NCH Season 2024-2025

2024 — 2025

NATIONAL CONCERT HALL

SEASON 2024 — 2025

Saturday 7 September 2024 to Friday 30 May 2025

60+ Events

International Orchestras and Recitals

National Symphony Orchestra Season

Artists-in-Residence

Bryce Dessner, Tara Erraught, Jessie Grimes

Irish and International Artists, Conductors, Composers and Choral Ensembles

Family Concerts and Screenings

Music in the Classroom

Professional Development Initiatives for Singers and Composers

World Premieres/Irish Premieres

NSO performances in Galway, Limerick, Waterford, Wexford

Full details on www.nch.ie

NATIONAL CONCERT HALL

SEASON 2024 — 2025

Welcome Page 4

At a Glance Page 8

2024-2025 Season Page 15

Spotlight − Tara Erraught Page 33

Spotlight − Bryce Dessner Page 39

Spotlight − Jessie Grimes Page 49

Package Discounts Page 96 and Benefits

How to Book Page 99

MAKING MUSIC ACCESSIBLE

A full suite of benefits and discounts are available across the 2024-2025 Season making concerts accessible for all.

• Savings of up to 35% when booking 50 or more concerts as an NCH Friend.

• €15 tickets available on all Main Stage concerts (seating allocation may vary)

• Multiple Discounts for NCH Friends - Friends receive significant discounts of up to 35% on package bookings and 10% discount on individual concert bookings - see page 96

• Discount for Groups - 10% discount for 10-40 tickets and 20% discount for 40+ tickets.

• Concessions available on all Main Stage concerts - 5% Discount for Senior Citizens and Unwaged

• Spread The Cost on Concert Packages - spread your payments over a three month period when purchasing any package before 27th June 2024.

• 50% Discount on all Main Stage concerts for patrons with Disability & Carers Tickets (Wheelchair users will need to advise at the time of booking for seating allocation).

• €10 Student Tickets a limited number of free tickets for under 18's are available on all Main Stage concerts, when purchased with a full price ticket

• Free Child Tickets a limited number of free tickets for under 18's are available on all Main Stage concerts, when purchased with a full price ticket.

• Family Friendly Pricing Family tickets available for family concerts.

For full details on all packages and savings across the season, see pages 96-98.

When To Book

NCH Patrons

NCH Season Friends

NCH Friends

Full Package Subscribers (from 2023-2024 seasons)

General Bookers & Groups

27th May 2024, 3pm

28th May 2024, 10am

29th May 2024, 10am

30th May 2024, 10am

31st May 2024, 10am

FÁILTE WELCOME

We are delighted to present the National Concert Hall’s 2024-2025 Season, our most ambitious to date, comprising some 60 + events to look forward to, running from September 2024 to May 2025.

This year’s season is particularly special as it realises our long-held ambition to present one overall season, combining the International Concert Series and the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) Season, alongside a suite of family-friendly, celebratory and anniversary concerts, with excellence, innovation, and accessibility at its core.

Appealing to the widest possible audience, this new season showcases some of the world’s most exciting and dynamic musicians and ensembles from world-renowned orchestras to emerging talent, cutting-edge ensembles to outstanding soloists, in a programme that boasts an inspiring and eclectic mix of music spanning the centuries, to include Irish and world premieres by some of today’s most exciting composers.

Opening the season will be the revered Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra led by Sir Simon Rattle playing Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 and the Irish premiere of Aquifer by Thomas Adès on the 7th of September, followed a week later by the National Symphony Orchestra with Dame Sarah Connolly under the baton of Mihhail Gerts, singing Six Songs by Alma Mahler alongside Maher’s Symphony No. 1 and Dvorˇák’s In Nature’s Realm.

A host of stunning performances follow. Highlights include: the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Domingo Hindoyan and cellist Guy Johnston playing Elgar’s Cello Concerto; the Philip Glass Ensemble in Residency playing Glassworks and the Irish premiere of Naqoyqatsi; the pioneering Paraorchestra with their dynamic conductor and founder Charles Hazelwood; The Tallis Scholars; recitals by international pianists Alice Sara Ott, Japanese blind pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii, siblings Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason, on cello and piano; Prague Symphony Orchestra and Alexander Sitkovetsky playing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and many more.

For the first time in the season, we are thrilled to welcome new Artists-inResidence – renowned American musician and composer Bryce Dessner (of The National) and celebrated Irish opera star Tara Erraught - who will each work with the National Symphony Orchestra to bring their talent and experience to bear in a number of orchestral performances. Dessner will perform alongside guitarist David Chalmin in St. Carolyn by the Sea. The Irish premieres of Dessner’s works, Mari , Concerto for Two Pianos with Katia and Marielle Labèque, and his Violin Concerto with Pekka Kuusisto as soloist will also be performed by the NSO. Tara will feature as soloist in two unique evening performances with the NSO, one featuring popular opera arias, the other, great works by Haydn and Mozart. In an exciting new development Tara will also spearhead a week-long professional development programme Celebrating the Voice, featuring a high-ranking panel of international experts as well as masterclasses led by Tara, leading to two performances by the participants.

As the NCH’s Learning & Participation Artist-in-Residence Jessie Grimes will also present a suite of family-friendly concerts with the NSO that includes popular screenings of classic children’s stories by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, and Roald Dahl - The Snail and the Whale, Stick Man and Revolting Rhymes , alongside popular orchestral music in the ASD-relaxed setting for Symphony Shorts , Our Precious Planet, Peter and The Wolf and various schools concerts aimed at students, young children, and families.

Following a near sold-out season in 2023-2024, the cherished and much-loved National Symphony Orchestra present a stellar round-up of international and Irish conductors and soloists to perform from cellist Steven Isserlis playing Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 2 to American conductor Leonard Slatkin leading his 80th birthday celebration in which he conducts the world premiere of his son Daniel Slatkin’s new work Voyager 130. Other great musicians featuring throughout the NSO Season include pianists Hugh Tinney playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, Lise de la Salle playing Rachmaninov’s much-loved Piano Concerto No. 2, Jonathan Biss playing Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and violinist Simone Lamsma in Brahms’s Violin Concerto, all popular favourites with audiences the world over. The season also pays homage to great composers from the past - Puccini, Ravel, Strauss II, Stanford, Bruckner and Shostakovich - with special anniversary concerts planned, allowing audiences to revel in performances of their most beloved works. Choral fans will be treated to the National Symphony Chorus (NSC) and guests performing Haydn’s great oratorio The Creation as well as Stanford’s Requiem, Arvo Part’s Berliner Messe, Mozart’s Requiem, and the Irish premiere of James MacMillan’s St. John Passion with Chamber Choir Ireland.

