111K

For Immediate Release

Music Teachers' Open Evening

16 October 2006

The Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland's national centre for new music, will host an open evening for music teachers on Thursday 26th October. Newly qualified and student teachers of music are particularly welcome to visit the Centre and learn about its resources, including library facilities, instrumental pieces for children, information on Leaving Certificate curriculum composers, class visits and contemporary composition in Ireland. The event takes place at 6pm in the CMC library, 19 Fishamble Street, Temple Bar, Dublin.

The Contemporary Music Centre offers a number of services for all levels of music teachers and students throughout the country. Students and teachers can avail of the library which contains a collection of over 3,000 works by some 120 Irish composers of the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries. This valuable resource is the only comprehensive collection of Irish classical music in existence. The Centre's sound archive also contains some 5,000 recordings of twentieth- and twenty-first century Irish classical music in various formats.

The Contemporary Music Centre offers interesting class visits for a maximum of fifteen students accompanied by at least one teacher. Students visiting the Contemporary Music Centre will be given an informal talk focusing on the most important Irish composers with particular reference to the Leaving Certificate curriculum. Two weeks advance booking is required.

SoundWorks is the Contemporary Music Centre's series of easy instrumental pieces written for children by leading Irish composers. Many of the works have been specially commissioned and all are by composers who are also experienced teachers, so the concepts of new music are introduced in a simple way that is fun to play.

The Centre is also happy to arrange visits by composers to local schools to bring new music to life for students.

Third-level students visiting the Centre will be given an informal talk focusing on Irish composers and their music in the context of trends in international new music. Students are encouraged to access the library databases, score collection, sound archive and reference resources, and may also access the Centre's web site.

The Contemporary Music Centre is open Monday to Friday 10am to 5.30pm, and late night Thursday till 8pm. An Information Pack covering all aspects of the Centre's work and facilities is available without charge from the Centre or www.cmc.ie.

The Contemporary Music Centre is located at 19 Fishamble Street, in the Old City area of Dublin's cultural quarter, Temple Bar. It is close to Christ Church Cathedral and Dublin Castle on the south side of the Liffey, and just a short distance from the Smithfield area on the North side. The Contemporary Music Centre is supported by the Arts Council/ an Chomhairle Ealaion.

For further information, please contact Karen Hennessy, Promotion Manager, The Contemporary Music Centre, 19 Fishamble Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 8.
Tel: 01 673 1922 Email: khennessy@cmc.ie