NCH, Dublin selected Tuesdays until May 17th, 1.05pm Adm free 01-4170000
What gives you the score Witold Lutoslawski 8, John Adams and György Ligeti 3, with Henri Dutilleux, Elena Kats-Chernin, Arvo Pärt, Krzysztof Penderecki, Howard Skempton, Igor Stravinsky, Toru Takemitsu and Joan Tower all tied on 2? It’s the tally of non-Irish composers who clocked up more than a single performance in the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra’s Horizons concerts since 1999.
This year's series, which opens on Tuesday, will make just one change to that line-up. James MacMillan (above) will join the ranks of the non-Irish composers to have featured twice. His . . . as others see us. . . features with David Fennessy's BODIES on January 18th.
Horizons is a series which puts the programming choices in the hands of composers, and, unusually, Piers Hellawell (February 22nd) and Philip Hammond (May 10th) have chosen to concentrate exclusively on their own work – perhaps because they’re featuring in the series for the first time.
Jerome de Bromhead (May 17th) includes a work by John Buckley. And the series opens this week with the première of Kevin O’Connell’s Symphony. It’s his first venture into a form which, he says, “remains a challenge like no other”.
The premiere is conducted by Gavin Maloney and the composer can be heard in a pre-performance (12.30pm) conversation with the new director of the Contemporary Music Centre, Evonne Ferguson.
