The RTÉ Living Music Festival begins on 18 February and features several Irish premieres.

The festival takes place from 18 to 20 February at The Helix, Dublin’s northside arts centre, under the artistic directorship of composer Kevin O’Connell. It will focus on the music of Germany and Britain since 1945, with a particular emphasis on the celebrated German composer Hans Werner Henze, who has accepted RTÉ’s invitation to attend.

The Irish works commissioned for the festival are by Frank Corcoran, Fergus Johnston and Rachel Holstead. Corcoran’s Quasi una Visione will be performed by Ensemble Modern from Frankfurt, while Johnston will write an orchestral work for the RTÉ Concert Orchestra under their conductor Laurent Wagner. Rachel Holstead has been commissioned to write a string quartet for the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet.

Other performances will be by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (in partnership with the British Council), the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and the National Chamber Choir. Guest conductors include Pascal Rophé and Siân Edwards with visiting artists Viviane Hagner (violin), John Harle (saxophone), Nicholas Daniel (oboe) and Nigel Robson (tenor).

Performance highlights will include Henze’s Symphony No. 7 and Matthias Pintscher’s en sourdine (RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, violinist Viviane Hagner, conductor Pascal Rophé); Wolfgang Rihm’s Jagden und Formen (Ensemble Modern, conductor Siân Edwards) and a concert of works for soloists and chamber ensemble by Henze, Bainbridge and Donatoni (Birmingham Contemporary Music Group with saxophonist John Harle, oboist Nicholas Daniel, tenor Nigel Robson, conductor Alexander Briger). There will also be a public interview with Hans Werner Henze hosted by Kevin O’Connell, and three seminar-workshops.

The Living Music Workshops, co-developed and co-funded by RTÉ and the Contemporary Music Centre, will involve composition workshops in secondary schools hosted by Rachel Holstead and Fergus Johnston, the culmination of which will be the students’ attendance at the world premières of the new works by Johnston and Holstead respectively.

The RTÉ Living Music Festival 2005 takes place in association with the Goethe-Institut and follows the success of the first two festivals, which paid tribute to Luciano Berio and Pierre Boulez respectively.

Further information: Angela Rohan, Communications Executive, RTÉ Performing Groups. Email angela.rohan@rte.ie