Heaven and hell: an audience with the women of the West Cork Chamber Music FestivalFrom listening to Debussy to drowning, five performers from the recent Bantry festival share their ideas of life’s highs and lowsMon Aug 05 2013 - 01:00
Surprise exit: what is behind the departure of RTÉ old hand Crimmins?The bowing-out of one of RTÉ’s most experienced musical hands is a bombshellWed Jul 31 2013 - 01:00
Sometimes there’s no need to blow your own trumpetPublicity can be misleading, as in the case of a fine trumpeterWed Jul 24 2013 - 01:00
‘Horrid’ music: The dark side of the concert hallThe 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 FestivalWed Jul 17 2013 - 01:00
Stirring rendition of Enescu’s ‘Octet’The RTÉ Vanbrugh and Jupiter String Quartets produced a blitz of energyWed Jul 10 2013 - 01:00
Radical rule-breaking and back to basicsThere is a time for artistic licence – and a time to focus on basics of performing: William Brooks on Yeats, and string quartet masterclasses at the West Cork Chamber Music FestivalWed Jul 03 2013 - 01:00
Out of the chamber and into the worldThe reach and reputation of the West Cork Chamber Music Festival resonates beyond the Bantry venuesFri Jun 28 2013 - 01:00
Blown away on the beach by Britten’s ‘Peter Grimes’Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes at the Aldeburgh Festival and Astor Piazzolla’s María de Buenos Aires at the Cork Midsummer FestivalTue Jun 25 2013 - 01:00
Who lives in a house like this?The KBC Great Music in Irish Houses festival is taking a liberal view of its title – which is not without its benefitsTue Jun 18 2013 - 01:00
STRAUSS: JOSEPHSLEGENDE; LOVE SCENE FROM FEUERSNOT; FESTMARSCHRoyal Scottish National Orchestra/Neeme JärviChandos CHSA 5120Fri Jun 14 2013 - 00:00
STRAVINSKY: COMPLETE MUSIC FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRASteven Osborne (piano), BBC Scottish SO/Ilan VolkovHyperion CDA 67870Fri Jun 14 2013 - 00:00
THREE CENTURIES OF ORGAN MUSIC AT NOTRE DAME DE PARISOlivier Latry (organ)Naive V5338Fri Jun 14 2013 - 00:00
Michael Collins: ‘It’s got to come from within. From your heart and your very soul’English clarinettist Michael Collins has a formidable wealth of experience, but, he says, every concert is still a new learning environmentMon Jun 10 2013 - 01:00
A spring break with tradition that’s now a musical rite of passageA century on, Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’ still has the power to shock and awe, and musicians are still finding ways to transform itWed Jun 05 2013 - 01:00
Rachmaninov’s Vigil worth staying up forConcerts by Resurgam and the RTÉ NSO and what operas producers want to put onTue May 28 2013 - 01:00
An early music duo, and ‘Carmen’ by way of ‘Tallafornia’Early music was on the agenda at two concerts, while OTC’s ‘Carmen’ was defiantly contemporaryTue May 21 2013 - 02:00
The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra is out of touch with the music of its own timeThe RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra is failing to engage with modern music, and this needs to changeTue May 14 2013 - 02:00