Pat O’Kelly   Among a number of anniversaries, this year commemorates two distinct and unrelated centenaries – Estonian Independence and the birth of the US composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein. Both events are being highlighted at the National Concert Hall next week through the return of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (EPCC) on January 31 and the…

Pat O’Kelly   As well as his very active performing career at home and abroad, the Dublin-born pianist Finghin Collins is also artistic director of two important events occurring outside the capital. The first is the New Ross Piano Festival, which since its foundation in 2006 takes place in late September and is centred on…

Pat O’Kelly Since 2012 the National Concert Hall has presented an annual Lifetime Achievement Award to Irish musicians of international renown. Not confined to what can be loosely termed ‘classical artists’, the award spreads its wings across a broader spectrum of musical genres. James Galway, Veronica Dunne, Paul Brady and the Vanbrugh Quartet followed the…

Pat O’Kelly   Thanks to the hospitality of ambassador Marie-Claude Meylan, the Swiss Embassy was the convivial venue for a recently launched CD – Chopin Recital – featuring Dublin-born pianist Finghin Collins. On the Swiss classical label Claves, for which Collins has already recorded excellent Schumann albums, the new disc, 50-1719, is a cooperation with…

Pat O’Kelly   History will be made this weekend with Handel’s Messiah heard for the first time in the Basilica at Knock on Saturday evening. Under Proinnsías Ó Duinn, the occasion commemorates the 275th anniversary of the oratorio’s première in Neal’s Musick Hall in Dublin’s Fishamble Street. The current event unites Our Lady’s Choral Society,…

Pat O’ Kelly   As Wexford Festival aficionados will be enjoying the final performances of unfamiliar works by Cherubini, Foroni and Alfano at the National Opera House this weekend, the National Concert Hall is the setting, on Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday next, for something less esoteric – Lyric Opera’s production of Verdi’s La Traviata. Through…

  Fr Michael Collins   All around the country, young musicians are busy practising. Some are getting ready for their Leaving Certificate and State exams. Others are getting ready for Third Level exams. But a great number are preparing for the Feis Ceoil. Founded in 1896, the Feis Ceoil has seen several generations of musicians…

Fr Michael Collins   Last week, I was delighted to meet the three Italian teenagers who are the musical sensation, Il Volo. They were in Dublin to appear on the Late Late Show and promote their new album, Il Volo. The three singers were in Dublin for just two and a half days, staying in…

  Fr Michael Collins   Among the greatest of J.S. Bach’s choral works stands out the Christmas Oratorio, a collection of six individual cantatas. Each was composed for a particular day of the Christmas season, concluding with the Feast of the Epiphany. Bach used a libretto by Christian Friedrich Henrici, known by his nickname Picander,…

Fr Liam Lawton’s journey in song reached a milestone in 2011. Paul Keenan reports Within any chosen path, to be able to describe oneself as ”busy” after 20 years can only be what’s called ‘a good complaint’. But busy is exactly what Fr Liam Lawton has continued to be through 2011, the 20th anniversary year…