How Stravinsky put the world to ritesThe Russian, a giant among 20th century composers, deserved an NCH showcase of his distinctive styleWed Feb 10 2016 - 01:00
An Egyptian soprano adds to the great variety of Irish competition winnersIs there a gender or national bias in our high-profile music competitions? Sorry, conspiracy theorists, but noWed Feb 03 2016 - 01:00
Courtney Lewis serves up an energetic slice of HaydnThe conductor and the RTÉ NSO show Haydn a good time; and Ó Riada’s score for Mise Éire leaves me coldWed Jan 27 2016 - 01:00
Howard Shelley/Ulster Orchestra - Steibelt: Piano Concertos: brilliance trumps lyricismSteibelt: Piano Concertos Nos 3, 5, 7Ulster Orchestra/Howard Shelley (piano)Hyperion CDA 681043Fri Jan 22 2016 - 06:00
Winners and losers in Arts Council’s absurd festival grants schemeTwo long-standing music series lose out as new events hit the jackpot, but the lack of continuity from year to year is mind-bogglingWed Jan 20 2016 - 01:00
'If you learn how to breathe properly, you learn how to sing'Veronica ‘Ronnie’ Dunne began teaching in 1962. At 88 her passion is still obvious and she is alarmingly direct in her opinions about what it takes to be a singerThu Jan 14 2016 - 06:00
Pierre Boulez thrilled the adventurous and appalled the conservativeBoulez was the last of a great avant-garde line. But was Gilbert Kaplan, another conductor who died last week, just faking it?Wed Jan 13 2016 - 06:00
Conductor Courtney Lewis: ‘I didn’t want the lonely existence of staring at a blank page’The Belfast man studied at Cambridge with the goal of becoming a composer, but the lure of conducting led him to a rewarding career in the USTue Jan 12 2016 - 06:00
Scriabin - Symphonies 3 and 4: Even sceptics may find it hard not to be swept alongValery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra concentrate on the big pictureFri Jan 08 2016 - 00:00
The music scene in 1916: noise, jazz and John McCormackThat was the scene internationally, but what would a Dublin music lover have had to choose from?Wed Jan 06 2016 - 01:00
Classical music: Playing outside the pit can broaden your horizonsOrchestra members fulfil vital extracurricular functions such as providing music education and road-testing new musicWed Dec 23 2015 - 01:00
Michael Dervan’s 2015: Lucky in our promoters who go with the gutWe are lucky to have a number of Irish promoters whose taste and empathy for the audience’s experience set them apartSat Dec 19 2015 - 05:00
Javier Perianes, Cuarteto Quiroga - Granados & Turina: The performances present both works in the best lightGranados: Piano Quintet; Turina: Piano Quintet; CaliopeJavier Perianes (piano), Cuarteto QuirogaHarmonia Mundi HMC 9022264Fri Dec 18 2015 - 00:00
Belfast opera director lands a tricky new job in NorwayNorway’s top opera job is being taken up by Annilese Miskimmon. The post comes with its own dramatic historyWed Dec 16 2015 - 01:00
Apollo’s Fire - Christmas Vespers: Music of Michael Praetorius: Homeliness, heart and plenty of sparkleFri Dec 11 2015 - 00:00
Classical music: The Arts Council allows a crisis to go to wasteTimes have been hard, but the decision to cut funding to three musical organisations is unnecessarily damagingWed Dec 09 2015 - 01:00
Simon Smith - Valentin Silvestrov Piano Sonatas: The music seems to have floated through a time machineValentin Silvestrov: Piano SonatasSimon SmithDelphian DCD 341514Fri Dec 04 2015 - 00:00
Dublin has never had the contemporary music festival it deservesNew Music Dublin has suffered numerous abuses in its short life and has been postponed for 2016. Can it be fixed?Wed Dec 02 2015 - 01:00
Kirill Karabits - Prokofiev’s Symphonies: expressively judicious and sonically refinedThu Nov 26 2015 - 18:20
