RTÉ NSO series featuring Irish symphonic works paired with Beethoven concertos takes place during June and July
The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra present a series of Beethoven piano concertos programmed beside works by Irish composers, as well as specially-chosen significant orchestral works. The concerts will take place every Friday at the National Concert Hall, and will feature a variety of Irish solo performers.
The series kicks off on 12 June with Beethoven’s first Piano Concerto paired with John Kinsella’s Cúchulainn and Ferdia – Duel at the Ford, and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8. The Kinsella work was commissioned by RTÉ in 2008 to mark the orchestra’s 60th anniversary, and is a dramatic work drawing on the Irish legend. The soloist for this concert will be contemporary music performer Isabelle O’Connell.
Following this will be a programme featuring Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 with Ian Wilson’s Man-o’-War, in association with the Royal Irish Academy of Music’s Beethoven Project, and will feature as soloist RIAM alumni Maria McGarry. The third week of the series features an Irish premiere in David Fennessy’s Prologue (Silver are the Tears of the Moon), a work which is inspired by Werner Herzog’s film Fitzcarraldo. This piece will be paired with Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, and performed by pianist Peter Tuite and featuring the New York Philharmonic’s Assistant Conductor Courtney Lewis.
The penultimate concert (3 July) features Michael McHale performing the Beethoven Concerto No. 4 alongside Copland’s Symphony No. 3 and Seoirse Bodley’s 1975 traditional music-inspired work A small white cloud drifts over Ireland. The series wraps up with another RTÉ commission, Raymond Deane’s Samara (2005), whose title is a reference to the winged seed of certain trees. This final concert will be performed by Hugh Tinney, a regular performer of Deane’s music, and will also feature Sibelius Symphony No. 7 and the final Beethoven Concerto, ‘The Emperor’ Concerto.
Tickets are available for each event individually at the National Concert Hall Box Office at www.nch.ie; discounted series package tickets are also available for purchase.