Beethoven; Pössinger: Violin Concertos – A giant meets his lesser-known contemporaryViolin virtuoso Anton Steck finds dynamic connections between the two composersWed Apr 19 2017 - 18:23
Concert series out of tune on women composersOnly one woman composer features so far in the National Concert Hall’s International Concert Series for 2017-18Wed Apr 19 2017 - 06:00
Resurrecting music that existed before the founding of the Irish StateRecollections of Ireland at NCH focused on rarely-heard music composed before 1917Wed Apr 12 2017 - 06:00
Minister for Arts wants gender policies in place next yearMinister Heather Humphreys is asking cultural institutions to step up to the plate on genderWed Apr 05 2017 - 06:00
Two pianists play ‘Rite’ in a rare harmonious relationshipPianos are unforgiving when played in duos but that did not deter Hamelin and AndsnesThu Mar 30 2017 - 05:00
Nymphs, shepherds and monsters in a rural Irish bar‘Acis and Galatea’ has had its action propped up in a very Irish settingWed Mar 29 2017 - 06:00
Arts Council out of tune with needs of opera worldKirkos Ensemble continues to stretch musical boundaries in new concert seriesWed Mar 22 2017 - 06:00
Antoine Tamestit (viola), Cédric Tiberghien (piano) – Bel Canto: The Voice of Viola reviewWed Mar 15 2017 - 16:15
Finghin Collins takes a lap of honour on his 40th birthdayNCH honours pianist by presenting him in solo recital as part of international seriesWed Mar 15 2017 - 06:00
Musical taste: There’s no accounting for it, especially new stuffLast weekend’s New Music festival finally delivered on its celebratory promiseWed Mar 08 2017 - 06:00
Thomas Adès - Asyla, Tevot, Polaris, Brahms album review: Orchestral manoeuvres as a larkWed Mar 01 2017 - 16:27
Fresh opportunities open up for Opera in IrelandArts Council is looking for applicants to provide ‘main-scale’ opera from 2018, as Opera Ireland finally gets something of a replacementWed Mar 01 2017 - 06:00
Ustvolskaya, Silvestrov, Kancheli - Works for Piano and Orchestra album review: Scorched sounds in an echo chamberUSTVOLSKAYA, SILVESTROV, KANCHELI: WORKS FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRaElisaveta Blumina (piano), Stuttgart CO/Thomas Sanderling ****Grand Piano GP 678Wed Feb 22 2017 - 16:15
Five years on, a musical virtuoso returns to IrelandDublin International Piano Competition winner 2012 Nikolay Khozyainov on formWed Feb 22 2017 - 06:00
Music is a universal language – with some border checksOf all new music, large-scale works with words travel least freely internationallyWed Feb 15 2017 - 06:00
St Petersburg Philharmonic brings Russian luxury to DublinRTÉ National Symphony Orchestra’s studied take on Mendelssohn and BrahmsWed Feb 08 2017 - 06:00
Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies Nos 4, 3, 6 - Royal Liverpool PO/Vasily Petrenko: plenty of fresh thinking behind the fervourTue Feb 07 2017 - 16:15
A conductor in search of the Furtwängler factorCristian Macelaru’s in-your-face style frees up the RTÉ NSO, perhaps too much soWed Feb 01 2017 - 06:00
Saint-Saëns - Cello Concerto No 1 and Sonatas Nos 2 & 3 album review: Hello cello!SAINT-SAËNS: CELLO CONCERTO NO 1; SONATAS NOS 2 & 3Emmanuelle Bertrand (cello), Luzerner Sinfonieorchester/James Gaffigan, Pascal Amoyel (piano) ****Harmonia Mundi HMM 902210Wed Jan 25 2017 - 16:15
Wolfgang Rihm can chat and compose at the same timeThe German composer is a master of quite contradictory styles and his output runs to more than 400 worksWed Jan 25 2017 - 06:00
Sea to the West classical album review: Layered sounds for solo sopranoSEA TO THE WESTElizabeth Hilliard (soprano) ****Métier MSV 28551Wed Jan 18 2017 - 16:15
