RTÉ Horizons 2015
The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra’s long-running contemporary music series of lunchtime concerts returns for its 2015 series with concerts featuring the work of Irish composers Gráinne Mulvey, David Coonan, Philip Hammond and John Buckley.
Gráinne Mulvey
Beginning on 13 January, the four free concerts take place each Tuesday at the National Concert Hall, Dublin. The series features six world premieres, two of which have been commissioned by RTÉ from two of the featured composers, and four Irish premieres. All concerts will be conducted by Gavin Maloney.
The first concert, ‘Life as a Wave’, on 13 January features new works by Gráinne Mulvey - her cello concerto, Excursions and Ascents, for soloist Martin Johnson, and orchestral work Diffractions - as well as works by David Bremner and Nicola LeFanu.
David Coonan
On 20 January, London-based Irish composer David Coonan’s work is the focus, with the world premiere of his work Sarcasms and Irish premiere of his Träumerei (2011) for violin and orchestra performed by Latvian violinist Kristine Balanas.
The third concert, entitled ‘Piano Centre Stage’, explores the work of Belfast composer Philip Hammond, with pianist Michael McHale performing his new piano concerto, and Hammond’s 2001 work for piano and orchestra …the starry dynamo in the machinery of night….
The final concert in the series explores the work of composer John Buckley, with a programme of works inspired by light and space. His Violin Concerto from 2008 will be performed by the Irish violinist Gwendolyn Masin, for whom it was written, and the programme also includes his A Mirror into the Light (1999) for orchestra, as well as works by Elliot Carter and Jerome de Bromhead.
John Buckley
The concerts will be presented by RTE lyric fm Nova presenter Bernard Clarke who will introduce and interview all featured composers on stage. All concerts will be preceded at 12.30pm by the Composer in Conversation talk in which each featured composer will speak to Contemporary Music Centre Director Evonne Ferguson.