On the occasion of his retirement in 2018 as organist of Christ Church Cathedral Waterford, Dean Maria Jansson described Eric Sweeney as “a man of deep faith for whom music is his language with God”. Eric Sweeney’s final service coincided with the ordination to the Church of Ireland priesthood of former leader of the Green…
Ireland’s October music calendar is usually dominated by events in Wexford and, happy to relate, following last year’s Covid restrictions, the curtain will rise again on the town’s international opera festival next week. Reinstate Running from Tuesday October 19 to Sunday October 31, festival director Rosetta Cucchi has managed to salvage her 2020 plans and…
Remembering this year is the fiftieth anniversary of Stravinsky’s death, I wrote about him in this column of September 2 reaching his Symphony in C of 1940 when he had settled in America. This followed the death of his first wife Katya and marriage in March 1940 to extrovert artist and divorcee Vera Sudeykina. They…
Well, as Ira Gershwin, brother of George, said, “Things are looking up”, to which I will add “Praise, the Lord” as the National Concert Hall welcomes back its audiences. Commemorating its 40th anniversary, the NCH, which opened as the country’s principal concert venue on September 9, 1981 (I was there), presented a less demanding, but…
Looking at a BBC Prom, devoted to Stravinsky, on TV recently reminded me that this year commemorates the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death in New York in 1971. Igor Stravinsky was born into a musical family in Oranienbaum near St Petersburg in 1882. While his parents hoped he would become a lawyer Igor persuaded…
Congratulations to our period instrument Irish Baroque Orchestra (IBO), currently celebrating its silver jubilee. As part of its anniversary programmes the ensemble presents a short Dublin HandelFest online over the coming weekend – August 20 to 22 – centred in and around Dublin Castle. Beginning with the pastoral Acis and Galatea in St Patrick’s Hall…
A while ago I wrote about Co. Wicklow composer Ina Boyle (1889-1967) following the issue of a CD of some of her orchestral music. Happy to relate another CD, this time containing 33 of her songs, has come my way. On the Delphian label – DCD 34264 – I also find it a very attractive…
Last time around I mentioned the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) and its Music Bursary as well as this year’s principal winner – Phoebe White whose cellist brother, Killian, received the award in 2018. But there are two smaller, yet significant, sections to the main bursary. One is the €5,000 Jago Award, the other being the…
A long-standing friend invited myself and two other close acquaintances to lunch at the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) recently – outside of course in accordance with Government regulations. But the sun shone and the company was convivial. As might be expected the conversation was never far from music and we recalled the RDS’ contribution to…
As at the time I was a devotee of soprano Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, I made my first visit to the Salzburg Festival to hear her singing the roles of the Marschallin in Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier and Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte. Like Der Rosenkavalier, the Cosi performance was all one could hope for under…