CELEBRATING THE VOICE
A Professional Development Programme for Singers
Designed and led by Artist-in-Residence
Tara Erraught
MONDAY 10 FEBRUARY – FRIDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2025
12 singers, seven Irish and international industry experts
12 events including a song recital, opera gala with the National Symphony Orchestra, public masterclasses, vocal coaching, talks, conversations and panel discussions.
Full programme now available. See nch.ie
National Symphony Orchestra
Tara Erraught – Artist-In-Residence
National Symphony Orchestra
Laurence Cummings conductor
Tara Erraught mezzo-soprano
Presented by Paul Herriott, RTÉ lyric fm
Friday 1 November 2024, 7.30pm
National Concert Hall Programme
Martínez Berenice, ah che fai? / 13’
Haydn Symphony No. 25 / 13’
Haydn Scena di Berenice, Berenice, che fai? / 13’
Mozart Exsultate, jubilate / 17’
Mozart
Symphony No. 41, ‘Jupiter’ / 26’
Broadcast live on RTÉ lyric Live on RTÉ lyric fm
PLEASE NOTE: The NCH does not permit photography or videography during the performance (without prior permission). We kindly ask you to refrain from using any recording equipment for the duration of tonight’s performance.
NCH Board Members
Maura McGrath Chair | James Cavanagh | Cliona Doris
Rebecca Gageby | Hilary Hough | Peter McKenna
Niamh Murray | Michelle O’Sullivan | Don Thornhill
Patron
Michael D. Higgins President of Ireland
Fáilte Welcome
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to this evening’s performance in which the National Symphony Orchestra teams up with the acclaimed Irish mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught and the conductor and harpsichordist Laurence Cummings, widely acclaimed for his work in historical performance. What a thrill to work on this gorgeous repertoire and with these fine artists.
This evening’s performance is an auspicious one. It marks Tara’s first performance as an Artist-in-Residence at the National Concert Hall for the current season, and it takes place in the week when we have announced full details of Celebrating the Voice, the professional development programme for young singers designed and led by Tara.
Over five days next February (Monday 10 – Friday 14), 12 young singers will work intensively with seven Irish and international industry experts in a programme of public masterclasses, vocal coaching, talks, conversations and panel discussions. It culminates with two performances on Valentine’s Day featuring all singers in either recital with pianists Dearbhla Collins and Morgane Fauchois-Prado or as part of an opera gala with the National Symphony Orchestra, Tara and the fantastic Estonian conductor Anu Tali. What a prospect.
The calibre of industry experts participating is testament to the high regard in which Tara is regarded by her peers. The quality of the singers selected leaves us full of enthusiasm for the time to come. We are so pleased to work with Tara on this project. Full details are online at nch.ie. Please do explore.
Before all that, this evening’s performance. We make music to share it. We hope you enjoy it.
Joe Csibi Head of Orchestra and Chorus
Coming home
A note from Tara Erraught
Twenty years ago, I started my job in this wonderful hall as an usher. Many of you have followed and supported my journey since those early days, and it is a joy for me to welcome you tonight as one of this year’s National Concert Hall Artists-in-Residence. To take up the role is a huge honour; I have listened to, learned from, and performed with the extraordinary musicians of this orchestra over the last two decades. Returning to the National Concert Hall is like coming home, and spending the evening with family in this, the best of audiences.
Tonight’s program is special to me. I first performed Haydn’s Scene di Berenice on this stage during my final exam for my degree, and have not performed it in Ireland since then. It is effectively a one-woman opera: dramatic, intense, and moving. The lesser known – but just as brilliant – contemporary of Haydn, Marianna Martínez, used the same story and libretto to compose an equally stunning piece that I look forward to sharing with you.
Composed for the castrato Venanzio Rauzzini, Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate makes huge technical and dramatic demands of the performer. Excerpts from this score formed part of my early study with the late Dr. Veronica Dunne. I will be remembering Ronnie as I sing it for you, my home audience.
Tara Erraught
Programme Notes
Marianna von Martínez (1744-1812)
Berenice, ah che fai?
I. Recitative: ‘Berenice, ah che fai?’
II. Aria: ‘Non partir bell’idil mio’
III. Recitative: ‘Me infelice!’
IV. Aria: ‘Perché, se tanti siete’
Born into a family with close attachments to Vienna’s imperial court, Marianna von Martínez enjoyed a comfortable childhood and a privileged training, an early tutor being the hugely influential librettist Pietro Metastasio. He in turn introduced her to Haydn, whose first pupil she became.
