Collaboration between Sholdice and Sage began a number of years ago, inspired by Sage’s approach to performance, and by his ‘basset clarinet’ edition of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto. The composer describes the ideas behind the work:

‘In our curation of Ergodos projects, myself and Benedict Schlepper-Connolly are often looking for ways to allow historical repertoire and very new music to be mutually illuminating. For example, the most recent Ergodos Musicians album (I Call to You) presents music that meditates deeply on a little organ piece by Bach, turning it ’round and ’round, reaching back into it’s history… In pairing the Mozart concerto with my new work, we hope that the audience will experience both works more intensely as a result.

The Mozart is an extremely famous piece of classical music — most of us instantly recognise its themes — but there are layers of beauty to the music that go way beyond its pretty tunes. My piece has a stillness to it — my piece is about finding a space and just being there, sitting still… I hope that the concentration and repose of my music will also allow the Mozart to “seep in” more than it otherwise might.

My work is composed for exactly the same forces as the Mozart concerto — the basic palette of colours is the same for both works, although the brushwork is very different. We hope that, through proximity, the audience will hear my work simply in terms of continuity of a practice, rather than anxious discourse with tradition (or worse, negation of tradition) as is sometimes the perception of the relationship of contemporary music to classical music.

The metaphor I use to describe my concerto (“sitting still in a space”) was inspired by a real experience of sitting still for a while in a very beautiful space —  a house designed by Mies Van Der Rohe (in the early 30s) overlooking Obersee, a lake in north-east Berlin. Hence the title: Am Obersee.’

The premiere of Sholdice’s Clarinet Concerto by Sage and the Ergodos Musicians, alongside the Mozart Clarinet Concerto, takes place at Christ Church on 7 June. For more information, see http://www.ergodos.ie/event/jonathan-sage-ergodos-musicians/

The Importance of Being Earnest is Barry’s fifth opera, composed in 2010 and commissioned by Los Angeles Philharmonic Opera and London’s multi-arts venue (and home to the London Symphony Orchestra) the Barbican. The work was premiered by the LA Phil, conducted by Thomas Adès (who also premiered The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit), since which time the work has recieved immense critical praise. The opera received its first fully-staged production at France’s Opéra National de Lorraine on St. Patrick’s Day this year. It was recently described by the Guardian’s Tom Service as being ‘poised between the same poles of the reidiculous and the uncompromisingly serious…[Barry's] music sounds like no one else’s in its diamond-like harness, its humour and sometimes, its violence’.

See the composer discuss The Importance of Being Earnest with Thomas Adès, Fiona Shaw and Stephen Fry.

The programme is a result of a collaboration between three Irish and three Romanian composers, and features works that explore multichannel audio, interactive multimedia performance, lights, dance and video projection. For the event, dancer Philip Connaughton will be joined by Ana Chifu on flute, Maria Chifu on bassoon, and Michael Quinn on harpsichord, with electronics also being arrayed over an immersive multichannel system.

Central to the programme is Cătălin Creţu’s interactive dance and projection work Inner Dust, in which the performer generates and transforms live visuals, with audio built from the Prelude of Bach’s first Cello Suite in G Major, and adapted especially for each performance space. Beside Inner Dust are special commissions by Dublin Sound Lab: Fergal Dowling‘s Imitations of Christ (for flute, bassoon and computer), a new work by Jonathan Nangle (for multichannel audio and lights), Piaras Hoban‘s magic birth/magia figura (for harpsichord and live electronics), and Sabina Ulubeanu’s …of tears and dewdrops, Passacaglia (for harpsichord, flute, bassoon, video and live electronics. The programme is completed by a recent piece by Diana Rotaru for flute, bassoon, tape, dance and video called Ani-motions.

Theatre of Sound takes place on 8 June at Smock Alley Theatre, Lower Exchange St., Temple Bar, Dublin. For more information, see www.dublinsoundlab.ie

Events this week

Garrett Sholdice‘s Cherubikon will be premiered and toured by the Cór na Maigh Eo, Resurgam and Clermont Chorale.

• 23 May, 8pm, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dundalk
• 24 May, 8.30pm, St. Patrick’s Church, Newport
• More

ConTempo present an afternoon concert as part of Galway Music Residency, including Jane O’Leary’s commissioned work ConTempo Conversations.

• 23 May, 1pm, Tuam Library, Tuam, Galway
• More

The second Mayo International Choral Festival takes place, featuring public workshops, competitions for and concerts of Irish and international choirs, mixed voice, female-only and male-only choirs, gospel, celtic and barbershop groups.

• 23 – 26 May, Castlebar/Newport/Westport/Swinford/Claremorris
• More

Listen at Lilliput, curated by Strike the Air (Judith Ring and Laura Hyland), will be night of solo harp music, traditional Japanese biwa narratives and original songs for vocal trio.

• 26 May, 8.30pm, Lilliput Press, Stoneybatter, Dublin
• More

Listen

Matthew Whiteside‘s Well, Well, Well, premiered in April by Red Note in Glasgow

The Crash Ensemble embark on a three-date tour of the US.

• 14 May, Kennedy Center, Washington
• 17 May, Carnegie Hall, New York
• 21 May, Princeton, New Jersey
• More

The Galway Ensemble-in-Residence ConTempo perform an afternoon concert with music by Haydn, Debussy and Jane O’Leary.

• 17 May, 2pm, Ballybane Library

The Limerick County Youth Choir perform a concert with music by Anne-Marie O’Farrell and and Pallé Mikkelborg.

• 18 May, 8pm, St. Mary’s Church, Limerick

The Irish Composers’ Collective continue their 2013 Solo Series with a performance by clarinettist Paul Roe.

