Composer Shaun Davey features in the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra Summer Evening series in June.

Following the success of last year’s concert of music by Shaun Davey, this year the RTÉ Symphony Orchestra will perform the pieces Granuaile and The Relief of Derry Symphony.

The original Granuaile song cycle, first performed in 1985, tells the story of the 16th-century Irish seafaring chieftain Grace O’Malley. The voice of Rita Connolly soars above the fusion of classical and traditional elements in a song cycle of love, loss and defiance which includes the popular classic ‘Ripples in the Rockpools’.

This historical tone is matched by The Relief of Derry Symphony, a work commissioned in 1990 by Derry City Council as part of the Northern Ireland Peace Process, and which commemorates – with soloists, pipers and extra trumpets – the famous siege of 1689.

The concert takes place in the National Concert Hall, Dublin, on Friday 22 June. See Calendar for details.

Posted: 16 March 2007