A new work by Seán Clancy will be performed on 12 February

The piece, Décès for voices and ensemble is written for the UCD Ad Astra Players, and will be premiered at the National Concert Hall on 12 February. The work takes WB Yeats’s poem Death as its starting point, deconstructing the text word by word to create, in the composer’s words, “a contemporary meditation on death, which is removed from traditional musical representations.”

Décès has been specially commissioned for the Ad Astra Players for this concert, which also features Martin O’Leary’s Blue Toccata for solo piano alongside vocal and instrumental works from the early Baroque to modern classics.

The performers are part of the UCD Ad Astra Performing Arts scholarship programme, which supports students with exceptional talent in musical and acting performance who wish to develop their artistic talents while pursuing an academic degree.

Currently resident in the UK, Seán Clancy has recently completed his PhD at Brimingham Conservatoire. In the last year he has had works performed by ensembles including the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (following a residency supported by Sound and Music), Decibel and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and UCD Symphony Orchestra. He is among the composers selected to take part in a workshop with Johannes Maria Staud and the Fidelio Trio at New Music Dublin and will write a new work for the Bozzini Quartet for performance at the 2013 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

The concert takes place in the John Field Room of the National Concert Hall at 8pm on 12 February.

Further information and booking: nch.ie