The best classical music this week: Joshua Bell and Academy of St Martin in the Fields at NCHConductor Daniele Rustioni debuts with the RTÉ NSO and busy percussionist Alex Petcu gets the stage to himselfSat Jan 20 2018 - 04:00
National Opera’s Big Bang! a real statement of intentLaunch of new company ‘a golden moment’ and signals commitment to Irish creative talentWed Jan 17 2018 - 05:15
Top three classical performances this weekCelebrating composer Brett Dean, Stravinsky’s Funeral Song resurfaces and composers on loveSat Jan 13 2018 - 04:00
Chamber Music Gathering ignores female composers for second yearThe NCH event has a thing or two to learn from West Cork FestivalWed Jan 10 2018 - 05:15
More bang for your bucks: This week’s classical and opera highlightsChamber music at the NCH; Irish National Opera company celebrates 2018 programme with 12 top singers; and Russian conductor Stanislav Kochanovsky debuts with RTÉ NSOSat Jan 06 2018 - 04:00
Why we need a new State-funded national orchestraRTÉ’s role as ‘primary custodian’ of symphonic music must be challengedWed Jan 03 2018 - 05:00
Classical music highlights for week ending January 7thNew Year’s Eve Viennese Gala – New Year Celebration – RTÉ NSO/Alexander ShelleyFri Dec 29 2017 - 00:00
Arts Council’s attacks on Government a strange strategyCouncil needs to embrace idea it will no longer be sole recipient of fundingWed Dec 27 2017 - 05:00
Orchestra funding should be ringfenced at RTE, says MartinNew Music Dublin festival director claims rumoured cutbacks would have trickle-down effectWed Dec 20 2017 - 05:00
Classical music highlights of the week – from Hugh Lane Gallery to the Ulster HallIrish Opera Artists’ Christmas Gala and A Box of Festive DelightsFri Dec 15 2017 - 00:00
A sequence of visions of ChopinIt’s always a pleasure to meet so accomplished, so resourceful and so thoughtful a virtuoso as Russian Daniil TrifonovWed Dec 13 2017 - 05:00
Irish National Opera appoints Fergus Sheil as artistic directorCompany’s first production, Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, to be directed by Patrick MasonMon Dec 11 2017 - 23:52
The best classical music this week: RTÉ NSO Christmas GalaLauma Skride, UO/Olari Elts – Ailish Tynan (soprano), ICO/Katherine Hunka (violin)Fri Dec 08 2017 - 00:00
Sexual misconduct controversy hits the New York Met Opera‘Conversations I’ve had with victims over the years suggests that Ireland is no different in relation to these issues’Wed Dec 06 2017 - 05:00
The best classical music this week: Daniil Trifonov makes NCH debutRTÉ Contempo Quartet play Beethoven while Peter Whelan directs Irish Baroque Orchestra performance of Handel’s MessiahFri Dec 01 2017 - 00:00
Playing politics with the RTÉ orchestra cutbacks controversyTaoiseach weighs in, Minister for Arts kicks to touch, Fianna Fáil comes late to the causeWed Nov 29 2017 - 05:00
Classical music highlights of the week: JoAnn Falletta’s NCH debutCrash Ensemble celebrate 20 years with special performance and Nathalie Stutzmann leads the RTÉ NSO in Strauss and MozartFri Nov 24 2017 - 00:00
RTÉ’s orchestra cuts will be seen everywhere, from weddings to schoolsWhen orchestras are silenced, society will feel the lossWed Nov 22 2017 - 05:00
The best classical music this week: Nikolaj Znaider joins the RTÉ NSO for first timeTed talk star Daria van den Bercken is in Galway and Russian violinist Alina Ibragimova plays an all-French programme in DroghedaSat Nov 18 2017 - 06:00
Denis Naughten should be alarmed by Ivan Yates’s RTÉ sourcesIs the strange approach to filling key posts in RTÉ’s orchestras a ploy to tear them down?Wed Nov 15 2017 - 05:00
The best classical music and opera this weekCity of London Sinfonia with pianist Michael McHale and conductor Michael Collins, Quatuor Voce’s nine-stop tour and NI Opera stage Così fan tutteSat Nov 11 2017 - 05:00
Can RTÉ effectively axe an orchestra?Cuts in RTÉ’s pool of musician employees is fuelling speculation about a merger of its two orchestrasWed Nov 08 2017 - 05:00
