Classical album review: César Franck complete orchestral works Four-disc, bicentenary collection showcases glittering piecesFri Jun 17 2022 - 06:00
Orfeo ed Euridice: Gluck under canvasThis year’s Blackwater Valley Opera Festival offering has plenty of energy but falls short on coherenceFri Jun 03 2022 - 14:32
LSO: Stravinsky Ballets - Pleasant rather than visceral listeningSensitive realisation under the guidance of Simon RattleMon May 30 2022 - 16:14
Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda: An opera with a troubled history returnsIrish National Opera’s production is first full staging with chorus, orchestra in IrelandMon May 30 2022 - 05:00
Countertenor Meili Li: ‘It’s not easy as a Chinese person to be accepted’Finding a footing in the world of opera takes grit but this is a singer who likes a challengeWed May 18 2022 - 05:00
Gerald Barry: ‘I’ve had an energy in me that has not had an outlet’The composer on sea bream, symbols, spies, Salome and his new Cello ConcertoTue May 10 2022 - 00:00
Nathan Sherman & Alex Petcu: Totemic – a well-executed debutThe viola and percussion duo mix three specially written works with one 1980s classicFri May 06 2022 - 05:00
Irish composers unite for long-delayed Beethoven celebrationAhead of an NCH concert series, artists reflect on how a musical giant shaped themMon May 02 2022 - 05:00
It’s oh so quiet: Exploring the role of silence in musicExperimental composer and guitarist Michael Pisaro-Liu’s 2013 work, asleep, wind, voice, poe gets its Irish premiere this monthSat Apr 30 2022 - 00:00
Ailís Ní Ríain: ‘Words and music are things we do against all better judgment’Composer on the challenges of her latest work and the transformative effect of ZoomWed Apr 27 2022 - 00:00
Rhona Clarke: Sempiternam choral music review – certain gestures a little clichedClarke is fond of graduated spills of soundFri Apr 01 2022 - 00:00
‘I always say the violin is Beyoncé and the viola is Adele’One is the pop singer, the other is the soul singer, says violist Jennifer StummWed Mar 23 2022 - 05:00
Joyce DiDonato: ‘What are you going to contribute to building the world?’Mezzo-soprano on Eden, destruction and balance – and moral duty outside concert hallSat Mar 19 2022 - 05:00
‘I certainly felt that the music and the man were one and the same thing’Choral director Paul Hillier on his concert tribute to late composer Steve MartlandTue Mar 08 2022 - 05:00
‘The challenge for women in music is the lack of institutional support’Participants in Finding a Voice, a festival of music by female composers, have their sayTue Mar 01 2022 - 05:00
Golda Schultz: ‘Back to that conversation between performer and artist’The South African soprano talks about the inspiration behind her upcoming NCH performanceThu Feb 03 2022 - 05:00
Raff: Complete Works for Cello & Piano – not quite a silk purseChristoph Croisé and Oxana Shevchenko show this limited composer in his best lightFri Jan 21 2022 - 05:00
Charles Villiers Stanford: More than a teacher of composersMusic programme to focus on Stanford’s composing rather than his catalogue of pupilsMon Jan 17 2022 - 05:00
Sam Perkin: Flow album review – Pass the jointTime is stilled on Perkin’s new releaseFri Jan 07 2022 - 05:00
JS Bach/Karlheinz Essl: Gold.Berg.Werk – Electronic meditations and variationsFri Dec 17 2021 - 05:00
The Ticket’s top roots, jazz, trad and classical albums of 2021Robert Plant and Alison Krauss; Matthew Halpin; John Francis Flynn; Haydn/BrahmsSat Dec 11 2021 - 05:00
Laoise O’Brien: Crusader on behalf of her instrument, the recorder‘What I loved about it, and no disrespect to my flute-playing colleagues, was the camaraderie’Wed Dec 08 2021 - 05:00
Modest Mussorgsky Unorthodox Music review – Treasure trove of vivid storytellingThe celebrated song-cycles are sliced through for samples rather than presented completelyFri Dec 03 2021 - 00:00
Malachy Robinson: The Irish Double Bass review – Strings core to this personal releaseAnother album from lockdown, Robinson is aided by pianist Gary BeecherFri Nov 19 2021 - 05:00
Elsewhere: Agitprop opera combines the serious and the comicMichael Gallen’s polyglot minimalist music captures energy of historic Monaghan strikeTue Nov 16 2021 - 14:24
Leader of the pack: The strange art of conductingElaine Kelly forged a dynamic path with Irish National Opera during lockdownMon Nov 15 2021 - 05:00
The Monaghan Soviet: How the people took over the asylumMichael Gallen on the event in his home county that inspired a new opera at the Abbey TheatreSun Nov 14 2021 - 05:00
My favourite Brandenburg: ‘A weird kaleidoscope of all that could possibly be’IBO musicians choose which of these celebrated Bach concertos they like the mostMon Nov 08 2021 - 05:00
Con Brio: Widmann, Strauss, Beethoven – A circumspect recordingWork commissioned as part of project by Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony OrchestraFri Nov 05 2021 - 05:00
Sinéad Campbell Wallace on returning to opera: ‘It’s in my bones’Going back to singing was a challenge – not least because her voice had changedWed Oct 27 2021 - 05:00
The 47th Saturday review: Nicely paced but vocal projection is overdoneWexford Festival Opera: Young cast cope well with demands of Andrew Synnott’s musicTue Oct 26 2021 - 15:00
Ein Wintermärchen review: Warmest emotional indulgence on offerWexford Festival Opera: The opera is more engaging in the moment than as a wholeTue Oct 26 2021 - 11:30
I Capuleti e i Montecchi: A different take on Romeo and JulietWexford Festival Opera: A young cast takes on Bellini’s challenging musicFri Oct 22 2021 - 13:19
Le Songe d’une Nuit d’Été: Comic opera’s limitations exposedWexford Festival Opera: Action is neatly handled, but the real flaw is the musicThu Oct 21 2021 - 18:22
Edmea: A psychological slant on a popular workWexford Festival Opera: Chorus and orchestra overcome Covid-restricted numbers with gustoWed Oct 20 2021 - 11:24
A chorus of crises: Wexford, opera and the festivalKarina Daly’s fascinating book is lean on links with RTÉ, Arts Council and MazarsWed Oct 20 2021 - 05:00
Dave Flynn: Irish Minimalism – A mixed engagement with the traditionFlynn’s takes on the Irish tradition can come across as rather too emblematicFri Oct 15 2021 - 05:00
Pianist Christian Blackshaw is set to play Galway: ‘Mozart got into my head’The English performer will play a concert devoted to the Salzburg prodigy in OctoberMon Oct 11 2021 - 05:00
Wexford Festival Opera at 70: ‘I thought, this would be a great job to have’Artistic directors past and present recall the memorable moments from the festivalSat Oct 09 2021 - 05:00
Christina Petrowska-Quilico: Retro Americana review – A dry piano recordAmerican composers Cowell, Rzewski and Monk are the attractions hereFri Oct 01 2021 - 05:00
A live-concert resurrection to lift us out of musical limboNew Ross Piano Festival was back in action with some transcendent performancesTue Sept 28 2021 - 05:00
‘Visceral connection’: New Ross festival pianists on playing for live audiences againFive performers on the lows and highs of lockdown – and what comes nextMon Sept 20 2021 - 05:00
‘This is the big one’: Sligo Festival of Baroque Music returns for 2021Artistic director Nicola Cleary aiming to bring continental enthusiam to the westSat Sept 18 2021 - 05:00
