and works by Enda Bates, David Fennessy and Frank Corcoran.www.hughlane.ie

RTE Horizons

Missed the boat a bit on the RTE Horizons series – free contemporary music concerts at the NCH featuring the RTE NSO; there was some great stuff including Kevin Volans and Ronan Guilfoyle, but there’s still time to catch the final concert next Tue (1.05pm) when the focus is on Garrett Sholdice. World premieres of two new works composed especially for this concert by Sholdice (Fall and Disappear) and Benedict Schlepper-Connolly, arrangements by Sholdice of the Bach chorale Ach wie nichtig, ach wie flüchtig for string orchestra, brass ensemble and full orchestra, and Feldman’s Madame Press Died Last Week At Ninety. And you can hear the Composer in Conversation at 12.30pm www.rte.ie/nationalsymphonyorchestra

Concorde & Ulysses

Concorde contemporary music ensemble celebrate their 35th birthday with Up Close with Music, a series of six free afternoon concerts in gallery spaces including the Rubicon Gallery, the Contemporary Music Centre and the Gallery of Photography. Each concert will feature a commissioned composer with a new work, as well as highlighting their extensive repertoire and new compositions from both Irish and international composers, including Stephen Gardner, Grainne Mulvey, Judith Ring, Ed Bennett, Korean composer Si-Hyun Yi and Slovenian composer Nina Senk. The series will pay tribute to the late James Wilson and will also focus on the music of Elliot Carter. The first two concerts are at the Rubicon Gallery on Sun 13 and Sun 27 Nov, featuring commissioned works from Dave Flynn and Rhona Clarke respectively. www.rubicongallery.ie

For more free music, head up to the Dublin Unitarian Church on Stephens Green at 3pm on Sun 13 for the final concert in their Organ Restoration Fund series. Fergal Caulfield conducts the Ulysses Chamber Choir in a programme of Hungarian-themed music including Brahms’ Ziegunerlieder and Listz’s Missa Choralis. There will be a post-concert bucket collection towards the cost of restoring the beautiful JW Walker Organ, built 100 years ago this year. www.dublinunitarianchurch.org

If Music Be

Some fab music coming up over the next few days, kicking off at the NCH this evening (Wed 21) with the fascinating and highly dramatic pianist Rolf Hind, a brilliant exponent of contemporary music. The opening concert in the NewSoundWorld series, the two-piano programme mixes John Cage with eastern influences including Takemitsu and Tan Dun. www.nch.ie

Lots of stuff on Culture Night (Fri 23). At the NCH you can hear RTE Cor a nOg at 7pm, prior to the main NSO concert, and for a mere fiver, the RTE Vanbrugh Quartet at 10.15pm playing Mozart, Arvo Part and Donnacha Dennehy. The Contemporary Music Centre opens its doors til 10pm for a live Music and Installation Programme with the Spatial Music Collective, including Jonathan Nangle’s Trip the Light Fantastic, Brtian Bridges’ Collapsing Old Buildings, and works for harp and electronics by Linda Buckley and Enda Bates. www.culturenight.ie

The CMC’s new music::new Ireland salon series begins on Wed 28 at the NCH’s Kevin Barry Room with singer Tine Verbeke and cellist Martin Johnson (of Concorde) in a programme that includes James Wilson and Elaine Agnew. www.cmc.ie

Sundays at Noon at the Hugh Lane features upcoming young classical guitarist Pavlos Kanellakis on Sun 25 playing de Falla, Villa Lobos, Buckley and de Bromhead. On Sun 2 Oct the National Chamber Choir sing Bach, Brahms, Arnold Bax, Siobhan Cleary and Tarik O’Regan. www.hughlane.ie