Classical highlights in NovemberAt last, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra is presenting ‘A celebration of contemporary Irish female composers’ at the NCHFri Nov 03 2017 - 00:00
NCH finding space for work by living Irish composersIts Chamber Music series is its largest yet with a welcome focus on native talentWed Nov 01 2017 - 05:00
Classical music: the best concerts this weekFinghin Collins goes solo at Wexford Festival OperaFri Oct 27 2017 - 00:00
The Harvey Weinsteins of the world are well represented in operaWe laugh and clap along with characters in opera whose actions would scandalise us in real lifeWed Oct 25 2017 - 05:00
Wexford Festival Opera: the opening weekend’s reviews‘Medea’ misses the mark while ‘Risurrezione’ goes down a stormMon Oct 23 2017 - 12:00
Writing a melody is 'like walking on a graveyard. It’s full of dead composers'Italian classical guitarist Oscar Ghiglia pulls no punches when it comes to his students or his peersTue Oct 17 2017 - 05:00
Classical and opera highlights this weekWexford Festival Opera begins while ‘Eithne’ is presented in a concert performanceFri Oct 13 2017 - 00:00
Classical music round-up with Michael DervanA celebrated Swedish brass player, a master US percussionist and a Norwegian trumpeterFri Oct 06 2017 - 00:00
A good conductor helps an orchestra tune out the noiseNathalie Stutzmann infuses the RTÉ NSO’s playing with litheness, clarity and wit on her guest debutWed Oct 04 2017 - 05:00
Nathalie Stutzmann takes a bow with RTÉ NSOClassical highlights: Veronika Eberle, Tallis Scholars and RTÉ Contempo QuartetThu Sept 28 2017 - 13:00
Stereo sound: the contralto who doubles as a conductorNathalie Stutzmann, the new guest conductor of the RTÉ NSO, has found two very different ways of producing soundThu Sept 28 2017 - 05:00
Richter: Sinfonias, Sonatas & Oboe Concerto – rarely heard composer gets his dueWed Sept 27 2017 - 17:01
The Irish Baroque Orchestra’s Musical Joke falls flatThe IBO’s take on Mozart’s Musical Joke trample it to the level of the Dumb and Dumber moviesWed Sept 27 2017 - 05:00
Hungarian feel for New Ross Piano FestivalCulture Night concerts by Chamber Choir Ireland and Irish Chamber Orchestra offers 365 Variations on a GestureThu Sept 21 2017 - 13:00
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto; Hebrides Overture; Symphony No 5 review: bringing Mendelssohn back to basicsMENDELSSOHN: VIOLIN CONCERTO; HEBRIDES OVERTURE; REFORMATION SYMPHONYIsabelle Faust (violin), Freiburger Barockorchester/Pablo Heras-Casado *****Harmonia Mundi HMM 902325Wed Sept 20 2017 - 17:01
Britten’s opera stumbles from the small screen to the live stage‘Owen Wingrave’ fails to come to theatrical lifeWed Sept 20 2017 - 05:00
Feast of Russian miniatures: This week’s classical music highlightsElisaveta Blumina in Dublin, RTÉ Contempo Quartet on tour and Irish Baroque OrchestraThu Sept 14 2017 - 13:00
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos 25 & 26 review: Knock me Amadeus!MOZART: PIANO CONCERTOS NOS 25 & 26Francesco Piemontesi (piano), Scottish CO/Andrew Manze ****Linn Records CKD 544Wed Sept 13 2017 - 17:01
Tinney a power of strength with the Navarra QuartetWestport Festival expands from three to six concertsWed Sept 13 2017 - 05:00
Kurtág: Complete Works for Ensemble and Choir reviewKURTÁG: COMPLETE WORKS FOR ENSEMBLE AND CHOIR *****Netherlands Radio Choir, Asko|Schönberg/Reinbert de LeeuwECM New Series 481 2883 (3 CDs)Thu Sept 07 2017 - 09:54
Experience counts in orchestras – but where are the opportunities?Esker Festival Orchestra and SinfoNua will be among victims of musical decline at RTÉWed Sept 06 2017 - 05:00
The colours of music: this week’s classical music highlightsTéada Trio explore synaesthesia, David Brophy conducts SinfoNua, and a choral contrastThu Aug 31 2017 - 13:00
Sounding the Feminists: promoting creative female musiciansWhat they want is for audiences ‘to hear the voices of those who continue to be marginalised due to their sex, gender identity, sexuality, race, and class’Wed Aug 30 2017 - 05:00
A free double bass concerto in the Ulster Hall: what more could you want?The best classical concerts next weekThu Aug 24 2017 - 13:00
