Head for Barry town

The Gerald Barry Festival, which Lyric FM is promoting at the end of June, includes one premiere (1998 for violin and piano), but no new commissions. Astonishingly, Ireland's national broadcaster has let the close of the 20th century - and the special festival - slip by without commissioning an orchestral work from the leading Irish composer of the time.

The sharper-eared BBC, which first commissioned the composer 12 years ago, adds to its list of Barry commissions this Friday, with Eternal recurrence, a Nietzsche setting for soprano (Mary Hegarty) and orchestra. It is being given by the Ulster Orchestra in the Ulster Hall, under principal conductor-designate, Thierry Fischer, as part of an all-Barry programme that also includes Noriko Kawai in the Piano Concerto, Sur les pointes, Au milieu and From the Intelligence Park. Some of these performances will be included in a BBC Radio 3 composer portrait to be broadcast on June 16th.