• 17 May, 8.30pm, Kevin Barry Room, National Concert Hall
• More

Dublin Dance Festival takes place with some new Irish performances, including Mortuus et Phillipus/The Generalist with a specially composed score by Michael Gallen.

• 14 – 26 May, venues in Dublin
• More

Watch

Michael Holohan’s All in All in, performed in Dublin Central Library on 24 April as part of ‘Musical Tales’, a series of concerts presented by CMC in Dublin city libraries as part of the One City One Book initiative

Paul is a perfomer and educator with a particular interest in playing and developing contemporary clarinet and bass clarinet repertoire. He has performed with Concorde since 1989, and has played with Con Tempo, Crash Ensemble, Garth Knox and Finghin Collins, and was the Associate Principle Clarinet of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. He also works in the area of collaborative arts with Dublin City Council, Music Network, National Youth Orchestra and the Arts Council of Ireland.

The ICC programme consists mainly of pieces written especially for Paul, with works that explore the register of the instrument, its capacity for extended techniques, and a work inspired by the DART journey from Connolly to Shankill!

The Solo Series: Paul Roe concert will take place at the National Concert Hall’s Kevin Barry Room on 17 May at 8.30pm. Tickets cost €10/€5 (students) and are available for the NCH box office at www.nch.ie or 01 4170000. To read more about the ICC and the Solo Series, visit www.irishcomposerscollective.com

Programme:
Robert Coleman – Á Contre-couer
Ben McHugh – We Swim
Ryan Molloy – Séamsur
David O’Regan – Swamp Donkey
David Bremner – Composure
Daniel McDermott – Dystopia
Breifne Holohan – Ghostnotes

Cliodhna Ryan

The event, the last in the current series, takes place in the Kevin Barry Room of the National Concert Hall at 6pm, on Thursday, 30 May 2013.

Irish violinist Cliodhna Ryan presents a programme of works illustrating different approaches to writing for the violin.

Works performed includes Ian Wilson’s Una Santa Oscura – Fragment for violin and tape; Enda Bates’ Searching for Home for violin and electronics; Nothing Else by Niall Vallely; and Ed Bennett’s Sometimes it Rains.

Two of the works on the programme are premieres. Ian Wilson’s Una Santa Oscura was originallly written and performed in 2009 as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival. The salon features a world premiere of a special concert version of part of the original stage piece, Una Santa Oscura – Fragment. Nothing Else for solo violin by Niall Vallely was written especially for the salon, and is part of the music for a documentary on Joseph Campbell, a Belfast-born poet and political activist, probably best-known for writing the song My Lagan Love.

Cliodhna Ryan enjoys a diverse and varied career as a violinist. She performs extensively as a soloist and recitalist throughout the British Isles and has broadcast extensively on Lyric FM and BBC Radio. In addition to her work with the Rothko Trio, with whom she is a founding member, she has performed with the Vanbrugh String Quartet, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Chroma, Ergodos and Crash Ensemble.

CMC’s new music::new Ireland salon series returns in October 2013.

new music::new Ireland salon
6pm – 7pm, 30 May 2013, FREE ADMISSION
Kevin Barry Room, National Concert Hall, Dublin 2

Cliodhna Ryan, violin
Ed Bennett | Sometimes it Rains, violin and tape
Niall Vallely | Nothing Else, solo violin (world premiere)
Enda Bates | Searching for Home, violin and electronics (revised)
Ian Wilson | Una Santa Oscura – Fragment, violin and tape (world premiere)

Admission Free | Booking Recommended | tel: 01 417 0000 | www.nch.ie

CoMA is a UK-based group dedicated to bringing contemporary music to amateur audiences, and to making adventurous new music accessible to any and all, through running amateur contemporary ensembles, events, workshops and the CoMA Allcomers International Music Summer School. The workshops will be lead by pianist/composer Adam Swayne, who has had a number of significant commissions in addition to having performed at the BBC Proms and St Martin-in-the-Fields. The first, from 10am to 1pm, focusses on reading open graphic scoring, while the second, from 2pm to 5pm will be an improvisation session. The workshops are open to all ages and levels of experience, and the ability to read music is not required. The events are free of charge, though enrolment is advised by emailing singingthebridge@gmail.com

To find out more about the Singing the Bridge four-day community music event, in association with with Musicians without Borders, visit www.singingthebridge.org

This month, Farpoint Recordings with the Cork Artists Collective and the Guesthouse venue will be launching the Sonic Vigil 6 vinyl LP. The album, recorded live at last year’s event at Triskel Christchurch, includes music by Karen Power, Andreas Bick, The Mersk Collective, John Godfrey and others, and will be available in a limited edition of 250 blue vinyl with gatefold sleeve with full-colour artwork.

The release of the LP will be marked by a launch event at the Lewish Glucksman Gallery on Sunday 19 May, at which some of the album’s featured artists will perform, with sets from The Quiet Club, John Godfrey, Karen Power, Anthony Kelly and David Stalling, Kevin Tuohy and others.

For more information about the release of Sonic Vigil 6, and the Farpoint Recordings record label, visit www.farpointrecordings.com

The album, Good Teeth, is the culmination of three years work on a improvisatory project between the Irish and Greek composers, producing what they refer to as ‘unreal-time surround improv’: recorded improvisation with voice, viola, drums and trumpet are passed through a number of real-time and and non-real time processes, and the results triggered by physical gesturing of the performer, inciting further reaction and improvisation. The album features Walshe’s extended vocal techniques, instrumental drones, and rhythmic ‘workouts’.

Good Teeth is the second record to be released on the Migro Records label, which specialises in releasing work by composers and improvisers who ‘explore new concepts of music making’. Both Walshe and Ghikos were featured on the label’s first release, a compilation called Migrosound. The album is available on 12″ vinyl and digital download from www.migrorecords.com.