Composed in 1767, her cantata Berenice, ah che fai? takes its text from the prolific Pietro Metastasio’s libretto, Antigono. Subsequently to be set by more than 30 composers, it describes a time-honoured love triangle in which the Egyptian Princess Berenice, although betrothed to Macedonia’s King Antigono, is in love with his son, Demetrio. Finding himself torn between his love for his father and his admirer, Demetrio resolves to kill himself.
In the self-accusing Berenice, che fai? (Berenice, what are you doing?) the disconsolate heroine, abandoned by her lover, berates herself before lamenting her predicament and insisting that her grief should give way to her own death.
Berenice, che fai?
Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782)
Recitative
Berenice, che fai? Muore il tuo bene,
Stupida, e tu non corri? Oh Dio! Vacilla
L’incerto passo; un gelido mi scuote
Insolito tremor tutte le vene, E a gran pena il suo peso il piè sostiene.
Berenice, che fai?
Dove son? Qual confusa
Folla d’idee tutte funeste adombra
La mia ragion? Veggo Demetrio: il veggo
Che in atto di ferir... Fermati! Vivi!
D’Antigono io sarò. Del core ad onta
Volo a giurargli fè: dirò che l’amo; Dirò... Misera me, s’oscura il giorno,
Balena il ciel! L’hanno irritato i miei
Meditati spergiuri. Ahimè! Lasciate
Ch’io soccorra il mio ben, barbari Dei.
Voi m’impedite, e intanto
Forse un colpo improvviso…
Ah, sare te contenti; eccolo ucciso.
Aspetta, anima bella: ombre compagne A Lete andrem. Se non potei salvarti Potrò fedel... Ma tu mi guardi, e parti?
Recitative
Berenice, what are you doing? Your beloved is dying, and yet you, like a fool, do not run to him? Oh God, my uncertain footsteps falter! A strange, icy chill courses through my veins, and only with great pain can my feet support their burden.
Where am I? What muddled folly of dark thoughts clouds my reason? I see Demetrius: I see him in the act of striking... Stop! Live! I’ll be Antigono’s. In spite of my true feelings, I fly to swear my fidelity to him. I shall say I love him; I shall say... Wretched me!
The daylight fades, the heavens flash with lightning!
My intended perjury has angered them. Alas! Let me come to the aid of my beloved, cruel Gods!
You block my way, and meanwhile perhaps some sudden blow…
Ah, you will be content: behold him, killed. Wait, my beautiful soul; let our shades go as companions to Lethe. Though I was unable to save you, I can still be faithful... But you look at me, and leave?
Berenice, che fai?
Aria
Non partir bel’idol mio per quell onda all’altra sponda voglio anch’io passar con te.
Recitative
Me infelice che fingo?
Che ragiono?
Dove rapita io sono dal torrente crudel de’miei martiri misera, Misera Berenice, Ah tu deliri.
Aria
Perché, se tanti siete che delirar mi fate,
Perché non m’uccidete affanni del mio cor?
Perché se tanto siete
Perché non m’uccidete affanni del mio cor?
Crescete, oh Dio cresete
Finche mi porgaita con togliermi di vita
L’eccesso del dolor.
Berenice, che fai?
Aria
Don’t leave, my beautiful idol, on that wave. I, too, want to cross to the other shore with you.
Recitative
Unhappy me, what do I pretend? What do I reason?
Where I am carried away by the cruel torrent of my torments, miserable, Miserable Berenice, ah, you are delirious.
Aria
Why, if you are so many that make me delirious, Why do you not kill the sorrows of my heart?
Because if you are to me as before, Why do you not kill me the sorrows of my heart? Grow, oh God grow, Until you offer me by taking away my life
The excess of pain.
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Symphony No. 25 in C major, Hob. I/25
I Adagio – Allegro
II Menuetto
III Presto
Haydn composed his first symphony in 1759. Over the next decade he wrote another 40 – not quite half-way towards the 106 symphonies he would eventually complete. The speed at which Haydn wrote says much about a seemingly boundless talent that would exert significant influence on Mozart.
But the plentitude of symphonies, certainly with regard to to Haydn’s early essays in the form, owes as much to the compact scale they then customarily assumed. With a playing time of 15 minutes or less, the Symphony No. 25 is typical in terms of its duration.