Horizons at the NCH

Two concerts in the RTE NSO’s free lunchtime Horizons series at the NCH, focusing on contemporary Irish composers: on Tue 10 May Belfast composer Philip Hammond celebrates his 60th birthday with a programme that includes ...the starry dynamo in the machinery of night… composed in 2001 for President Clinton’s Honorary Doctorate from Queen’s University Belfast, and his Concertino for Flute and Strings, with NSO principal flute Catriona Ryan. It’s the turn of Jerome de Bromhead on Tue 17, when his first Violin Concerto gets its world premiere, with NSO leader Alan Smale as soloist. www.nch.ie www.rte.ie/nationalsymphonyorchestra

Gorecki's Last Songs

The long-established award-winning Silesian Quartet from Poland commemorate the recent death of their fellow countryman, the celebrated Polish composer Henryk Mikołaj Gorecki with a concert at the NCH’s Kevin Barry Room on Sat 12 March. They play two of his chart-topping string quartets written for the Kronos Quartet in the 1990s: No 1 Already it is dusk, and No 3 …songs are sung, completed in 1995 but not premiered until 10 years later. The concert is sponsored by ArtPolonia and the Polish Embassy. www.nch.ie

Sensorium

Originally established in York and now transferring to Dublin, The Link Project, brainchild of composer Judith Ring, aims to break a few boundaries and change a few perceptions in the structured presentation of music performance. Sensorium, a week long multidisciplinary music festival running at Project from March 7-12, gives us the first taste of such possibilities, encompassing works that include contemporary music, improvisation, electronic music, electro-acoustic music, audio-visual works, music and dance, and physical theatre. The festival opens on Mon 7 with Sonic Boom, a free concert (booking required) of tape works by electroacoustic composers Ed Bennett, Donnacha Dennehy, Roger Doyle, Judith Ring and Jurgen Simpson, including a chance to hear the first Irish performance of Doyle’s The Ninth Set, winner of the Magesterium Prize at Bourges in 2007. Tue and Wed are given over to workshops, with evening concerts showcasing the results. The Contemporary Music Centre hosts a free lunchtime concert on Thur, while the big noise is reserved for Fri & Sat. On Fri a diverse mixture of technological, instrumental and visual performances features works by Enda Bates, Enrico Bertelli, Theo Burt, Alex Harker, Emily Kalies, Jonathan Nangle, Matt Postle and Judith Ring, including the latter’s My one’s bigger than yours for double bass and cello. Sat wraps things up with a lineup of electro-acoustic, instrumental, electronic, improvisation and audio visual works from Enrico Bertelli, Linda Buckley, Jane Cassidy, Emily Kalies, Matt Postle, Judith Ring, Radek Rudnicki, Garrett Sholdice and Tim Wright. Musicians include Enrico Bertelli and Simon Roth on percussion, Joe Browning on shakuhachi, Kate Ellis on cello, Suzanne Fatta and Michelle O’Rourke on vocals, Matt Postle on trumpet and Malachy Robinson on double bass. Should be a good one. www.the-link-project.com, www.projectartscentre.ie

Let It Snow

Oh the weather outside is delightful, but there’s a limit to the number of snowmen you can make and all that sloshing around is a bit hard on the feet. So check out a bit of culture instead – there’s more to December than pantos and Christmas carols. A couple more concerts in the Hugh Lane Sundays @Noon series before they close up shop for the hols: on Sun 5 Dublin based Russian-German pianist Elisaveta Blumina is joined by the Staatskapelle Berlin Woodwind Quintet for a lovely programme of Anton Reicha, Jean Francaix, Piazzolla, and Poulenc’s Sextet for piano, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn. On Sun 12 the Riverrun Piano Quartet continue their Brahms’ series with the Piano Quartet in C minor, along with works for viola and piano by Schumann and Joseph Joachim. And remember it’s all free. www.hughlane.ie

Ok, so you can’t avoid a bit of seasonal caroling, but head off the beaten track a bit and you might find some real treats. Fingal Chamber Choir give their Christmas concert on Sun 12 (4pm) in one of Dublin’s hidden gems, the Church of St John the Baptist in Drumcondra, a fascinating slice of historic rural Ireland plonked in the middle of suburbia.