We are particularly pleased to champion new music and to provide a platform for new voices as part of this year’s season, showcasing the work of many of today’s most exciting and innovative composers including Ailís Ní Ríain, Bryce Dessner, Thomas Adès, Deirdre McKay, Colin Jacobson, Andreia Pinto-Correia, Roberto Sierra, Anna Meredith, Natalie Klouda, Stephen McNeff, John Luther Adams, Victoria Polevá and more, some of which will have their world and or Irish premieres, making this a truly special season. Participants in the NSO Composer Lab - Amelia Clarkson, Finola Merivale, Barry O'Halpin and Yue Song - will also see the world premiere of their works at the NCH.

Our aim with this new season is not only to fulfil our remit to promote and support music as an integral part of Irish life, but to inspire audiences by offering a wealth of music experiences of the highest standard to look forward to. We hope you find much in the season to whet your musical appetite. It is our great wish that everyone can enjoy and have access to great music, which is why this year we are offering tickets from just €15 for all main stage concerts and have an array of discounts on multi-buy

packages, options to spread payments on season subscriptions, and have concessions and student tickets available, including a limited number of free child tickets when purchased with full price tickets, making it easy and affordable for all.

Mindful of the many factors that make the presentation of live music possible we would like to thank the many musicians, composers, co-commissioning bodies and partner organisations who have worked with us to make this possible, especially RTÉ and RTÉ lyric fm. We would also like to acknowledge the generous and committed support of the NCH Patrons, Friends, Season Friends, and audiences and to thank Minister Catherine Martin and her team at The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Media, and Sport for their vital and ongoing support.

We look forward to welcoming you to the National Concert Hall over the coming season and to making your visit a special one.

Robert Read

Maura McGrath CEO Chairperson

NCH BOARD MEMBERS

Maura McGrath (Chairperson)

John Reynolds • Don Thornhill • Rebecca Gageby • James Cavanagh • Cliona Doris Hilary Hough • Michelle O’Sullivan • Peter McKenna • Niamh Murray

PATRON

Michael D. Higgins President of Ireland

AT A GLANCE

DATE

07.09.24

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra 8pm 15

Sir Simon Rattle, conductor

13.09.24 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 17

Mihhail Gerts, conductor

Dame Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano

16.09.24 Composer Lab – Public Workshop 10am & 18 1.30pm

17.09.24 Sean Shibe, guitar 8.30pm 19

20.09.24 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 20

CULTURE NIGHT

Ryan McAdams, conductor

Elaine Clark, violin

27.09.24 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 21

Leonard Slatkin, conductor

Hugh Tinney, piano

29.09.24 Family Concert 2pm 23

Our Precious Planet with the National Symphony Orchestra Celebrating Nature

04.10.24 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 24

Dinis Sousa, conductor

Louis Schwizgebel, piano

10.10.24 Philip Glass Ensemble Residency 8pm 26

11.10.24 Philip Glass Ensemble Residency* 7.30pm 27

National Symphony Orchestra

Michael Riesman, conductor

Kate Ellis, cello

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE FAMILY * indicates concerts included in the NSO Full Season Package.

INTERNATIONAL ORCHESTRAS AND RECITALS NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

18.10.24 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 28

Jonathon Heyward, conductor

Luka Faulisi, violin

19.10.24 Family Concert 12.30pm 29

Symphony Shorts - Beethoven

25.10.24 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 31

Carlo Rizzi, conductor

Gwyn Hughes Jones, tenor

Simon Shibambu, bass-baritone

National Symphony Chorus

01.11.24 NCH Artist-in-Residence Tara Erraught* 7.30pm 35

National Symphony Orchestra

Laurence Cummings, conductor & harpsichord

02.11.24 Tallis Scholars: Chant 7.30pm 36

15.11.24 NCH Artist-in-Residence Bryce Dessner* 7.30pm 41

National Symphony Orchestra

André de Ridder, conductor

Pekka Kuusisto, violin

22.11.24 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 42

Gerhard Markson, conductor

Máire Flavin, soprano

Sharon Carty, mezzo-soprano

James Way, tenor

John Molloy, bass

National Symphony Chorus

23.11.24 Brooklyn Rider: The 4 Elements 8.30pm 43

24.11.24 Family Screening Stick Man and 12.30pm, 44 The Snail and the Whale Live 3pm & 5pm with the National Symphony Orchestra

29.11.24 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 45

Patrik Ringborg, conductor

Camille Thomas, cello

30.11.24 SETU Arena, Waterford 7.30pm 45

National Symphony Orchestra

Patrik Ringborg, conductor

Camille Thomas, cello

30.11.24 Paraorchestra 7.30pm 47

Charles Hazlewood, conductor

Victoria Oruwari, soprano

03.12.24 Music in the Classroom 10.30am, 50

Leaving Certificate Music Guide 12.30pm

06.12.24 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 51

Hans Graf, conductor

Stefan Jaciw, violin

13.12.24 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 52

Jaime Martín, conductor

Yeol Eum Son, piano

18.12.24- National Symphony Orchestra 7.30pm 53

19.12.24

David Brophy, conductor

Claudia Boyle, soprano

Cór Linn

20.12.24 National Opera House, Wexford 7.30pm 53

National Symphony Orchestra

David Brophy, conductor

Claudia Boyle, soprano

Cór Linn

01.01.25 New Year’s Celebration* 3.30pm 54

Gavin Maloney, conductor

Jennifer Davis, soprano

17.01.25 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 55

Diego Matheuz, conductor

Lise de la Salle, piano

21.01.25 Com poser Lab with the NSO 8pm 56

24.01.25 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 57

Peter Whelan, conductor

Steven Isserlis, cello

28.01.25 Veronica Dunne International 7.30pm 58

Singing Competition Final

National Symphony Orchestra

Wyn Davies, conductor

31.01.25 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 59

Lina Gonzalez-Granados, conductor

Gavan Ring, tenor

01.02.25 Nobuyuki Tsujii, piano 7.30pm 60

07.02.25 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 61

David Brophy, conductor

Aoife Miskelly, soprano

Gemma Ní Bhriain, mezzo-soprano

Robin Tritschler, tenor

Milan Siljanov, bass-baritone

National Symphony Chorus

09.02.25 Family Concert Peter and the Wolf & 12.30pm, 62 The Young Person’s Guide to the 3pm & 5pm Orchestra with the National Symphony Orchestra