With no autograph score existing, it is thought to date from 1761 to 1765, the weight of opinion increasingly alighting on 1763 as its origin. Haydn’s remarkable prolixity – symphonies weren’t, by any means, the only thing he composed –shouldn’t make one suspicious that he was churning them out by rote.
The Symphony No. 25 is marked by two distinctive qualities peculiar to it. While it shares with several siblings its scoring for twin oboes and horns, bassoon, strings and continuo, it distinguishes itself from Haydn’s other C major symphonies by the absence of trumpets and timpani. Absent, too, is a dedicated slow movement, an omission that tempts some scholars to query whether the work is Haydn’s at all.
Yet, it rings with a brio and brilliance that surely inks in its authenticity. So, too, its idiosyncrasies, the missing slow movement effectively absorbed into the opening of a first movement fully the length of the the symphony’s other two movements together. Its initial stately Adagio demeanour serves as an extended introduction to the spirited Allegro that follows.
The delightfully poised Minuet is answered by a serenading trio for oboes and horns over pizzicato strings, the whole brimming with melodic variety. As is the fleet, buoyant and bracing Presto finale that deports itself with hasty immediacy before concluding with a spirited, contrapuntal flourish.
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Scena di Berenice, Berenice, che fai?, Hob.XXIVa:10
Haydn composed the concert aria Berenice, che fai? during his second and final visit to London in 1795 for Brigida Giorgi Banti, widely acclaimed as the decade’s most famous operatic diva.
Haydn was the second composer to draw on Metastasio’s Antigono, first set by Johann Adolph Hasse in 1743. More than 30 others would follow suit in one of the most often set opera librettos.
Haydn treats the moment of untethered emotion with due coloratura drama even while affording the wretched Berenice a requisite dignity, dividing the aria into two sections. In the first, Berenice’s madness is matched by frequent, disorientating changes of key before giving way to a moment of chaste beauty as she implores the absent Demetrio not to die without her by his side. That short-lived entreaty collapses into feverish hysteria as Berenice longs for release in her own willed death, clarinets entering for the first time to accent the aching pain of her anguished dilemma.
Berenice, che fai?
Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782)
Aria
Perché, se tanti siete che delirar mi fate,
Perché non m’uccidete affanni del mio cor?
Perché se tanto siete
Perché non m’uccidete affanni del mio cor?
Crescete, oh Dio cresete affanni del mio cor,
Finche mi porgaita con togliermi di vita
L’eccesso del dolor.
INTERVAL
Berenice, che fai?
Aria
Why, if you are so many that make me delirious, Why do you not kill the sorrows of my heart?
Because if you are so many, Why do you not kill me the sorrows of my heart?
Grow, oh God grow, the worries of my heart
Until you offer me by taking away my life
The excess of pain.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91)
Exsultate, jubilate, K. 165
I Allegro
II Andante
III Allegro
The most remarkable aspect of the religious motet Exsultate, jubilate is not that it was composed in a moment of relative idleness during performances in Milan of the opera Lucio Silla. Nor even its magisterial use of orchestral colour and stratospheric writing for the voice. More astonishing, surely, is that Mozart was not yet 17 when he wrote it in January 1773.
A sacred work garbed in unapologetically operatic form (its true blood ties are with the demonstrative crowd-pleasing arias Mozart composed for concert performances) it revels in a display of coloratura virtuosity shot through with sparkling high spirits, exuberant wit and an altogether uplifting sense of unabashed joyfulness.
Composed for the castrato Venanzio Rauzzini (a composer himself, whose operas enjoyed success in London before he retired to the English spa town of Bath) its high-lying range and vocal fireworks lend themselves comfortably (if demandingly) to the soprano voice. Structured in three distinct but sung-through movements, it is, pedantically, more of a cantata than a motet, with its vibrant opening Allegro recitative, devout middle section and scene-stealing, show-stopping presto elaboration on ‘Alleluia’.
But whatever it is, religious motet or concert cantata, Exsultate, jubilate is an altogether remarkable marriage of the operatic and the sacred, and serves as a bright, brilliant marker for all that was to follow from Mozart in his magnificent maturity.
Exsultate, jubilate Anon
Exsultate, jubilate, o vos animae beatae!
Dulcia cantica canendo, cantui vestro respondendo, psallant aethera cum me.
