In October Raymond Deane’s Violin Concerto, an RTE commission, will be premiered by Danish violinist Christine Pryn with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland (NSOI) and conductor Gerhard Markson at the National Concert Hall in Dublin. Philip Martin’s orchestral work, Mystic Nativity, also an RTE commission, will be performed by the NSOI and conductor William Eddins in November, also in the National Concert Hall.

Later in November, a new piece by Ed Bennett will be premiered by Sheffield Chamber Orchestra. Commissioned by the PRS Foundation as part of the SPNM’s ‘Adopt a Composer’ scheme, it will be performed at Sheffield University. On a smaller scale, Judith Ring’s Phorm, a fifteen-minute piece for tenor saxophone and electronics, will be premiered by André Leroux in December. Commissioned by the Canadian ensemble Bradyworks, the performance takes place at the Project arts centre, Dublin as part of the Crash ensemble’s festival of new music. Also in December, a piece by Fergal Carroll for orchestra, choir and speaker commissioned by Tipperary Millennium Orchestra will be performed by that group at St Peter and Paul’s Church in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.

For 2004, Sligo County Council has commissioned a solo piano piece from Siobhán Cleary. With the title Suantraí (Lullaby) it will be premiered by Irish pianist Maria McGarry at the Model Arts and Niland Gallery, Sligo, in January. Cleary has also been commissioned to write a ten-minute work for the Crash ensemble for performance in the 2004 RTE Living Music festival at The Helix, Dublin, in February. On 6 February, Stephen Gardner’s Concerto for Orchestra receives its first performance by the NSOI and Gerhard Markson, followed in April by the premiere by the same team of a new orchestral work by Seóirse Bodley, both RTE commissions.

Looking ahead to the second part of 2005, Gerald Barry has a major commission forthcoming for the BBC. The 20-minute orchestral piece will be performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Arturo Tamayo at the Barbican Concert Hall in London in September 2005.

For details of all the above performances, check the Calendar.