10.02.25- Celebrating the Voice: A Professional 65

14.02.25 Development Programme for Singers

NCH Artist-in-Residence Tara Erraught

14.02.25 Celebrating the Voice: Song Recital 1.05pm 66

Dearbhla Collins, piano

14.02.25 Celebrating the Voice: Opera Gala* 7.30pm 67

National Symphony Orchestra

Anu Tali, conductor

16.02.25 Prague Symphony Orchestra 7.30pm 68

Tomásˇ Brauner, conductor

Alexander Sitkovetsky, violin

21.02.25 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 69

Jessica Cottis, conductor

Karen Cargill, mezzo-soprano

S amuel Sakker, tenor

27.02.25 Alice Sara Ott, piano 8pm 70

27.02.25 Leisureland, Galway 7.30pm 71

National Symphony Orchestra

Alexander Shelley, conductor

Simone Lamsma, violin

28.02.25 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 71

Alexander Shelley, conductor

Simone Lamsma, violin

04.03.25 Music in the Classroom 10.30am, 72

Junior Cycle Music Guide 12.30pm

07.03.25 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 73

Speranza Scappucci, conductor

Julie Boulianne, mezzo-soprano

Lionel Lhote, baritone

11.03.25 Music in the Classroom 10.30am, 74

Musical Adventures for Primary Schools 12.30pm

21.03.25 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 75

Christian Reif, conductor

Anastasia Kobekina, cello

26.03.25 Capucelli 8pm 77

28.03.25 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 78

Lio Kuokman, conductor

Jonathan Biss, piano

29.03.25 Family Concert 12.30pm 79

Symphony Shorts - Berlioz

11.04.25 NCH Artist-in-Residence: Bryce Dessner* 7.30pm 81

National Symphony Orchestra

André de Ridder, conductor

Bryce Dessner, guitar

David Chalmin, guitar

Katia Labèque, piano

Marielle Labèque, piano

18.04.25 National Symphony Orchestra* 3.30pm 83

David Hill, conductor

Christopher Purves, baritone

National Symphony Chorus

Chamber Choir Ireland

24.04.25 Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cello 8pm 84

Isata Ka nneh-Mason, piano

01.05.25 University Concert Hall, Limerick 7.30pm 87

NCH Artist-in-Residence: Tara Erraught

National Symphony Orchestra

Clelia Cafiero, conductor

02.05.25 NCH Artist-in-Residence: Tara Erraught* 7.30pm 87

National Symphony Orchestra

Clelia Cafiero, conductor

09.05.25 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 88

John Storgårds, conductor

Yukine Kuroki, piano

15.05.25 Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra 8pm 89

Domingo Hindoyan, conductor

Guy Johnston, cello

16.05.25 Dublin International Piano* 7.30pm 90

Competition Final

National Symphony Orchestra

Jonas Alber, conductor

18.05.25 Family Screening Revolting Rhymes Live 12pm, 3pm 91 with the National Symphony Orchestra & 5pm

23.05.25 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 93

Peter Whelan, conductor

Anna Devin, soprano

Lawrence Kilsby, tenor

William Thomas, bass

National Symphony Chorus

30.05.25 National Symphony Orchestra* 7.30pm 95

Anja Bihlmaier, conductor

‘A KIND OF VIRTUOSO CELEBRATION OF WHAT AN ORCHESTRA CAN DO… THE COLOURS POP OUT IN AN EXTRAORDINARY WAY’

SIR SIMON RATTLE

Sir Simon Rattle

©Oliver Helbig

INTERNATIONAL

ORCHESTRAS AND RECITALS

SEASON OPENING

BAVARIAN RADIO

SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

SIR

SIMON RATTLE conductor

Thomas Adès Aquifer Irish Premiere

Bruckner Symphony No. 4, Romantic

The National Concert Hall’s most ambitious season ever begins with one of Europe’s great ensembles, the mighty Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by living legend Sir Simon Rattle.

An epic experience, Bruckner’s Romantic Symphony marks the 200th anniversary of his birth and launches a season focus on the environment and the natural world.

One of today’s leading composers, Thomas Adès ‘knows exactly what he is doing’ (New York Times).

In its Irish premiere, Aquifer is inspired by the natural phenomenon where reserves of water are held in rock and sediment. Rattle describes it as ‘a kind of virtuoso celebration of what an orchestra can do… the colours pop out in an extraordinary way’.

INTERNATIONAL ORCHESTRAS AND RECITALS

Saturday 7 September 2024, 8pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Pre-Concert Talk: 6.45pm – 7.30pm

Tickets: €15, €39, €60, €74, €95.For discounts and packages see page 96

‘WAGNERIAN IN INTENSITY AND HARMONY, YET INTIMATE, SENSUAL, CHARMING AND SURPRISING’

The Guardian

Dame Sarah Connolly

Mihhail Gerts ©Kaupo Kikkas

NSO SEASON OPENING

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA MIHHAIL GERTS conductor DAME SARAH CONNOLLY

mezzo-soprano

Dvorˇák In Nature’s Realm

Alma Mahler Six Songs (arr. Colin and ‘Die stille Stadt’ David Matthews) ‘Laue Sommernacht’ ‘Licht in der Nacht’ ‘Waldseligkeit’ ‘In meines Vaters Garten’ ‘Bei dir ist es traut’

Mahler Symphony No. 1, Titan

As nature takes centre-stage this season, an enthralling journey of the senses from dawn’s birdsong to a triumphant, transcendent finale in Mahler’s First Symphony, the Titan.

Hailed ‘a worthy heir to Janet Baker’, Dame Sarah Connolly is one of today’s great singers. ‘Whatever she sings, you get singing straight from the heart’ (The Times). She describes six songs by Mahler’s wife, Alma Mahler, as ‘voluptuous, coquettish, Wagnerian in intensity and harmony, yet intimate, sensual, charming and surprising… [their] word-painting is delicate, sensual and beautiful’.