Fulget amica dies, iam fugere et nubila et procellae; exortus est justis inexspectata quies. Undique obscura regnabat nox; surgite tandem laeti, qui timuistis adhuc, et iucundi aurorae fortunatae frondes dextera plena et lilia date.
Exsultate, jubilate
Tu, virginum corona, tu nobis pacem dona. Tu consolare affectus, unde suspirat cor. Alleluia.
Exult, rejoice, O blessed souls!
Singing sweet songs, Singing your song, The heavens sing praise with me.
A friendly day shines forth, Clouds and thunderstorms have already moved away;
Unforeseen peace has come to the righteous. Darkness was all over the world; Arise joyfully at last You, who were hitherto in fear, And, well-disposed, to the blissful morning light Lavishly present wreaths of leaves and lilies.
You, the Virgin’s garland, Grant us peace. Dull the grief, which makes our heart sigh. Hallelujah.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91)
Symphony No. 41 in C major, K 551, ‘Jupiter’
I. Allegro vivace
II. Andante cantabile
III. Menuetto. Allegretto – Trio
IV. Molto allegro
One of the true miracles of music is Mozart’s feat in composing his last three symphonies in the period of six weeks in the summer of 1788. To have written even one of these masterpieces in such a short time would have been remarkable. The fact that all three were created at a time of great financial embarrassment for the composer, who was sending begging letters to a close friend that July, adds to the wonderment. The C major, the last of all, was completed on 10 August. The title, Jupiter, is a much later addition.
The symphony is scored for a conventional orchestra of its time but without clarinets. There is an almost operatic grandeur about the opening of the first movement. Indeed, Mozart quotes from an aria he had recently composed for insertion in an opera by Anfossi. The music starts with a gruff double fanfare followed by a vigorous tutti, presenting a march that could have appeared in an operatic finale. After a pause this is responded to by a gentle little tune on flute and oboe. This is soon followed after another pause by the full second subject: a slight theme based on three rising notes from the cellos and violas with the violins merrily trotting in later to present the Anfossi tune. The full section is then repeated in proper classical sonata form construction.
The development begins with a neat slide into E-flat major; the little aria is first to be dealt with and is given a vigorous treatment with attractive counterpoint. At long last the opening phrase steals in, decorated by a new woodwind countermelody, quickly interrupted by an explosive sequence with dramatic chords, quickly calmed. This leads into a full statement of the main theme and the recapitulation is underway. Its quick appearance means the development section has been extremely short but Mozart now adds further variants of his themes, until a short coda brings this whirlwind movement to an abrupt end.
The slow movement opens with muted strings, with sudden forte interruptions as the first theme glides into existence; there is a slight uneasiness to its gentle musings which become a feature of the movement, with a little run on the violins and a later, softly sobbing phrase. The second theme uses a simple rising scale and plunges the music into C minor. Being in sonata form, this exposition of the themes is marked for a full repeat. The development adds to the pathos, drawing the sad little motifs into exquisitely floating variants. The first theme soon softly reappears and is given a dramatic fugal treatment with vigorous sweeps of sound from the violins. Peace is restored for the recapitulation of all the elements. This leads to a quiet coda, bringing the main theme back for a final airing, softly assisted by the horns and flute.
The Minuet starts with great elegance, almost like a dance by Haydn. The trio or central section opens with a lovely falling staccato woodwind variant, introduced by the oboe. This expands into a dramatic sequence followed by a delicious little lilting waltz phrase. The opening section returns unaltered (da capo) in the usual classical manner.
The Finale is in sonata form: matters start quite innocently with a rapid theme on the violins, punctuated by sudden loud chords, immediately given a spectacular fugal treatment with phrases flashing around the orchestra. The second theme is a slow-moving melody though the flute cannot resist adding cheeky references to the first subject. Another brilliant fugal sequence follows, as the exposition of the themes is completed and then repeated. The development of this material involves a tornado of counterpoint, leading the music into the oddest keys, in the most exciting and imaginative modulations.
In his recapitulation the composer again plunges into the world of complex counterpoint, with all five of his themes overlapping in a riot of simultaneous lines. A sudden hush allows the melodies a further outing and more fugal variation. Mozart then asks for a complete recapitulation of his development section, a rarity in his music and most uncommon at that time. The coda finally emerges with a long slow descending phrase from the violins and a sudden new fugal presentation of the material before the movement comes to its triumphant conclusion with a fanfare on horns and trumpets. It is a brilliant ending to this great symphony, which seems to sum up Mozart’s symphonic writing even if he had no inkling at the time it was to be his last.