Two lunchtime concerts from the NSO at the NCH: On Tue 14 the RTE Philharmonic Choir lend their considerable voices to seasonal favourites such as Stille Nacht and Veni, veni Emmanuel alongside Corelli’s Christmas Concerto; on Fri 17 the contribution from the youthful Cor na nOg includes Reger’s The Virgin’s Slumber Song, while the orchestra indulge in some Nutcracker excerpts www.rte.ie

At the NCH’s Kevin Barry Room, a Christmas series with a difference: Soilse na Nollaig brings together some of the leading lights of the traditional Irish music scene including the likes of singers Moya Brennan, Karan Casey, Maighread & Triona Ni Dhomhnaill, Meav and Iarla O Lionaird, and virtuoso musicians Cormac de Barra (harp), Máire Breatnach (fiddle), Steve Cooney (guitar), Niall Vallely (concertina) and Caomhin Vallely (piano). Concerts are at lunchtime and teatime and run from Wed 15 to Tue 23. www.nch.ie

The Contemporary Music Centre are getting into the Christmas spirit with Winter Variations, two free concerts on Dec 15 from newly formed ensemble SoundSet. Featuring contemporary Christmas carols, including new works written specifically for the occasion by Irish composers Anne Marie O’Farrell, Jane O’Leary and Nick Roth, there’s also an international carol by Pawel Lukaszewski of Poland and works by Stephen Gardner, Piers Hellawell and Solfa Carlile. www.cmc.ie

Barry meets Beethoven

The National Chamber Choir team up with Crash Ensemble for a celebration of the work of internationally renowned Irish composer Gerald Barry at the Hugh Lane Gallery on Thur 21 Oct, 7pm. The programme features the premiere of a new commission entitled Schott and Sons, Mainz, using text from Emily Anderson’s The Letters of Beethoven published in 1961, and also includes Beethoven, Barry’s setting of Beethoven’s sole surviving love letters to a mysterious ‘immortal beloved’. Soloist is British bass Stephen Richardson. www.nationalchamberchoir.com www.crashensemble.com

Arvo Part

Fergus Sheil conducts the State Choir Latvija in a 4 concert tour, including St Ann’s Dawson Street on Thur 14, in celebration of the 75th birthday of the great Latvian composer Arvo Part. This retrospective of the composer’s choral music spans three decades of work that forms the spiritual core of his output, featuring iconic pieces such as Summa, the deeply reverential Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen and the ethereal Magnificat (1989). A highlight of the programme will be The Deer’s Cry, a setting of St Patrick’s Breastplate described by Part as his ‘gift to Irish audiences’, which was premiered by the State Choir Latvija in Drogheda in 2008. Also on the programme are three spiritual works by Irish composers: Deirdre McKay’s Plunkett’s Last Words, Rhona Clarke’s Two Marian Anthems and Mícheal O Suilleabhain’s Maranatha, an exuberant setting of the ancient ‘O Antiphons’ which also features in Part’s Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen. Tickets from www.tickets.ie

Irish Composers Collective

The Irish Composers Collective are back in the NCH’s Kevin Barry Room on 31 Aug with a concert by renowned Balkan band Yurodny. On the programme are premieres of the latest works by DE McCarthy, Francis Heery, Matthew Whiteside, Amanda Feery, Dennis Wyers and Yurodny’s own Adrian Hart. www.irishcomposerscollective.org , www.nch.ie