NSO SEASON

Friday 13 September 2024, 7.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Pre-Concert Talk: 6.15pm – 7pm

Tickets: €15, €26.50, €33, €39, €45. For discounts and packages see page 96

COMPOSER LAB PUBLIC WORKSHOP

National Symphony Orchestra

Gavin Maloney conductor

David Fennessy composer mentor

A public workshop in which Composer Lab 2024 participants Amelia Clarkson, Finola Merivale, Barry O'Halpin and Yue Song each explore compositional ideas for their individual works-in-progress in a live orchestral setting.

Composer Lab is a professional development initiative delivered in partnership by the National Symphony Orchestra and the Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland, in association with RTÉ lyric fm. Composer Lab 2024 culminates in a public performance of the final works at the National Concert Hall on Tuesday 21 January 2025 at 8pm.

NSO SEASON

Monday 16 September 2024 10am & 1.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

This is a free ticketed event.

Gavin Maloney

SEAN SHIBE guitar

Bach Prelude in C minor, BWV 999

Barrios Mangoré La Catedral Barrios Mangoré Julia Florida

Villa-Lobos Prelude No. 3

Villa-Lobos Selection of 12 Guitar Études

Mompou Excerpts from Suite

Compostelana: I Prelude; II Coral; V Canción; VI Muñeira

Martin Quatre pièces brèves

Thomas Adès Forgotten Dances Irish Premiere

Widely admired for his recordings of Bach and South American composers, Sean Shibe has been hailed as ‘the most interesting voice on the guitar for a generation’ (Gramophone) with a ‘great gift for painting notes in what seems a thousand colours’ (The Times).

His wide-ranging recital spans the centuries from Bach’s tumbling lute Prelude to exquisite Latin American miniatures by Barrios and Villa-Lobos, French elegance by Martin, Spanish heat by Mompou, and the Irish premiere of Thomas Adès’ Forgotten Dances , written for Shibe.

INTERNATIONAL ORCHESTRAS AND RECITALS

Tuesday 17 September 2024, 8.30pm

The Studio National Concert Hall

Tickets: €20.

For discounts and packages see page 96

©Iga Gozdowska

CULTURE NIGHT NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Ryan McAdams conductor Elaine Clark violin

Philip Glass Violin Concerto No. 1

John Luther Adams Become Ocean

Culture Night is permission to try something new. Something that might astonish you. Like two very different living American musical giants.

The First Violin Concerto by Philip Glass is a loving remembrance of his father, as moving as it is modern.

John Luther Adams describes Become Ocean as ‘a meditation on the vast, deep and mysterious tides of existence’. The New Yorker said it ‘may be the loveliest apocalypse in musical history’.

NSO SEASON

Friday 20 September 2024, 7.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

This is a free ticketed event.

Ryan McAdams

Elaine Clark

LEONARD SLATKIN AT 80 NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Leonard Slatkin conductor Hugh Tinney piano

Daniel Slatkin Voyager 130 World Premiere

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4

Brahms Symphony No. 3

The National Symphony Orchestra welcomes back internationally acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin to celebrate his 80th birthday.

Beethoven’s dramatic Fourth Piano Concerto is a rich centrepiece alongside Brahms’s mellow but majestic Third Symphony.

The World Premiere of Voyager 130 by Slatkin’s son, Daniel, tributes humanity’s greatest adventure.

Inspired by Beethoven’s 13th String Quartet, it ‘tells the story of Voyager’s journey through space, with the Cavatina providing thematic material.’

NSO SEASON

Friday 27 September 2024, 7.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Pre-Concert Talk: 6.15pm – 7pm

Tickets: €15, €25, €29, €34.50, €39.

For discounts and packages see page 96

Leonard Slatkin

Hugh Tinney

©Cindy McTee

‘MARVEL AT THE BEAUTY AND FRAGILITY OF OUR WORLD IN A FAMILY CONCERT OF SOUND AND STORYTELLING’

FAMILY CONCERT OUR PRECIOUS PLANET Celebrating Nature With The National Symphony Orchestra

Gavin Maloney conductor

Grégoire Pont illustrator & animator

Jessie Grimes narrator

Catriona Ryan flute

Messiaen Extract from Les Offrandes oubliées

Rautavaara ‘Swans migrating’ from Cantus Arcticus

Saariaho ‘Terrestre l’oiseau dansant’ from L’aile du songe

Dani Howard Argentum Irish Premiere

Anna Meredith Nautilus (arr. for orchestra)

Irish Premiere

Adams ‘Panic’ from Doctor Atomic

Symphony Irish Premiere

Britten ‘Storm’ from Four Sea Interludes (Peter Grimes)

Ginastera ‘Danza del trigo’ from Estancia

Poulenc La baigneuse de Trouville

Marvel at the beauty and fragility of our world in a family concert of sound and storytelling, with Grégoire Pont’s drawings projected live alongside thrilling music from the National Symphony Orchestra.

Explore the chaos of the Big Bang and the wonders of Mother Earth, meeting a magnificent array of birds, insects, animals and even a few dinosaurs along the way. Dramatic, moving and at times laugh-out loud funny.

FAMILY

Sunday 29 September 2024, 2pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Designed for children aged 5 and up and their families. All are welcome.

Tickets: Full Price €30, Child €23, Restricted View €15, Family Ticket €94 (4 tickets, maximum 2 adults)

Louis Schwizgebel

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Dinis Sousa conductor

Louis Schwizgebel piano

Anna Clyne Masquerade

Grieg Piano Concerto

Elgar Enigma Variations

Two rising stars with two much-loved works, and an ‘intense but enlightening five-minute gem’ (Limelight ) from Anna Clyne’s epic-in-miniature Masquerade.

With its thunderous timpani roll opening, the melting melody of its spell-binding slow movement and effusive finale, Grieg’s Piano Concerto is simply irresistible.

The noble anthem ‘Nimrod’ at its heart, Elgar’s Enigma Variations unforgettably blends fondness, love and raw emotion in a glorious celebration of friendship.

NSO SEASON

Friday 4 October 2024, 7.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €25, €29, €34.50, €39. For discounts and packages see page 96

©Marco Borrgreve

PHILIP GLASS ENSEMBLE RESIDENCY

Philip Glass Ensemble

Philip Glass Glassworks

Philip Glass Excerpts from Satyagraha , Akhnaten and The Photographer

In the first of two concerts dedicated to the music of legend in his lifetime, Philip Glass, the Philip Glass Ensemble showcase his dazzling display of minimalism turned up to the max, in Glassworks , and from three of his mesmeric, ground-breaking operas.

