This week the National Concert Hall (NCH) has released details of its 2019/2020 programme. The venue’s mission is to foster and celebrate the appreciation, knowledge, enjoyment and pure love of music as an integral part of Irish life.
While music is the raison d’être for the NCH, a vox-pop I randomly conducted showed that there is a perception among many that it is a venue for classical music only, something that does not do it justice. Every genre of music is accommodated, while classical music is also at the heart of what they do.
CEO Simon Taylor said: “While celebrating and nurturing our existing audiences and the NCH’s unique musical heritage, our policy is to develop and diversify our programme across musical genres, bringing it to life for future creators, performers and audiences; expanding our own and our audience’s musical horizons and encouraging engagement with music as a means of personal development, creative involvement and social inclusion.”
The programme they have launched shows that once again all musical tastes are catered for, from the International Concert Series which has been for many years their flagship, supporting Irish musicians, and through their Prospectives Series bringing to the stage innovative and exciting artists from many musical backgrounds.
National Concert Hall auditorium.
The International Concert Series sees 14 concerts by leading International artists such as global star pianist Yuja Wang, Grammy award-winning mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, The Hallé orchestra with conductor Sir Mark Elder, Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja and Irish soprano Claudia Boyle, Bach Collegium Japan and the English and Vienna Chamber Orchestras.
The Perspectives Series sees leading international and Irish artists continue to explore contemporary and innovative expressions of music across many genres. Without doubt one of the season’s highlights will be the appearance of Damon Albarn, singer, songwriter, composer, producer and founding member of Blur, Gorillaz and The Good, The Bad and The Queen. Albarn will unveil his stunning new audio visual work The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows inspired by the Icelandic landscape.
Damon Albarn, singer, songwriter, composer, producer and founding member of Blur, Gorillaz and The Good, The Bad and The Queen. He will play the NCH in the coming season.
Grammy Award winner Laurie Anderson will celebrate innovation and improvisation in two unique concerts for Dublin, following her 2017 NCH residency, while British multi-instrumentalist David Coulter turns to another major opus by Tom Waits, Swordfishtrombones Revisited, for a specially developed concert.
The NCH’s progressive traditional music programme Tradition Now, takes a unique look at progressive traditional music in a fast-moving Ireland and will see artists Lisa O’Neill, Ye Vagabonds and Brìghde Chaimbeul present a special evening of folk music in the first of two main stage events for the series.
The second main stage concert sees protest song, traditional music and jazz collide in a special performance featuring Sam Amidon, Niall Vallely, Karan Casey and Harriet Tubman.
History
The NCH site at Earlsfort Terrace dates from 1865, when it was built to host the Great Exhibition. After becoming a university, it was the stage for significant events surrounding the War of Independence, including the Dáil Éireann debates on ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922, which took place in the College Council Chamber, now the Kevin Barry Recital Room.
In 1981 President Patrick Hillery opened An Ceoláras Náisiúnta. Today it is one of the nation’s finest cultural assets occupying a historic landmark building in the centre of Dublin.
The stone structure and glass and steel Winter Garden built for the Great Exhibition proved costly to run and was dismantled to be replaced by the Royal University of Ireland. In 1908 it was again replaced to become the National University of Ireland. It continued as such until 1970, when the college expanded to encompass a new campus off-site.
It was proposed that the Earlsfort Terrace site should be used to build the NCH and, following conversion by the OPW, it opened its doors in that capacity on 9 September, 1981. Since then the NCH has played host to an astonishing variety of artists in every genre, and from the four corners of the globe. Home to RTÉ’s National Symphony Orchestra, the NCH has hosted every type of music produced in Ireland, from classical to country, from sean-nós to rap.
For more information, see www.nch.ie.
Read more
The Front Row: aging on the stage
Opera - limited only by name
This week the National Concert Hall (NCH) has released details of its 2019/2020 programme. The venue’s mission is to foster and celebrate the appreciation, knowledge, enjoyment and pure love of music as an integral part of Irish life.
While music is the raison d’être for the NCH, a vox-pop I randomly conducted showed that there is a perception among many that it is a venue for classical music only, something that does not do it justice. Every genre of music is accommodated, while classical music is also at the heart of what they do.
CEO Simon Taylor said: “While celebrating and nurturing our existing audiences and the NCH’s unique musical heritage, our policy is to develop and diversify our programme across musical genres, bringing it to life for future creators, performers and audiences; expanding our own and our audience’s musical horizons and encouraging engagement with music as a means of personal development, creative involvement and social inclusion.”
The programme they have launched shows that once again all musical tastes are catered for, from the International Concert Series which has been for many years their flagship, supporting Irish musicians, and through their Prospectives Series bringing to the stage innovative and exciting artists from many musical backgrounds.
National Concert Hall auditorium.
The International Concert Series sees 14 concerts by leading International artists such as global star pianist Yuja Wang, Grammy award-winning mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, The Hallé orchestra with conductor Sir Mark Elder, Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja and Irish soprano Claudia Boyle, Bach Collegium Japan and the English and Vienna Chamber Orchestras.
The Perspectives Series sees leading international and Irish artists continue to explore contemporary and innovative expressions of music across many genres. Without doubt one of the season’s highlights will be the appearance of Damon Albarn, singer, songwriter, composer, producer and founding member of Blur, Gorillaz and The Good, The Bad and The Queen. Albarn will unveil his stunning new audio visual work The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows inspired by the Icelandic landscape.
Damon Albarn, singer, songwriter, composer, producer and founding member of Blur, Gorillaz and The Good, The Bad and The Queen. He will play the NCH in the coming season.
Grammy Award winner Laurie Anderson will celebrate innovation and improvisation in two unique concerts for Dublin, following her 2017 NCH residency, while British multi-instrumentalist David Coulter turns to another major opus by Tom Waits, Swordfishtrombones Revisited, for a specially developed concert.
The NCH’s progressive traditional music programme Tradition Now, takes a unique look at progressive traditional music in a fast-moving Ireland and will see artists Lisa O’Neill, Ye Vagabonds and Brìghde Chaimbeul present a special evening of folk music in the first of two main stage events for the series.
The second main stage concert sees protest song, traditional music and jazz collide in a special performance featuring Sam Amidon, Niall Vallely, Karan Casey and Harriet Tubman.
History
The NCH site at Earlsfort Terrace dates from 1865, when it was built to host the Great Exhibition. After becoming a university, it was the stage for significant events surrounding the War of Independence, including the Dáil Éireann debates on ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922, which took place in the College Council Chamber, now the Kevin Barry Recital Room.
In 1981 President Patrick Hillery opened An Ceoláras Náisiúnta. Today it is one of the nation’s finest cultural assets occupying a historic landmark building in the centre of Dublin.
The stone structure and glass and steel Winter Garden built for the Great Exhibition proved costly to run and was dismantled to be replaced by the Royal University of Ireland. In 1908 it was again replaced to become the National University of Ireland. It continued as such until 1970, when the college expanded to encompass a new campus off-site.
It was proposed that the Earlsfort Terrace site should be used to build the NCH and, following conversion by the OPW, it opened its doors in that capacity on 9 September, 1981. Since then the NCH has played host to an astonishing variety of artists in every genre, and from the four corners of the globe. Home to RTÉ’s National Symphony Orchestra, the NCH has hosted every type of music produced in Ireland, from classical to country, from sean-nós to rap.
For more information, see www.nch.ie.
Read more
The Front Row: aging on the stage
Opera - limited only by name
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: