Classical Music | News, Interviews, Gigs, & More | The Irish Times

Irish Youth Wind Ensemble. Photograph: Jude Dunne

Musical youth: How Ireland’s youth orchestras are growing

The annual Festival of Youth Orchestras shows the power of these teenage ensembles

The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. What is new in this election is that the country’s orchestral life comes in for a mention in both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil manifestos. Photograph: RTÉ

Are the political parties tuned in to the needs of musicians?

Election promises to ‘secure the future of our orchestras’ may sound a hollow note

American violinist Stefan Jackiw is the soloist in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto at the National Concert Hall on Friday

Roll over for Beethoven: This week’s classical highlights

Camerata Ireland and RTÉ NSO are celebrating Beethoven’s anniversary at the NCH

Pianist Cédric Tiberghien and violinist Alina Ibragimova.

Galway’s Midwinter Festival celebrated Beethoven’s early work

The performances came across with sophisticated poise

Mezzo-soprano Sharon Carty

The best classical music concerts happening this week

Beethoven celebration gets under way while Sounding the Feminists series continues at NCH

‘The work of Irish composers has suffered from the same kind of do-goodery that has hampered the Irish language.’ File photograph: Bryan O’Brien/The Irish Times

Women, Irish and living composers are still being shut out by classical establishment

RTÉ NSO and National Concert Hall remain choked by the past in certain respects

Russian violinist Alina Ibragimova and French pianist Cédric Tiberghien

Galway’s Beethoven celebration: ‘It has to be terrifying for everyone’

Violinist Alina Ibragimova and pianist Cédric Tiberghien on playing the Midwinter Festival

Italian conductor Francesco Cilluffo was recently appointed principal guest conductor of Wexford Festival Opera.

The best classical music gigs happening this week

Francesco Cilluffo brings an all-Russian night to Dublin while Beethoven hits Galway

Climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks during a UN climate summit in New York City, US, in September. Photograph: Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images

Climate action may offer a boon for Irish musicians

A reduction in international visits could change the face of classical music in Ireland

Ina Boyle’s rising posthumous reputation is reflected in the inclusion of her Elegy by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra’s concert on January 4th

This week’s best classical music gigs

National Concert Hall brings musicians from across the generations for a new year bash

Irish soprano Máire Flavin will be performing at the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra’s New Year’s Day gala

The best classical music concerts this week

Start the new year with the RTÉ orchestra or chamber music at the National Concert Hall

André Rieu is a box office sensation

André Rieu: ‘I see a lot of jealousy around me’

Dutch violinist’s brand of ‘schmaltz’ divides classical critics but entertains the masses

(From left) President Patrick Hillery with Lindsay Armstrong of the New Irish Chamber Orchestra, as well as Garech Browne and his wife Purna, at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, in May 1982. Photograph: Peter Thursfield/The Irish Times

How a chamber orchestra made Irish musical history

A new book charts the path of an Irish orchestra that would traverse three continents

Schubertreise XXII

The best classical music gigs to go to this week

Schubertreise XXII in Dublin and Comhar Vocal Ensemble in Kerry

Jaime Martín, the new chief conductor of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra.

NSO chief conductor holds audience in the palm of his hand

Jaime Martín brings artistic passion and educational spirit to his new role

The Ficino Quartet has put together one of the most intriguing programmes of the National Concert Hall’s Sunday afternoon string quartet concerts

The best classical music events this week

Christmas concerts in various venues and the Ficino Quartet at the National Concert Hall

Kazuki Yamada gave a viscerally thrilling account of Richard Strauss’s Alpine Symphony in May. Photograph: Marco Borggreve.

Opera merger sees more Irish singers in more varied roles

Building projects prove more time consuming than artistic changes as self-preservation prevails

James Galway: His readiness to speak his mind extends to the banter he likes to engage in with his audiences

James Galway can still deliver trademark intensity and breathtaking brilliance

As he turns 80 on Sunday, the individuality of character of the superstar flautist is undimmed

Netherlands-based Cypriot composer Yannis Kyriakides describes the buffer zone as “an audio-visual work that explores boundaries of separation”.

The best classical concerts and opera this week

You can see Killian Farrell, Yannis Kyriakides, the Irish Baroque Orchestra and the Sestina choir

John Kinsella: ‘As I get older my music seems to get faster or more obsessed with speed and continuity and surprises.’

‘The older I get, my music seems to get faster or more obsessed with speed’

Time fails to wither spirited composer John Kinsella, whose Eleventh Symphony premieres at the NCH

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