A vision of home that has few ideas for classical musicOnly one living Irish composer is part of the NCH’s seven-concert series for the 1916 centenaryWed Nov 25 2015 - 01:00
Houston Chamber Choir/Robert Simpson/Sarah Rothenberg: Rothko Chapel – Album ReviewRothko Chapel Houston Chamber Choir/Robert Simpson, Sarah Rothenberg (piano)ECM New Series 481 17964Fri Nov 20 2015 - 00:00
Michael Dervan: What my undercover stint as a woman taught me about sexismMany years ago I wrote about music for a while under a female pseudonym. It was a real eye-openerWed Nov 18 2015 - 01:00
Muscular chamber orchestra delivers Brahms without the dadbodThe Swedish Chamber Orchestra offered an alternative to ‘stouter’ performances of Brahms's second symphonyWed Nov 11 2015 - 01:00
Shocks in store from Gerald Barry while NI Opera dictates the paceNI Opera’s ‘Turandot’ is stunning, while Leif Ove Andsnes enjoys stint at the NCHWed Nov 04 2015 - 01:00
Alexej Gorlatch, Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin: Stravinsky – Works for Piano and Orchestra - Album ReviewFri Oct 30 2015 - 00:00
The peculiar situation of a national opera house in WexfordThe renaming of Wexford Opera House is odd: what’s fine for a festival does not necessarily make sense for a national institutionWed Oct 28 2015 - 06:00
Wexford Festival Opera review – Le Pré aux Clercs: A bit on the sweet sideCharm and sentiment dominate in a story of multiple marriages in 16th-century FranceTue Oct 27 2015 - 17:01
Wexford Festival Opera review – Le Pré aux clercs: An entertainment of sweet convictionCharm and sentiment dominate in a story of multiple marriages – forced, mixed, secret, or not – in 16th-century FranceTue Oct 27 2015 - 13:37
Koanga review: An opera that promises but never deliversThe cast struggle to make an impression in an opera that never gets off the groundFri Oct 23 2015 - 16:40
WFO review – Guglielmo Ratcliff: A dream-like tale of doomed loveThe ghosts of the deceased mingle on stage with the living in a production that moulds Mascagni’s opera into a fascinating wholeFri Oct 23 2015 - 14:31
Five varied pieces stitched into the New Ross musical tapestryThe second year of the Ros Tapestry Suite saw top-notch piano performances of five commissioned compositionsTue Sept 29 2015 - 16:24
Dennis Russell Davies: ‘The trick is to give the composers a chance’The conductor has done it all and is marked out by the strength of his commitment to new musicMon Sept 28 2015 - 06:00
Netherlands Radio PO/Jaap van Zweden: Bruckner – Symphony No 1 | Album ReviewBruckner: Symphony No 1 (Linz version)Netherlands Radio PO/Jaap van ZwedenChallenge Classics CC 725564Fri Sept 25 2015 - 00:00
Lack of consistency continues to dog the RTÉ NSOLang Lang takes a strict approach to consistency – so is two out of three acceptable when it comes to a concert?Wed Sept 23 2015 - 06:00
Agrippina: Scheming, betrayal and cleavage make for a great evening | Opera reviewHandel’s first great opera is a comic piece about a serious subjectThu Sept 10 2015 - 12:04
Wexford Festival Opera reshuffles its 2016 calendarOrganisers have had to change schedule for next year’s event after failing to secure venuesWed Sept 09 2015 - 06:00
Schumann: Piano Concerto, Piano Trio No 2 | Album ReviewSchumann: Piano Concerto; Piano Trio No 2Alexander Melnikov (piano), Freiburger Barockorchester/Pablo Heras-Casado, Isabelle Faust (violin), Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello)Harmonia Mundi HMC 902198 (plus DVD)4Fri Sept 04 2015 - 00:00
The oldest orchestra in the world? That’s a fuzzy notionThe Bergen Philharmonic, which is certainly one of the oldest, played with great character in its Irish debutWed Sept 02 2015 - 06:00
Andreas Staier/Frieburger Barockorchester: Bach – Harpsichord Concertos | Album ReviewFri Aug 28 2015 - 00:00