The antique and the modern brilliantly collide in hypnotic portraits of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, Akhnaten , Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘truth force’, Satyagraha , and The Photographer Eadweard Muybridge.

INTERNATIONAL ORCHESTRAS AND RECITALS

Thursday 10 October 2024, 8pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €30, €42.50, €54, €65. For discounts and packages see page 96

©Danny Clinch

‘THE ANTIQUE AND THE MODERN BRILLIANTLY COLLIDE’

National Symphony Orchestra

Philip Glass Ensemble

Michael Riesman conductor

Kate Ellis cello

Philip Glass Naqoyqatsi

Irish Premiere. Co-commissioned by Los Angeles Philharmonic, Barbican, London, Edinburgh Festival and the National Concert Hall.

A major event. The Philip Glass Ensemble and close Philip Glass associate Michael Riesman partner with the NSO for the Irish premiere of a compelling new orchestral score from Glass’s stunning soundtrack for Geoffrey Reggio’s 2002 film, Naqoyqatsi (‘life as war’).

Emotive and romantic, it’s also a scorching wake-up call to the mounting threat to the environment. The prominent cello at its heart celebrates humanity’s vitality and suggests that all might not yet be lost.

INTERNATIONAL ORCHESTRAS AND RECITALS

Friday 11 October 2024, 7.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15 (Restricted View), €30, €42.50, €54, €65. For discounts and packages see page 96

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Jonathon Heyward conductor Luka Faulisi violin

Unsuk Chin Subito con forza Irish Premiere

Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1

Beethoven Symphony No. 5

Two unmissable NSO debuts – Luka Faulisi, violinist with ‘a million-dollar sound’ (Pinchas Zukerman), and conductor Jonathon Heyward, ‘a genius that will illuminate concert halls for decades to come’ (Baltimore Sun) – with two towering masterpieces in the rich romance of Bruch’s First Violin Concerto and explosive rush of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, and the Irish premiere of Unsuk Chin’s spiky, sassy Subito con forza , a thrilling miniature putting Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture through the wringer to brilliant effect.

NSO SEASON

Friday 18 October 2024, 7.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €25, €29, €34.50, €39.

For discounts and packages see page 96

Jonathon Heyward

FAMILY CONCERT SYMPHONY SHORTS - BEETHOVEN

National Symphony Orchestra

Jonathon Heyward conductor

Jessie Grimes presenter

Beethoven Symphony No. 5

Da Da Da DUUMM! Four notes spelling out the morse code V for Victory… it could only be Beethoven’s infamous Fifth Symphony.

Designed and presented by our superstar Learning & Participation Artist-in-Residence, Jessie Grimes, experience the highlights of one of the most iconic pieces of orchestral music ever composed, up close and personal with the National Symphony Orchestra and conductor

Jonathon Heyward, known for his ‘exuberant’ and ‘exhilarating’ performances of Beethoven’s music.

Perfect for ages 5 and up, including those with ASD, this relaxed event promises musical delights for all.

FAMILY

Saturday 19 October 2024, 12.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Tickets: Full Price: €20, Child: €15, Family Ticket €65 (4 tickets, max. 2 adults)

Jessie Grimes

‘BASS-BARITONE SIMON SHIBAMBU...A HUGE, RESONANT TONE.’

The Guardian

National Symphony Chorus

Simon Shibambu

©Chris Gloag

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PUCCINI 100

Carlo Rizzi conductor

Gwyn Hughes Jones tenor

Simon Shibambu bass-baritone

National Symphony Chorus

David Young choral director

Fanny Mendelssohn Overture in C

Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4, Italian

Puccini Messa di Gloria

In the centenary year of Puccini’s death, a rare chance to hear his Messa di Gloria , a sacred choral work of immense power showcasing the National Symphony Chorus and soloists Gwyn Hughes Jones – ‘a voice of adamantine brilliance’ (Seen and Heard International ) – and Simon Shibambu, a singer with ‘a huge, resonant tone.’ (The Guardian) and a finalist in Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition. Mendelssohn’s vivacious Italian Symphony is a colourful picture postcard celebrating a joyful holiday visit.

NSO SEASON

Friday 25 October 2024, 7.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Pre-Concert Talk: 6.15pm – 7pm

Tickets: €15, €26.50, €33, €39, €45. For discounts and packages see page 96

TARA ERRAUGHT

©Kristin Hoebermann

SPOTLIGHT

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE 2024-2025

Hailed as ‘one of opera’s chosen’ (Arts Desk ) and ‘the new bel canto queen’ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), Tara Erraught is a mezzo-soprano at the very top of her game.

With a repertoire stretching from the Baroque to bel canto, Tara’s outstanding voice has taken her to the world’s leading opera houses and concert halls. This season she will sing in France, Germany, Spain, England, America and Hong Kong.

As an NCH Artist-in-Residence this season, Tara returns home for three major events spotlighting her own outstanding talent and allowing audiences and young artists to explore the world of opera with creative and practical insights.

Her dazzling coloratura will be heard in virtuosic works by Mozart, Haydn and the pioneering Marianne von Martínez (November 1), her lyrical and dramatic gifts in arias by Mozart and Puccini and the lavish bel canto of Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini (Limerick, May 1; Dublin, May 2).

Celebrating the Voice – a week-long professional development programme of vocal coaching, seminars, discussions and performances – will see Tara lead an in-depth focus on an area close to her heart: guiding and supporting young artists in the early stages of their career. With several events open to the public, it promises to be a fascinating opportunity to eavesdrop on the behind-the-scenes considerations and everyday concerns involved in building a singing career, from accountancy and personal business management to vocal health, the employment landscape, and audition technique.

Guest contributors include experts from various important sides of the business: pianists Dearbhla Collins and Morgane Fauchois-Prado, Opéra National de Paris director Alexander Neef, artist manager Andreas Massow, and vocal health expert Paul Kwak. The week culminates with opportunities to hear young artists performing in piano-accompanied song recital and with the National Symphony Orchestra (February 10-14).

‘TAKING THE WORLD BY STORM’

Tara Erraught

©Kristin Hoebermann

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE:

TARA

ERRAUGHT

National Symphony Orchestra

Laurence Cummings conductor & harpsichord

Martínez Cantata Berenice, ah che fai ?

Haydn Symphony No. 25

Haydn Scena di Berenice, Berenice, che fai?