Notes by Michael Quinn © National Concert Hall
NATIONAL CONCERT HALL 2024 — 2025 SEASON
STANFORD 100
NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
NATIONAL SYMPHONY CHORUS
Gerhard Markson conductor | Máire Flavin soprano
Sharon Carty mezzo-soprano | James Way tenor
John Molloy bass | David Young choral director
Stanford Requiem
NSO’s centenary commemorations of Dublin-born Stanford’s death concludes with one of his crowning glories: the monumental and moving Requiem.
FRIDAY 22 NOVEMBER 2024, 7.30PM
Tickets from €15 nch.ie
Laurence Cummings conductor
Laurence Cummings is one of Britain’s most exciting and versatile exponents of historical performance both as a conductor and a harpsichord player. A noted authority on Handel, he is currently Musical Director of the Academy of Ancient Music, Music Director of Orquestra Barroca Casa da Música in Porto, and celebrated his 25th and final year as Musical Director of the London Handel Festival earlier this year.
Frequently praised for his stylish performances in the opera house, he has conducted productions across Europe at houses including Opernhaus Zürich, Theater an der Wien, Gothenburg Opera, Théâtre du Châtelet, and Opéra
National de Lyon. In the UK he has been a regular guest at English National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and Garsington Opera, as well as conducting at the Royal Opera House and for Opera North.
Equally at home on the concert platform, he is regularly invited to conduct both period and modern orchestras worldwide, including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The English Concert, Handel and Haydn Society Boston, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Basel Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Washington National Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Jerusalem Symphony, and in the UK with Royal Northern Sinfonia, Hallé Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra, and Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
His recordings include discs with Emma Kirkby and Royal Academy of Music on BIS; Angelika Kirchschlager and the Basel Chamber Orchestra for Sony BMG; Maurice Steger and The English Concert for Harmonia Mundi; and Ruby Hughes and the OAE on Chandos, as well as a series of live performances for Accent recorded at the Internationale Händel-Festspiele Göttingen. He has also released numerous solo harpsichord recital and chamber music recordings for Naxos.
He was organ scholar at Christ Church, Oxford, graduating with First Class Honours. Until 2012 he was Head of Historical Performance at the Royal Academy of Music, where he now holds the position of William Crotch Professor of Historical Performance.
Tara Erraught mezzo-soprano
Tara Erraught is one of the leading international singers whose versatile repertoire ranges from Baroque to Mozart, the bel canto repertoire, romantic and contemporary music.
In the 2024-2025 season, Tara Erraught will once again appear as Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) at the Berlin State Opera and as Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito) at the Hamburg State Opera. She will appear with the Vienna State Opera as Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) in Monte Carlo. The much sought-after artist is also very active again in the concert field. She gives recitals at the Wigmore Hall and the Praga Festival in Easton, and sings orchestral songs by Alma Mahler with the SWR. As Artist-inResidence at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, she will work closely with the National Symphony Orchestra in events including an opera gala concert, a performance of works by Haydn, Martínez and Mozart, and a professional development programme for young singers.
Highlights of recent seasons include her role debut as the title role in Iphigénie en Tauride, Cendrillon and Donna Elvira at the Opéra de Paris, as well as her role debut as Maria Stuarda at the Irish National Opera. Tara Erraught was a member of the Opera Studio and the ensemble of the Bavarian State Opera and is a regular guest in Munich, where she was most recently celebrated as Rosina and Adalgisa (Norma). Other roles in Munich have included Susanna, Despina, Hänsel, Orlofsky, Sesto, Angelina (La Cenerentola), Roméo and Kathleen Scott in the successful world premiere of Srnka’s opera South Pole. At the Metropolitan Opera New York she was celebrated as Nicklausse (The Tales of Hoffmann) and Hänsel.
Tara Erraught made guest appearances at the Vienna State Opera as Donna Elvira, Komponist and Rosina. As Angelina in the new production of La Cenerentola, she was hailed as the ‘new bel canto queen’ by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. She made her debut at the 2016 Salzburg Festival as Siebel in Gounod’s Faust. At the Baden-Baden Festival Theatre, she sang Annio (La clemenza di Tito) under Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In Hamburg, she made her debuts as Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Alice (Falstaff) and Vitellia. Tara Erraught was Artistin-Residence at the Glimmerglass Festival 2024 where she sang the title part in Elizabeth Cree and gave a masterclass for young singers.
