Classical

Opportunities for composers as artists-in-residence are still rare

Opportunities for composers as artists-in-residence are still rare. Stephen Gardner's You Never Know What's Round The Corner, to be premiered by Concorde at the Church of Ireland, Monkstown, on Wednesday, was written as a response to the six months this sometimes iconoclastic individualist has spent as composer-in-residence to Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. The title clearly expresses his reaction to landing the residency, and his experiences during it, he says, "can be detected in the celebratory energy of much of the work". Also featuring in Wednesday's concert, alongside works by Jane O'Leary and Elliott Carter is a collaborative piece, Suite 749 by a quintet of local players who developed their music under Gardner's guidance.

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Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan is a music critic and Irish Times contributor