RTÉ NSO and Nathalie Stutzmann – love at second sightThe NSO’s new principal guest conductor hit it off again with orchestra and audienceWed Jan 18 2017 - 06:00
Alfred Schnittke: Musica Nostalgica – impressive response to the composer’s workWed Jan 11 2017 - 16:15
Is Dublin finally getting a Handel on the ‘Messiah’?RTÉ Philharmonic Choir under Mark Hindley deliver a standout performanceWed Jan 11 2017 - 06:00
PRISM Quartet, The Crossing/Donald Nally: The Fifth Century album review - moves through a slow-motion universeWed Jan 04 2017 - 12:15
Fight for gender equality moves from theatre to musicWhen it comes to ‘gender mainstreaming’, we can learn something from Vienna city hallWed Jan 04 2017 - 06:00
Michael Dervan’s culture highlight of 2016: ‘Composing the Island’Culture review 2016: The funding of the Taoiseach’s promised Creative Ireland venture remains to be seenThu Dec 22 2016 - 09:25
Classical music review: Choir of King’s College short on Christmas spiritPlus: a biography of Samuel Beckett’s musical cousin John BeckettWed Dec 21 2016 - 06:00
Creative Ireland is a huge promise, but can it be kept?If these ambitions are realised, arts will receive their greatest leap in funding since the foundation of the StateWed Dec 14 2016 - 06:00
Classical music: Celine Byrne is key to Simon Walton’s Bord Gáis productionsRussian Puccini, refined Haydn and raw saxophoneWed Dec 07 2016 - 06:00
Encores After Beethoven album review: One more curtain callENCORES AFTER BEETHOVENAndrás Schiff (piano) ****ECM New Series 481 4474Wed Nov 30 2016 - 16:15
RTÉ not making right noises about musical movementsRecent changes in the national broadcaster have serious implications for music groupsWed Nov 30 2016 - 06:00
Franck, Kurtág, Previn, Schumann/ Augustin Hadelich (violin), Joyce Yang (piano) reviewWed Nov 23 2016 - 16:15
Mysterious musical chairs at RTÉ as arts job disappearsExecutive Director of RTÉ’s Orchestras, Quartet and Choirs moves to new roleWed Nov 23 2016 - 06:00
`I’m the new boy. I’ve been 18 years here'The Vanbrugh Quartet discuss the highs and lows and the state of classical music in Ireland after 30 years of music makingThu Nov 17 2016 - 05:00
Michael Dervan: Show us the money, EndaArts community will need to shout these words if they want to make a differenceWed Nov 16 2016 - 06:00
A I R classical album review: Stranger things indeedA I RFrode Haltli (accordion), Trondheim Soloists, Arditti Quartet ****ECM New Series 481 2802Wed Nov 09 2016 - 16:15
Classical music review: Two pianos and a cello ensembleUnusual musical combinations and an extreme reactionWed Nov 09 2016 - 06:00
Andreas Staier - Schubert’a Piano Trios album review: lean, austere and beautifulThu Nov 03 2016 - 11:55
Maria de Rudenz Wexford Opera Festival review - handsome and accomplishedGaetano Donizetti’s complicated and gory – and long-overlooked – work gets a fascinating outingWed Nov 02 2016 - 15:45
Waiting for Arts Council to get its opera house in orderThe upside-down provision of opera in Ireland neglects works people want to hear mostWed Nov 02 2016 - 06:00
Vanessa review: Emotional turmoil paired with safe musicSamuel Barber’s opera was calculated not to offend a 1950s audience fearful of genuinely modern musicFri Oct 28 2016 - 17:15
Herculanum review: all smoke, no fireFélicien David’s opera takes the explosion of Mt Vesuvius as its setting, but this production never manages to igniteThu Oct 27 2016 - 17:38
Michael Dervan: Time to do the right thing by Irish operaArts Council should use increased funding announced in the budget to address the needs of opera lovers and the professional opera communityFri Oct 21 2016 - 14:37
