ArtScapeDeirdre FalveyNew year, new jobs. Rough Magic this week announced Diego Fasciati as its new executive producer, following Loughlin Deegan's move to the Dublin Theatre Festival. From Switzerland, Fasciati worked with Boston Lyric Opera and has lived in Ireland since 2001, working at the Arts Council and Opera Theatre Company. Rough Magic artistic director Lynne Parker calls it a "a very happy appointment for us".
Following Polly O'Loughlin's departure to pastures new, director, performer and writer Martin Murphy this week took over as theatre director at Dún Laoghaire's Pavilion.
News broke in Galway this week that Town Hall and Black Box theatre manager Michael Diskin is leaving the west and heading north as executive director of the Lyric Theatre in Belfast. Diskin was delighted to be "joining Northern Ireland's leading producing theatre company", saying the new building project was an exciting challenge and "gives the Lyric the chance to relaunch and reinvigorate itself at the very centre of Northern Ireland's artistic life".
Though Diskin (previously Galway Arts Festival manager and Cúirt director) is from Galway, he did his PhD in the 1980s in Queen's. His departure opens up the Town Hall job in Galway. It also raises questions about the future of the city's Project festival. Last year's initial alternative (or fringe) to the Galway Arts Festival, Project 06, was closely associated with Diskin, Ollie Jennings and Páraic Breathneach. But with Diskin in Belfast, Breathneach hosting RTÉ's late-night radio arts programme in Dublin and Jennings heavily committed to managing the Saw Doctors, it'll be interesting to see what happens next.
Also in Galway, there's still no white smoke on another big arts management job, that of managing director of Druid Theatre. Fergal McGrath leaves early this year, moving to Galway-based independent film production company Magma Films. He departs on a high after a couple of high profile years, including American success; New York Times critic Charles Isherwood singled DruidSynge out for glowing praise in his 2006 top 10, saying, "This was a highlight not just of my theatre-going year, but of my theatre-going life".
There are busy times coming up for Druid, whose co-production with the Royal Court of Lucy Caldwell's Leaves, directed by Garry Hynes, opens in London on March 14th, while days later Playboy opens in Tokyo. Leaves won young Belfast-born writer Caldwell the George Devine Award last year.
Busy times, too, for Pan Pan Theatre. After bringing its wild and wonderful Chinese production of Playboy (which was truly fresh and bizarre) to Dublin, the company is off to Canada for a tour, supported by Culture Ireland, of its provocative rock-musical take on the Oedipus myth, Oedipus Loves You, directed by Gavin Quinn.
Brophy takes up RTÉ baton
This week's announcement of David Brophy's appointment as principal conductor of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra should go some way to stemming the uncertainties that have surrounded the orchestra in recent years, writes Michael Dervan. Brophy, whose musical youth includes a period as a keyboard player in a rock band, has orchestral experience across an extremely wide repertoire.
He has been apprentice conductor with the National Chamber Choir, and assistant conductor with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra.
He has conducted productions for Opera Ireland (including the recent A Streetcar Named Desire), Opera Theatre Company, Lyric Opera and Co-Opera, and has worked with contemporary music groups the Crash Ensemble and VOX21. He conducted the opening ceremony of the Special Olympics World Games in 2003, and has worked with U2 and numerous other popular and traditional musicians. His breadth of experience will serve him well with an orchestra that functions as a stylistic jack of all trades.
Back in 2000 the future of the RTÉ CO looked rosy, as it was scheduled to become orchestra-in-residence at the new Helix complex at DCU. However, not only did that residency collapse before the venue even opened, but RTÉ pulled the plug on the concert series there with the orchestra's principal conductor, Laurent Wagner. That resulted in the dramatic announcement in October 2005 that Wagner was not seeking the renewal of his contract, which expired in October 2006. The recent announcement of a new series of RTÉ CO concerts at the RDS from February to April, with Brophy conducting two of them, was the first serious indication of his closer involvement with the orchestra. The appointment is a major career boost for him and should also give RTÉ an opening to plan a new way forward for an orchestra where morale has been low.
Brophy is "thrilled with the position. I've known the people in the orchestra for years, both as a player and a freelance conductor. I'm delighted to be working with them." He's hoping to develop the orchestra's audience base and, given its broad repertoire, to find a way to get more of what he calls the "floating listeners" on board.
He made his actual debut as principal conductor in a Gilbert and Sullivan concert this week, and, as well as the upcoming programmes at the RDS, he's in charge of two Green Room Cinema live concerts at the NCH in March, and conducts the DIT Symphony Orchestra at University Concert Hall in Limerick on January 21st, and Lyric Opera's Carmen at the NCH in February.
The nominations for the Irish Film and Television Academy (Ifta) awards - to be presented on February 9th - highlight Irish creative talent not just on indigenous films and series but also in international productions, writes Michael Dwyer.
The nominees include actors Colin Farrell for the Hollywood thriller Miami Vice, and Ciaran Hinds for the epic HBO TV series Rome; cinematographer Seamus McGarvey for Oliver Stone's World Trade Center; production designer Mark Geraghty for Jim Sheridan's 50 Cent movie, Get Rich or Die Tryin'; and costume designers Consolata Boyle for the Stephen Frears's film The Queen, and Joan Bergin for Christopher Nolan's The Prestige.
Neil Jordan's Breakfast on Pluto leads the field with 10 nominations, closely followed by Brian Kirk's directing debut, Middletown, which has nine, Ken Loach's The Wind that Shakes the Barley and John Boorman's The Tiger's Tail with seven each, and Niall Heery's Small Engine Repair, which has yet to be released, with five.
The Jordan, Kirk, Loach and Heery films are all on the shortlist for best film, along with David Gleeson's The Front Line, and Jordan, Kirk, Gleeson and Boorman are the nominees for best director. Middletown, Small Engine Repair, Breakfast on Pluto and The Front Line are also up for best script. Cillian Murphy takes two of the five best actor nominations, for Breakfast on Pluto and The Wind that Shakes the Barley, and his fellow nominees are Brendan Gleeson (Studs), Pierce Brosnan (The Matador) and Colin Farrell (Miami Vice). Liam Cunningham and Padraic Delaney are both nominated as best supporting actor for The Wind that Shakes the Barley, along with Stephen Rea (Breakfast on Pluto) and Gerard McSorley (Middletown). Delaney is also nominated for the breakthrough talent award, and Cunningham has two further nominations in TV, for Showbands and Murphy's Law.
Demonstrating her range in a dramatic role, Pauline McLynn is nominated as Best Actress for the British drama Gypo, and she is joined on that shortlist by Ruth Negga (Isolation), Eva Birthistle (Middletown) and Gemma Doorly (A Song For Rebecca, a short feature made by Donegal director Norah McGettigan).
Negga has a second nomination, for Pluto, for best supporting actress, where the other nominees are Sinéad Cusack (A Tiger's Tail), Orla Fitzgerald (The Wind That Shakes the Barley) and Fionnula Flanagan (Transamerica).
In TV, Stardust, Fallout and The Clinic have five nominations each. Stardust and Fallout are on the shortlist for best single drama or drama serial with Legend and Hide & Seek. The Clinic, Ros na Rún, Showbands and Murphy's Law are nominated for best drama series or soap. Ciaran Hinds (Rome) is nominated in the best actor category along with Liam Cunningham (Showbands), James Nesbitt (Murphy's Law) and Michael McElhatton (Hide & Seek). Best actress nominees are Ger Ryan (Showbands), Aisling O'Sullivan (The Clinic) and Ruth Bradley (Legend).
See all nominations at www.ifta.ie.