In Ireland, as an 18-year-old, he had been organist of Thurles cathedral and also taught at the Ursuline convent there, and he had been a violinist at the Theatre Royal in Dublin
Playing Gerald Barry’s From the Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra’s principal double bassist is heroic in the face of impossible odds
The National Symphony Orchestra churns through an extraordinary number of musicians. The New Zealand conductor rode the beast with some success on Friday
The Belfast native enjoyed a distinguished career which saw him work with the Ulster Orchestra, the NSO, Sadler’s Wells Opera and the Glyndebourne Festival