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For Immediate Release

Contemporary Music Centre - Culture Night 2012
HAPPENING - Live at Our Place

6th September 2012

The Contemporary Music Centre will be alive with sounds as it opens its doors to the public for Culture Night and hosts Live at Our Place, giving visitors the chance to hear what's innovative and what's vibrant in new music from Ireland.

This year's event takes place from 5pm-10pm on Friday 21st September and has been curated by CMC composer Karen Power. Taking her cue from John Cage in his centenary year, she has devised a five hour 'happening' which will take place across all floors of the centre's Georgian home in Fishamble Street in the Historic Quarter of Dublin.

Visitors are invited to drop in and sample live performances, improvisation and audiovisual works that will give a flavour of the diversity and creativity of Irish music today, as well as the range of composers represented by the Centre and the music that makes up its archive.

Talking about the event, curator Karen Power says "Growing up in Ireland I have always been amazed just how much diversity there is amongst our composers and through the generations, and the programme has been put together to represent that diversity." Performances will take place in all areas of the building - including the library, courtyard and even on the stairs - sometimes simultaneously. At times, sounds will bleed into each other, whilst at others the spotlight will fall on a single performance.

The Cork-based Quiet Music Ensemble and newly-founded Kirkos Ensemble will act as ensembles-in-residence for the evening, performing music by an array of young and established Irish composers. In addition, there will be solos and live electronic sets by guest performers and composers. CMC will also present live works and video screenings of collaborative image and sound works drawn from a call for submissions for the Culture Night event.

More information: Sam Wilcock, Promotion Manager
(swilcock@cmc.ie/ 01 673 1922 / www.cmc.ie)

NOTES FOR EDITORS

CMC's Live at Our Place

Date: Friday 21 September 2012, 5pm - 10pm
Venue: Contemporary Music Centre, 19 Fishamble Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 8
Admission: FREE

Curated by CMC composer Karen Power

Performers include Kirkos (Sebastian Adams, director) and Quiet Music Ensemble (John Godfrey, electric guitar; Ilse DeZiah, cello; Sean Og, clarinets/saxophone; Dan Bodwell, double bass)

Composers performing live electronic sets: John Godfrey, Scott McLaughlin, Karen Power, Judith Ring

Featuring music by: Elaine Agnew, Michael Alcorn, Derek Ball, Enda Bates, Brian Bridges, Irene Buckley, Rob Canning, Sean Clancy, Rhona Clarke, Ann Cleare, Siobhán Cleary, Frank Corcoran, Raymond Deane, Fergal Dowling, Roger Doyle, Eilbhlis Farrell, Stephen Gardner, Piaras Hoban, Scott McLaughlin, Jonathan Nangle, Ailís Ní Ríain, Breffni O' Byrne, Kevin O' Connell, Garrett Sholdice, David Stalling, James Wilson, Paul Wilson. More information about all of these composers is available at www.cmc.ie

Also presenting audiovisual and live works selected following a call for submissions for this event.

Karen Power
Karen Power is an Irish composer who writes primarily for acoustic and electroacoustic forces. She studied at University College Cork, later completing a PhD in acoustic and electroacoustic composition at SARC (Sonic Arts Research Centre), Belfast, with Michael Alcorn. She has held residencies at The Banff Centre, Canada, The Guesthouse, Ireland and was a composer fellow at UCDavis, California, USA. She has written pieces for ensembles and musicians including Alarm Will Sound, SCAW, Carin Levine, the Ulster Orchestra, Kate Ellis, Mmm Trio and Quiet Music Ensemble. She has been awarded national and international awards and honorary mentions for her work and has represented Ireland internationally on a number of occasions. Her compositional interests are constantly shifting, transforming and re-shaping, with current projects including a sound and movement collaborative work and a video and sound collaboration.
www.karenpower.ie

Quiet Music Ensemble
The Quiet Music Ensemble is a Cork-based Experimental music group led by composer and performer John Godfrey. The QME is dedicated to music that invites deep attention and perceptive listening; music that is immersive, reflective, and introspective; music that is an experimentation with, and meditation on sound itself and our relationship with it. Since its launch in 2008, QME has premiered newly commissioned works by Alvin Lucier, David Toop, Mark Applebaum, Juraj Kos, Karen Power and John Godfrey. Performances featuring the ensemble have been broadcast by RTÉ Lyric fm on several occasions and in October 2010 RTÉ Lyric fm's Nova dedicated its entire show to live performances and interviews with the QME and David Toop.
quietmusicensemble.wordpress.com

Kirkos Ensemble
Kirkos is a contemporary music ensemble founded by students of the Royal Irish Academy of Music. The ensemble is generously supported by the RIAM, but is run entirely (both artistically and administratively) by students, making it the RIAM's only student-run ensemble. Its mission is to promote the performance of contemporary music by the country's best young performers, and to provide a platform for young composers to have their works performed well.
www.facebook.com/kirkosensemble

The Contemporary Music Centre
The Contemporary Music Centre is Ireland's national archive and resource centre for new music, supporting the work of composers throughout the Republic and Northern Ireland. It engages in an ongoing programme of development work to promote new Irish music at home and abroad, and is a member of the International Association of Music Information Centres (IAMIC). The Centre is used, nationally and internationally, by performers, composers, promoters and members of the public interested in finding out more about music in Ireland. Its library and sound archive, open to the public free of charge, contain the only comprehensive collection in existence of music by Irish composers. Extensive reference and advice services are available and the Centre's website provides access to CMC's resources for those who cannot visit in person.
www.cmc.ie

Culture Night
Culture Night takes place annually across 34 towns, cities and counties in Ireland, during which arts and cultural organisations open their doors until late with hundreds of free events, tours, talks and performances. The initiative is co-ordinated by Temple Bar Cultural Trust and supported by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in partnership with the regional arts offices and local authorities throughout the island of Ireland.
www.culturenight.ie