Mozart Exsultate, jubilate

Mozart Symphony No. 41, Jupiter

New NCH Artist-in-Residence, mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught, is ‘taking the world by storm’ (The Arts Review ). Hear why as she partners with the NSO and Laurence Cummings, acclaimed for his work in historical performance, for the electrifying coloratura of Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate and virtuoso cantatas by Haydn and his magnificent peer, Marianne von Martínez. Haydn’s stately, melody-filled Symphony No. 25 and Mozart’s mighty Jupiter promise music to captivate and charm.

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE

Friday 1 November 2024, 7.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €26.50, €33, €39, €45. For discounts and packages see page 96

THE TALLIS SCHOLARS: CHANT

Peter Phillips director

Hildegard von Bingen In principio

Arvo Pärt Triodion

Hildegard von Bingen O Virtus Sapientiae

Arvo Pärt Sieben MagnificatAntiphonen

Allegri Miserere mei, Deus

Hildegard von Bingen O ignis Spiritus paracliti

Arvo Pärt Magnificat

Arvo Pärt Da Pacem Domine

Hildegard von Bingen O Ecclesia

Arvo Pärt …which was the son of…

One of the world’s leading choral ensembles and ‘rock stars of Renaissance vocal music’ (New York Times) The Tallis Scholars bring their unique sound to sublime, centuries-spanning music.

Hildegard von Bingen’s voice from the Middle Ages speaks of luminous spiritual rapture. Allegri’s heavenly Miserere mei, Deus , a deeply moving prayer and plea, is exquisite. ‘The world’s greatest living composer’ (Daily Telegraph), Arvo Pärt, is a voice for the ages, his entrancing music caught between the secular and the sacred.

INTERNATIONAL ORCHESTRAS AND RECITALS

Saturday 2 November 2024, 7.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €27.50, €36, €44, €55. For discounts and packages see page 96

Members of the National Symphony Orchestra

BRYCE DESSNER

SPOTLIGHT

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE 2024-2025

Straddling the worlds of rock music, classical music and film, Bryce Dessner is the very model of a modern major composer.

Achieving fame as the multi-instrumentalist linchpin and co-writer for the Grammy Award-winning American rock band The National, the Cincinnati, Ohio-born Dessner is also one of today’s most original and successful classical composers.

The son of a jazz drummer father, Dessner’s early musical education was eclectic, his later at the prestigious Yale University. An encounter with the music of minimalist guru Steve Reich was transformative.

To mention his collaborations with pop royalty Taylor Swift and Paul Simon, and classical elites such as Philip Glass, Steve Reich, the Kronos Quartet, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Edinburgh International and Sydney Festivals, only scratches the surface of a remarkable and unmatched talent.

Away from stadium-filling rock concerts, Dessner has scored the Oscar-nominated film The Revenant, composed for ballet, solo classical instruments, award-wining chamber

music, and concertos for electric guitar, trombone and two pianos; all marked by boundary-defying innovation. No wonder Gramophone magazine described him as speaking with ‘a multitude of voices’.

Get to know Dessner’s music this season with four Irish premieres: Mari, named after the Basque forest goddess; his Violin Concerto meditating on pilgrimage and the sea, played by its dedicatee, Pekka Kuusisto (November 15); his re-imagining of Pérotin, The Forest, courtesy of Gautier Capuçon’s cello ensemble Capucelli (March 26); and his Concerto for Two Pianos performed by Katia and Marielle Labèque, for whom it was written (April 11). That same concert will also see Dessner himself as guitarist in his Jack Kerouac-inspired St. Carolyn by the Sea.

As part of this residency, Dessner will also compose a newly commissioned Cello Symphony which will receive its world premiere in November 2025 with cellist Anastasia Kobekina and the National Symphony Orchestra.

‘DESSNER’S VIOLIN CONCERTO, INSPIRED BY THOUGHTS OF PILGRIMAGE AND THE SEA, IS A FIERCE, FIERY JOURNEY TOWARDS A BLAZING END’

Bryce Dessner

Pekka Kuusisto

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE: BRYCE DESSNER

National Symphony Orchestra

André de Ridder conductor

Pekka Kuusisto violin

Bryce Dessner Mari Irish Premiere

Bryce Dessner Violin Concerto Irish Premiere

Dvorˇák Symphony No. 7

An exciting occasion: new music from new NCH Artist-in-Residence, The National guitarist and leading composer, Bryce Dessner.

Named after the Basque forest goddess, Mari borrows from Dvorˇák and Mahler for an immersive ‘reflection on the pastoral’. Written for ‘fantastically exciting violinist’ (The Times) Pekka Kuusisto, Dessner’s Violin Concerto, inspired by thoughts of pilgrimage and the sea, is a fierce, fiery journey towards a blazing end. Dvorˇák’s masterpiece Seventh Symphony is a thing of orchestral wonders.

Post-concert talk and performance*

Bryce Dessner, André de Ridder and Pekka Kuusisto in conversation with John Kelly. Event to include a performance by Pekka Kuusisto of solo violin music by Dessner.

*This event will commence approximately 15 minutes after the main stage performance ends.

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE

Friday 15 November 2024, 7.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €27.50, €35, €42.50, €49. For discounts and packages see page 96

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA STANFORD 100

Gerhard Markson conductor

Máire Flavin soprano

Sharon Carty mezzo-soprano

James Way tenor

John Molloy bass

National Symphony Chorus

David Young choral director

Stanford Requiem

Former NSO Principal Conductor Gerhard Markson returns to conclude the NSO’s centenary commemorations of Dublin-born Charles Villiers Stanford’s death with one of his crowning glories: the monumental and moving Requiem.

Admired by Verdi and cast on the grandest of scales, it is a heartfelt and tender work of involving intimacy and blazing faith in which Stanford’s mastery of drama, opera, song and orchestration come triumphantly together.

NSO SEASON

Friday 22 November 2024, 7.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €26.50, €33, €39, €45. For discounts and packages see page 96

National Symphony Chorus

BROOKLYN RIDER: THE 4 ELEMENTS

Colin Jacobsen A Short While to Be Here… Irish Premiere

Akshaya Tucker Hollow Flame Irish premiere

Andreia Pinto-Correia Aere senza stelle Irish premiere

Dutilleux String Quartet Ainsi la nuit

Shostakovich String Quartet No. 8

Golijov Tenebrae

A must-see, must-hear appearance by America’s most exciting string quartet, Brooklyn Rider, with a deep dive into the four elements – Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Colin Jacobsen’s A Short While to Be Here… finds earthiness in frontier songs, Dutilleux’s Ainsi la nuit seemingly filled by popping bubbles of air, Pinto-Correia’s Aere senza stelle moving from air to the fire that flares in Akshaya Tucker’s Hollow Flame, and Shostakovich’s Eighth String Quartet. Golijov says his Tenebrae ‘sounds like an orbiting spaceship that never touches ground’.