Tara Erraught has also given recitals at Wigmore Hall in London, at the Schubertiade in Munich, and in Barcelona, Oxford and Eppan. A special honour was the invitation to the jubilee song recital to celebrate the 100th birthday of Victoria de los Angeles in Barcelona, which she also presented at London’s Wigmore Hall. Concert engagements have taken her to the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Herbert Blomstedt, the Minnesota Orchestra under Simone Young, and a Mozart gala with the Munich Radio Orchestra under Alexander Soddy. The artist performed in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Duisburg under the baton of Eun Sun Kim. Her international concert activities have also taken her to New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver, Savannah, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Dublin, Lyon and Tokyo. She sang Mozart’s Requiem with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Born in Dundalk, Ireland, Tara Erraught graduated from the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. She works regularly with Brigitte Fassbaender.
Meet The Orchestra
Get to know the people behind the instruments of the National Symphony Orchestra
Molly O’Shea
First Violin
When did you join the National Symphony Orchestra? March 2020.
Why did you choose to play your instrument?
I wanted to be like my older brothers! Both of them played violin and my mom used to bring me along to their lessons.
Where did you study?
I studied in Cork, and then in Belgium.
What do you enjoy most about being in the NSO?
Playing amazing repertoire and getting to work with inspiring musicians.
Tell us your favourite NSO story/memory so far.
Playing Mahler’s Second Symphony with Anja Bihlmaier earlier this year was an incredible experience – I had goosebumps the whole way through the last movement! I am looking forward to the NSO performing with her again this season!
Which soloist are you most excited to work with? Why?
I’m excited to hear Pekka Kuusisto this month; he’s an amazing violinist and getting to see him play a contemporary work is exciting.
Which work in the upcoming season are you most excited to perform?
I am really looking forward to Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony in January.
Who is your favourite composer and what is your favourite work?
Shostakovich. I’m a big fan of his string quartets and his symphonies. Getting to play his Tenth Symphony as a teenager inspired me a lot!
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not playing with the orchestra?
Reading, yoga, and going to the theatre with friends.
What made you decide to pursue a career in music?
Playing in orchestras as a teenager really inspired me. I still get the same buzz from playing in an orchestra now as I did then.
Do you have any secret talents? Not really a secret, but I love to sing.
National Symphony Orchestra
The National Symphony Orchestra has been at the centre of Ireland’s cultural life for over 75 years. Formerly the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, it was founded in 1948 as the Raidió Éireann Symphony Orchestra. In 2022, the Orchestra transferred from RTÉ to the remit of the National Concert Hall.
Resident orchestra of the National Concert Hall since its opening in 1981, it is a leading force in Irish musical life through year-long programmes of live music –ranging from symphonic, choral and operatic to music from stage and screen, popular and traditional music, and new commissions – alongside recordings, broadcasts on RTÉ and internationally through the European Broadcasting Union. Schools concerts, family events, initiatives for emerging artists and composers, collaborations with partner promoters and organisations extend the orchestra’s reach.
As a central part of the National Concert Hall’s 2024-2025 Season, the NSO presents more than 55 performances shared between Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Waterford and Cork. They include collaborations with international and Irish artists, ensembles and conductors – including a number of events with the National Concert Hall’s Artists-in-Residence: the renowned American musician and composer Bryce Dessner, the internationally acclaimed Irish mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught, and the dynamic musician and presenter Jessie Grimes. The programme is rich and varied, presenting repertoire from across the centuries to the present day including world and Irish premieres, choral masterpieces, birthday and anniversary celebrations, family concerts and screenings, schools concerts, and professional initiatives for emerging singers and composers. A focus on nature and the environment is a central part of the season’s programming.
Highlights with the Artists-in-Residence are many. They include three Irish premieres by Bryce Dessner: Mari, his Violin Concerto performed by its dedicatee, Pekka Kuusisto, and his Concerto for Two Pianos performed by Katia and Marielle Labèque, for whom it was written. Tara Erraught performs virtuosic works by Mozart, Haydn and Marianne von Martínez, with historical performance specialist Laurence Cummings conducting, and arias by Mozart, Puccini, Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini, with Clelia Cafiero conducting. Tara is also the driving force behind Celebrating the Voice, a week-long professional development programme for young singers which culminates in an opera gala with the NSO conducted by Anu
Tali. Jessie Grimes leads immersive, family-friendly concerts including Our Precious Planet and explorations of iconic works: Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique as part of the ASD-friendly Symphony Shorts, as well as Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, featuring new and specially commissioned shadow puppetry, and Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.
