Paul Hillier

From his earliest days in a rock band to his years in music college, David Fennessy realised he would be composing music rather than performing the works of others

A focus on Schubert and Stephen Rea performing the work of Oscar Wilde are the main highlights, though the festival features few women in main performing roles

The celebration of 100 years of Irish composition hits mid-century, revealing a dark age for orchestral music

While no longer strictly in houses, the Great Music in Irish Houses festival has found good new homes

The Russian, a giant among 20th century composers, deserved an NCH showcase of his distinctive style

The Swedish Chamber Orchestra offered an alternative to ‘stouter’ performances of Brahms's second symphony

The new season is strong on singing and orchestral debuts, and composers from Sibelius to Mahler

A performance of JS Bach’s Mass in B Minor was the real highlight of the arts festival’s first weekend

Doyle comes to the job as someone who knows how bruising the council can be to clients

The most frequently quoted number for piano students in China is 50 million. The implications are huge

Playing it safe doesn’t get you anywhere, says the choir’s artistic director – audiences prefer a cutting edge

Several key vacancies persist at the top of RTÉ’s performing groups, and one man is currently covering three roles

The idea that classical music ought to be ‘nice’ has gained an alarming currency. Thank goodness, then, for ‘uneasy listening’ numbers performed at the Summer Baroque Festival

The National Chamber Choir performed an array of ‘masterworks’, but why did so much of the enjoyment seem to be the choir’s

A new film gives an accurate snapshot of the bizarre dynamics involved in a typical string quartet