Four composers feature in the the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra's 2008 Horizons concert series.

The free, lunchtime series will feature the work of four Irish composers in as many concerts at the National Concert Hall, Dublin between January and February.

Two world premieres by John McLachlan, recently elected to Aosdána, launch the series at 1.05pm on 15 January, with the composer introducing the new works – Octala and the RTÉ-commissioned Incunabula – at 12.30pm. The concert also includes Elliott Carter’s Three Occasions for Orchestra and the Irish premiere of Jo Kondo’s In Summer.

The 22 January concert includes Leonardo Balada’s Celebració, Andrzej Panufnik’s Katyn Epitaph and the world premiere of Jerome de Bromhead’s Second Symphony.

Journeys is the theme of the third concert in the series on 29 January, which focuses on the music of Jane O’Leary, whose My Heart is Always There (the third movement from Islands of Discovery), Into the Blue and the world premiere of Strings Alive (an arrangement of her Piano Quintet) can be heard alongside Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman and the Irish premiere of Hilary Tann’s Shakkei.

The final concert on 5 February includes Stephen Gardner’s NEVER...NEVER...NEVER and the first performance of a new work from Roger Doyle, Adolf Gébler. The work was prompted by Doyle’s discovery that the writer Carlo Gébler’s eponymous clarinet-playing grandfather performed in the RTÉ NSO’s precursor, the Radio Éireann Studio Players in 1936.

Doyle describes the work as ‘cinema for the ear’ and it includes spoken word (to a script by Carlo Gébler), a panoply of recorded sound effects and a live singer as the boundaries between reality and the musical ‘movie’ blur and overlap.

All the concerts are free and begin at 1.05pm with composer-led introductions at 12.30pm.

For details, please see our calendar, or visit www.rte.ie/performinggroups

Posted: 4 January 2008