Other exciting highlights include Dame Sarah Connolly joining conductor Mihhail Gerts for Alma Mahler’s Six Songs; an 80th birthday celebration for conductor Leonard Slatkin which includes the world premiere of his son Daniel’ s cosmic journey, Voyager 130; Hugh Tinney performing Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto; Speranza Scappucci conducting a Ravel Birthday Celebration; John Storgårds conducting Rachmaninov and Shostakovich; Anja Bihlmaier conducting Mahler’s Ninth Symphony; and Ryan McAdams conducting the First Violin Concerto by Philip Glass with NSO Leader Elaine Clark as soloist; and John Luther Adams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Become Ocean. Jaime Martín returns to conduct Chopin’s Second Concerto with Yeol Eum Son as the soloist, and former Principal Conductor Gerhard Markson returns for Stanford’s Requiem featuring the National Symphony Chorus and soloists including Máire Flavin and Sharon Carty.
World premieres by Deirdre McKay and Ailís Ní Ríain and, as part of Composer Lab, by Amelia Clarkson, Finola Merivale, Barry O’Halpin, and Yue Song all feature. Irish premieres include a new orchestral setting of Philip Glass’s film score Naqoyqatsi with the Philip Glass Ensemble; Stephen McNeff’s The Celestial Stranger with Gavan Ring as soloist; James MacMillan’s St. John Passion with the National Symphony Chorus and Chamber Choir Ireland; and Ukrainian Victoria Vita Polevá’s Third Symphony.
Additional family events include popular screenings of classic children’s stories by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler – Stick Man and The Snail and the Whale – and Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes. Music in the Classroom returns with Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate Music Guide events, and Musical Adventures for Primary School children.
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National Symphony Orchestra
1st Violin
Elaine Clark (Leader)
Jens Lynen
Orla Ní Bhraoin °
Catherine McCarthy
Anne Harte
Bróna Fitzgerald
Sylvia Roberts
Karl Sweeney
2nd Violin
Anna Smith
Joanne Fleming Campbell °
Paul Fanning
Dara O’Connell
Evelyn McGrory
Matthew Wylie
Viola
Ben Newton
Francis Harte °
Miguel Rodríguez
Cliona O’Riordan
Nathan Sherman
Cello
Martin Johnson •
Violetta-Valerie Muth ° Filip Szkopek
Maria Kolby-Sonstad
Double Bass
Marcel Becker
Mark Jenkins ‡
Waldemar Kozak
Flute
Catriona Ryan• Sinéad Farrell †
Oboe
Matthew Manning • Sylvain Gnemmi ‡
Clarinet
Patrick Burke Fintan Sutton †
Bassoon
Greg Crowley •
Florence Plane
Horn
Thomas Bettley
Peter Ryan
Trumpet
Richard Blake
Libby Foxley
Timpani
Niels Verbeek
Organ Fergal Caulfield
• Section Leader
* Section Principal
† Principal
‡ Associate Principal
° String Sub Principal
◊ Sub Principal 1
Go spreaga an ceol tú.
Bain sult as ceol binn sa Cheoláras Náisiúnta. Is leatsa an Ceol. Is leatsa an Ceoláras Náisiúnta. nch.ie
NATIONAL CONCERT HALL
2024 — 2025 SEASON
INTERNATIONAL ORCHESTRAS AND RECITALS
SATURDAY 30
NOVEMBER 2024
7.30PM
PARAORCHESTRA
Charles Hazlewood conductor
Victoria Oruwari soprano
The pioneering ensemble of disabled and non-disabled musicians, with guest soprano Victoria Oruwari, led by Charles Hazlewood perform Górecki’s cathartic and hauntingly beautiful work Symphony of Sorrowful Songs , preceded by Schubert’s Death and the Maiden, a melancholic, iridescent and urgent piece realised for full string orchestra by Mahler.
Pre-concert talk 6.15pm-7pm
Tickets from €15
Discounts and Packages Available nch.ie