Arvo Pärt makes his first visit to Ireland to take part in the RTÉ Living Music Festival.

The 2008 RTÉ Living Music Festival is to focus on the music of Arvo Pärt over three days in February. More than 20 works by the Estonian-born composer over six concerts in four Dublin venues have been programmed by composer James MacMillan in a festival that also includes an education project and a composition seminar.

An education workshop and performance launches the event at 6.30pm on 15 February in the John Field Room at the National Concert Hall before an 8pm performance by the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tõnu Kaljuste and soloist Joanna MacGregor.

The second day’s programme, on 16 February, includes concerts by Polyphony (at 1pm) and the Hilliard Ensemble and National Chamber Choir (8pm), both at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.

Crash Ensemble

A day-long schedule brings the festival to an end on 17 February, beginning with a composition led by composer Ivan Moody in the Lecture Theatre of the National Gallery of Ireland at 11am, with Arvo Pärt and James MacMillan in attendance.

Joanna MacGregor joins the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet in the Shaw Room at the National Gallery at 2pm for a programme that also includes music by Schnittke and Ivan Moody. At 5pm the Crash Ensemble can be heard performing works by Pärt, Peter Adriaansz and Jacob ter Veldhuis in the Samuel Beckett Theatre, Trinity College.

The closing concert, at 8pm in the National Concert Hall, features the RTÉ Concert Orchestra conducted by David Brophy with soloists Ian Humphries and Darragh Morgan in a programme that includes the first performance of a new RTÉ-commissioned work by David Fennessy.

For further details, see our calendar or visit www.rte.ie/performinggroups/livingmusic or www.nch.ie.

Posted: 25 January 2008