Music in the Historic Quarter

The streets are alive with the sound of… the latest offering from the Contemporary Music Centre. Running from 21 Aug to 1 Sept, Music in the Historic Quarter is an outdoor music trail and a series of mostly free events around the older and more interesting parts of the city, including St Audoen’s Church, the Civic Offices Amphitheatre, Christ Church and St Patrick’s Cathedrals, The Back Loft, City Hall, The Coach House and Smock Alley Theatre. The music trail features works by Irish composers, among them Ian Wilson, Kevin Volans, Donnacha Dennehy and Judith Ring, playing at 5 outdoor locations – some of which require a compatible smartphone. The Rawstorne Singers are at Christ Church Cathedral for Choral Evensong most evenings, Daoiri Farrell and Friends are at St Audoen’s on 21 Aug, on 26 there’s Don Giovanni at the Civic Offices at lunchtime and Stuart Nicholson gives his Starwars and Rude Noises organ recital at St Patrick’s Cathedral. On 27 Anuna are at the The Back Loft and you can hear the Bell Ringers at Christ Church. Dublin Guitar Quartet are at City Hall lunchtime on 28, Music Network present Paudie O Connor on box & Aoife Ni Chaoimh on fiddle at the Coach House, Dublin Castle on 31, and ConTempo Quartet play Smock Alley on 1 Sept. More info and reservations@ www.cmc.ie

Una Santa Oscura

A fascinating multi disciplinary and multi sensory collaboration takes place at Project from Thur 4 to Sat 6 March in the shape of Una Santa Oscura, a piece of music-theatre composed by Ian Wilson, directed by Tom Creed and performed by violinist Ioana Petcu-Colan. Inspired by the life of Hildegard von Bingen, the celebrated composer, abbess and mystic who was born in Germany in 1098 and lived to the ripe old age of 81, this evocative combination of sound and visuals echoes the structure of a cloistered day and draws on elements of Hildegard’s biography as well as her graphic and well-documented visions. Described as an opera without singers, Wilson’s music fuses live performance with electronically manipulated recordings, and is based on Hildegard’s Ave Maria, O auctrix vite. while Creed’s staging is inspired by Oliver Sacks’ book Migraine, in which he suggests that her visions and symptoms were from a source other than spiritual. Wilson, Creed and Petcu-Colan take part in a post show discussion on Fri. www.projectartscentre.ie

Crash @ the Beckett

Crash Ensemble are at the Samuel Beckett Theatre TCD on Fri 5 March with the fifth in their series of annual Free State concerts. The focus this time is on new music from upcoming Irish composers, ranging from solo electro-acoustic works to full ensemble pieces. Highlight is a new specially-commissioned piece by Ed Bennett, as well as works by Ann Cleare, who has just been shortlisted for Amsterdam’s prestigious Gaudeamus Prize, previous Gaudeamus shortlisters Enda Bates and David Fennessy, Grainne Mulvey, Benedict Schlepper-Connolly, and Scott McLaughlin, whose Marionettes incorporates a specially-imported Moog Piano Bar. www.crashensemble.com

Hang on

Also hitting the road are Portico Quartet, taking to the highways and byways courtesy of Music Network. Mercury prize nominees for their debut album Knee Deep In The North Sea back in 2008, this East London foursome create a sound that floats between jazz and contemporary music with a combination of soprano and tenor sax, double bass, drums and hang. Hang on, what’s that? A sort of double wok instrument that’s both percussive and melodic and produces a marimba-like sound with echoes of Steve Reich or Philip Glass, giving a hazy, hypnotic edge to everything they play. Fresh from Australia, you can catch them at Dublin Castle Coach House on Tue 16 before they head out across the country. www.musicnetwork.ie www.porticoquartet.com

Soundscapes

The Contemporary Music Centre are pulling out all the stops in celebration of the 60th birthday of the grandaddy of Irish electronic music Roger Doyle. Running each afternoon from Oct 22-31 as part of DEAF, Soundscapes features a dramatic outdoor sound gallery playing electronic and piano music that spans Doyle’s prolific and frequently award-winning career. Among the works you can hear are tracks from his new CD Cool Steel Army and excerpts from the fake radio station featured in his magnum opus Babel. Admission is free, more info @ www.cmc.ie