INTERNATIONAL ORCHESTRAS AND RECITALS

Saturday 23 November 2024, 8.30pm

The Studio National Concert Hall

Tickets: €25. For discounts and packages see page 96

©Marco Giannavola

FAMILY SCREENING

STICK MAN AND

THE SNAIL AND THE WHALE LIVE

WITH THE NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Terry Davies conductor

Two enchanting films based on the books by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. Watch on a big screen the tales of a happy-go-lucky father’s epic journey for Christmas and the unlikely friendship between The Snail and the Whale with René Aubry’s inspired score performed live by the National Symphony Orchestra.

Stick Man: © Orange Eyes Limited 2015

The Snail and the Whale: © Magic Light Pictures Limited 2019

FAMILY

Sunday 24 November 2024, 12.30pm, 3pm & 5pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Tickets: Full Price €30, Child €23, Restricted View €15, Family Ticket €94 (4 tickets, maximum 2 adults)

Camille Thomas

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Patrik Ringborg conductor

Camille Thomas cello

Judith Ring Everything was asleep as if the universe was a vast mistake

Dvorˇák Cello Concerto Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5

Affairs of the heart are to the fore in two compelling masterpieces. Dvorˇák’s passionate Cello Concerto fits the instrument’s voice like a glove. The tragic force of Tchaikovsky’s dark and dramatic Fifth Symphony is matched by his gift for melody.

Judith Ring’s first full orchestral piece, Everything was asleep… is a startling depiction of nature recovering from a man-made catastrophe to reclaim and repair the environment.

NSO SEASON

Friday 29 November 2024, 7.30pm Main Stage National Concert Hall

Saturday 30 November 2024, 7.30pm SETU Arena, Waterford

In association with Symphony Club of Waterford

Pre-Concert Talk Friday 29 Nov: 6.15pm – 7pm

NCH Tickets: €15, €25, €29, €34.50, €39. For discounts and packages see page 96

Waterford ticket details will be available at garterlane.ie

‘ONE EXTRAORDINARY, EXPLORATORY, ADVENTUROUS ORCHESTRA... REACHING OUT INTO THE LIVES OF ITS PLAYERS AND PERFORMERS.’ The Observer

Paraorchestra

PARAORCHESTRA

Charles Hazlewood conductor Victoria Oruwari soprano

Schubert/Mahler String Quartet No. 14, Death and the Maiden Górecki Symphony of Sorrowful Songs

Cathartic and hauntingly beautiful, Henryk Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs is an astonishing meditation on loss and transcendence.

Performed by Paraorchestra’s pioneering ensemble of disabled and non-disabled musicians with acclaimed soprano Victoria Oruwari, Charles Hazlewood conducts this harmonic ‘spiritual minimalist’ composition.

Each of the three movements of Symphony of Sorrowful Songs features a Polish lament, taking audiences on an uplifting journey through grief and solace.

Górecki’s masterpiece is preceded by a performance of Schubert's Death and the Maiden: a melancholic, iridescent, and urgent piece realised for a full string orchestra by Mahler.

INTERNATIONAL ORCHESTRAS AND RECITALS

Saturday 30 November 2024, 7.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Pre-Concert Talk: 6.15pm – 7pm

Tickets: €15, €25, €29, €34.50, €39.

For discounts and packages see page 96

JESSIE GRIMES

SPOTLIGHT

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE 2024-2025

Jessie Grimes is many things: a musician, presenter, teacher, workshop leader, all-round enthusiast for music-making, and now Artist-in-Residence with the National Concert Hall’s Learning & Participation Programme.

The two are a perfect fit. Both are committed to removing barriers, making music accessible to all ages and abilities, sharing the benefits that being involved with music brings in self-development, health and wellbeing, and building lasting bonds between families, neighbours and strangers who become friends.

The department’s reach is nationwide. 1,500 events last year in the National Concert Hall, in schools, children’s hospitals, dementia day centres, and mental health associations saw more than 44,000 people engage nationwide with the programme.

For Grimes, it’s about ‘sharing, having fun, unlocking talent and building confidence. It’s thrilling to hear a symphony orchestra live. Even more exciting to find yourself, whatever your experience or talent, involved in making music’.

This season’s Family Concerts, Symphony Shorts and Music in the Classroom strands underline there is more to classical music than just sitting back and listening.

‘Everyone has a talent that just needs encouragement. Helping others to find their creativity and build their confidence is what the Learning & Participation Department does.’

‘Everyone who comes to one of our concerts or sessions is already a musician,’ says Grimes. ‘Given the opportunity and permission to be involved, they discover so much about music and about themselves.’

Family Concerts: Our Precious Planet (29 Sept.); Stick Man/The Snail and The Whale Live (24 Nov.); Peter and the Wolf/The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (9 Feb.); Revolting Rhymes (18 Mar.)

Symphony Shorts: Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony (19 Oct.); Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique (29 Mar.)

Music in the Classroom: Leaving Certificate Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture (3 Dec.); Junior Cycle Music (4 Mar.); Musical Adventures (11 Mar.)

MUSIC IN THE CLASSROOM LEAVING CERTIFICATE MUSIC GUIDE

National Symphony Orchestra

Jessie Grimes presenter

Tchaikovksy Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture

The dynamic NCH Learning & Participation

Artist-in-Residence Jessie Grimes and the National Symphony Orchestra present a step-by-step guide to Tchaikovksy’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture. Highlighting key themes and sections and presented with musical illustrations, this will conclude with a full orchestral performance.

SCHOOLS

Tuesday 3 December 2024, 10.30am & 12.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Tickets: €10 student. Accompanying teachers go free.

Jessie Grimes

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BRUCKNER 200

Hans Graf conductor Stefan Jaciw violin

Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5, Turkish Bruckner Symphony No. 7

Two orchestral showpieces and the welcome returns of conductor Hans Graf and violinist Stefan Jaciw.

Mozart’s Fifth Violin Concerto is an invitation to fantasy, moving from virtuosity to tenderness to carefree abandonment, echoes of ‘Turkish’ military music adding a splash of exotic colouring.

