| Explore & Discover | |
| • | Meet Gerald Barry |
| • | Meet Raymond Deane |
| • | Composers in schools |
| • | Perform an Irish Work |
| • | Visit the Contemporary Music Centre |
| • | Calendar of Events |
| Resources | |
| • | For students |
| For teachers | |
| • | General resources |
| • | New Music Alive! |
Visit the Contemporary Music Centre
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The Contemporary Music Centre welcomes visitors, whether as individuals or groups. The Centre's library contains a unique collection of over 3,000 music scores by twentieth- and twenty-first century Irish composers. Listening facilities provide access to the Centre's sound archive of more than 5,000 recordings. An extensive reference collection of composer information, photographs, press clippings, specialist periodicals and books is also available, and scores and CDs are on sale.
Group visits (maximum fifteen persons) are welcome from Monday to Friday between 10.00 am and 5.00 pm at any time during the year. At least two weeks advance booking is required. No booking is necessary for individual visits.
The Centre's location in the Old City area of Dublin's cultural quarter, Temple Bar, is close to Christ Church Cathedral and Dublin Castle on the south side of the Liffey, and just a short distance from the Smithfield area on the North side. Apart from its role as the focus for new music in Ireland, the Contemporary Music Centre has an important connection with musical history through its location on Fishamble Street, where Handel's great oratorio, Messiah, was first performed in 1742.
Book a visit
Leaving Certificate students
Third level students - Cultural/historic groups
Students visiting the Contemporary Music Centre will be given an informal talk and tour of the Centre's facilities by one of the library staff. The talk focuses on the most important Irish composers (with particular reference to the Leaving Certificate curriculum and Raymond Deane as the composer of the set work, Seachanges) and is illustrated by musical examples. Students are then offered 'hands-on' experience by using a worksheet to access the library databases, score collection and web site.
The Centre's association with the great composer Georg Frideric Handel, whose Messiah received its first performance in the Music Hall on Fishamble Street in 1742, is also of interest in the context of the Leaving Certificate curriculum. Part of the wall of the Music Hall is visible in the courtyard beside the Centre, and Fishamble Street is considered the most important musical address in historic Dublin.
Visits last approximately one hour. The Centre can accommodate a maximum of fifteen students accompanied by at least one teacher. Two week's advance booking is required.
Because of the specialized nature of the Centre's work, visits by students below Leaving Certificate level are not recommended.
Third-level students visiting the Contemporary Music Centre will be given an informal talk and tour of the Centre's facilities by one of the library staff. The talk focuses on Irish composers and their music in the context of trends in international new music, and is illustrated by musical examples. Students are shown how to access the library databases, score collection, sound archive and reference resources, and may also access the Centre's web site.
CMC's association with musical history is also of interest. The first performance of Handel's Messiah was given in the Music Hall on Fishamble Street in 1742, and part of the wall is visible in the courtyard beside the Contemporary Music Centre.
Visits last approximately one hour. The Centre can accommodate a maximum of fifteen students accompanied by a staff member. Two week's advance booking is required.
Special interest groups such as musical or historical societies and foreign tour groups are welcome to visit the Contemporary Music Centre. The Centre has an important role as the focus for new music in Ireland and, by prior arrangement, illustrated talks can cover areas of special interest such as the development of new music in Ireland, its social and cultural context, and the leading composers and their music.
The Centre's location on Fishamble Street is also of interest. Sited in the oldest part of Viking Dublin (the 'fish shambles' or fish market), Fishamble Street is best known as the site of the New Music Hall where Georg Frideric Handel's great oratorio, Messiah, received its first performance in 1742. The remains of the wall of the Music Hall can be seen in the courtyard beside the Contemporary Music Centre. The Centre's own building, No. 19, was formerly the premises of Kennan and Sons, one of Dublin's oldest firms established in the 1790s.
We are based in Dublin's Cultural Quarter, Temple Bar, home to more than fifty arts and cultural organizations.
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