CMC’s next new music Salon in its ‘Lost in Bar 20’ series takes place on Saturday 17 January 2004 at 3.00 pm. It will feature Darragh Morgan, violin, who will play works by Frank Lyons, Simon Mawhinney, Fergus Johnston and Bill Campbell. On this occasion the venue is the library of the Contemporary Music Centre. Admission is free but due to limited space booking is recommended.

To date the CMC Salons have presented works by six composers. Rhona Clarke's Jagged Edge and Eibhlis Farrell's Conversation II were played by Alan Smale, violin and Annette Cleary, cello, in the first Salon in October 2003. During the second Salon in November 2003, Paul Roe, clarinet, played Jane O'Leary's Within/Without and Rob Canning's Continuum. Electro-acoustic works by Roger Doyle and Gráinne Mulvey were also presented. Lively discussion and debate, which continued in the Project bar after each event, was generated amongst the audience, performers and composers.

The idea for the Salon arose from a growing awareness in CMC that there is no forum in which new work can be heard outside the pressure of a formal concert situation with paying audiences and critics. With the generous co-operation of professional musicians who are working on an expenses-only basis, works receive informal read-throughs (hence the somewhat flippant series title of 'Lost in Bar 20') followed by an open discussion with the composers, performers and audience. Just as, in the nineteenth century, composers, writers and artists would gather informally to discuss one another's work and explore the ideas of the day, this initiative aims to offer a platform to experiment with new work, listen to some of those rare second performances of recent compositions, and generally discuss and debate issues in contemporary music.

January’s performer, Darragh Morgan, was born in Belfast in 1974. He is much in demand as an exponent of new music and performs regularly with EnsembleModern and has also appeared with the London Sinfonietta, Icebreaker and Musik Fabrik amongst others. He has given solo recitals as part of Wien Modern, the Warsaw Autumn and Aldeburgh Festivals, Ars Musica, the Sonorities Festival and many others. He is also involved in the pop industry and the world of traditional music. He recently recorded his first solo CD, Cusp, for Black Box Music.

The CMC Salons are made possible through the continued support of The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon.

Further details and bookings: Karen Hennessy, Promotion Manager. Tel: 01 673 1922. Mailto:khennessy@cmc.ie