Our Bruckner 200 commemorations continue with the most popular symphony in his lifetime and still today, the dark, dreamlike Seventh.

NSO SEASON

Friday 6 December 2024, 7.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €25, €29, €34.50, €39.

For discounts and packages see page 96

Hans Graf Stefan Jaciw

©Sophie Zhai

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Jaime Martín conductor

Yeol Eum Son piano

Dukas The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2

Tchaikovsky Swan Lake Suite

The ‘extraordinary, immensely impressive’ (Get the Chance) Yeol Eum Son performs Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto, a work of galvanizing youthful passion, its memorable second movement ‘a kind of reverie in the moonlight on a beautiful spring evening’.

Expect musical fireworks in Dukas’ dazzling cartoonish portrait of a lazy pupil, unstoppable bassoon-voiced brooms, and an angry Wizard. Love triumphs over evil in Tchaikovsky’s enchanting Swan Lake.

NSO SEASON

Friday 13 December 2024, 7.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €26.50, €33, €39, €45. For discounts and packages see page 96

Jaime Martín Yeol Eum Son

Claudia Boyle

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHRISTMAS GALA

David Brophy conductor

Claudia Boyle soprano

Cór Linn

Ciarán Kelly choral director

Star soprano Claudia Boyle returns for a Christmas cracker of a concert bursting with festive favourites.

Indulge in the comfort of traditional carols including The Holly and the Ivy and The Twelve Days of Christmas , and wallow in the hushed magic of year’s end in the timeless Silent Night, O Holy Night and glorious Disney classic When You Wish Upon A Star.

Time, too, for merry-making with Leroy Anderson’s A Christmas Festival and the exquisite tinsel-delicate Waltz of the Flowers from Tchaikovsky’s perennially popular ballet, The Nutcracker.

NSO SEASON

Wednesday 18 December 2024, 7.30pm Thursday 19 December 2024, 7.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Friday 20 December 2024, 7.30pm

National Opera House, Wexford

In association with the National Opera House

NCH Tickets: €15, €27.50, €35, €42.50, €49. For discounts and packages see page 96

Wexford ticket details will be available at nationaloperahouse.ie

NEW YEAR’S CELEBRATION STRAUSS 200

National Symphony Orchestra

Gavin Maloney conductor Jennifer Davis soprano

Programme includes: Johann Strauss II, Lehár, Heuberger, Josef Hellmesberger II, Richard Strauss and Josef Strauss

With an extraordinary radiance (hers really is a most beautiful voice)… the blaze in her tone is simply breathtaking’ (The Guardian), Jennifer Davis, fresh from success in English National Opera’s Jenu˚fa, joins conductor Gavin Maloney and the NSO for a New Year Celebration ushering in Johann Strauss II’s 200th birthday year.

Vocal gems include the Czárdás from Die Fledermaus, Heuberger’s ‘Im chambre séparée’, a relishable rarity by Lehár’s Millöcker and the master of romance Franz Lehar’s ever-popular ‘Meine Lippen’.

Greatest hits by the Waltz King include the Die Fledermaus Overture, Frühlingsstimmen , Thunder and Lightning Polka, and On the Beautiful Blue Danube.

NSO SEASON

Wednesday 1 January 2025, 3.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €27.50, €35, €42.50, €49.

For discounts and packages see page 96

Jennifer Davis

©Marshall Light

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA SHOSTAKOVICH 50

Diego Matheuz conductor

Lise de la Salle piano

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2

Shostakovich Symphony No. 7, Leningrad

Teeming with heart-stopping melodies, romance pours out of every note of Rachmaninov’s vibrant Second Piano Concerto, Lise de la Salle the ‘wonderfully gifted’ (Gramophone) soloist.

Fifty years after his death, Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony, Leningrad , remains a colossal work.

An epic struggle against threatening darkness, it packs a gut-wrenching punch for our times. A stark warning to resist oppression that has never seemed more relevant.

NSO SEASON

Friday 17 January 2025, 7.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €25, €29, €34.50, €39. For discounts and packages see page 96

Lise de la Salle

©Stéphane

Gallois

COMPOSER LAB WITH THE NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Gavin Maloney conductor David Fennessy composer mentor

Amelia Clarkson New work

Finola Merivale New work

Barry O’Halpin New work

Yue Song New work

Composer Lab 2024 culminates with the world premiere performances of four works, developed as part of Composer Lab 2024, by up-and-coming composers Amelia Clarkson, Finola Merivale, Barry O’Halpin and Yue Song.

Composer Lab is a professional development initiative delivered in partnership by the National Symphony Orchestra and the Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland, in association with RTÉ lyric fm.

NSO SEASON

Tuesday 21 January 2025, 8pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

This is a free ticketed event.

Finola Merivale

Amelia Clarkson Yue Song

Barry O’Halpin ©Jannah Bell

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Peter Whelan conductor Steven Isserlis cello

Mozart The Magic Flute Overture

Haydn Cello Concerto No. 2

Dvorˇák Serenade for Wind Instruments

Mozart Symphony No. 36, Linz

Peter Whelan, ‘an artist of delicate but unmistakable mastery’ (San Francisco Chronicle) and one of the most dynamic and versatile exponents of historical performance of his generation, makes the first of two NSO appearances this season with the charming old-world beauty of Dvorˇák’s Serenade for Wind Instruments and Mozart’s majestic Magic Flute Overture and grandiose but intimate Linz Symphony.

Master cellist Steven Isserlis has made Haydn’s D major Cello Concerto his own, with sparkling solo passages and playful exchanges surrounding a singing central movement.

NSO SEASON

Friday 24 January 2025, 7.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Pre-Concert Talk: 6.15pm – 7pm

Tickets: €15, €26.50, €33, €39, €45.

For discounts and packages see page 96

Peter Whelan

Steven Isserlis

©Satoshi Aoyagi

VERONICA DUNNE INTERNATIONAL SINGING COMPETITION FINAL

National Symphony Orchestra

Wyn Davies conductor

In its 30th year, the Final of the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition promises a night of thrilling operatic talent.

Each of the six finalists sing three arias, competing in front of a jury made up of the world’s premier opera experts, chaired by Sir Thomas Allen, and supported by the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Wyn Davies.

NSO SEASON

Tuesday 28 January 2025, 7.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €25, €29, €34.50, €39.

For discounts and packages see page 96

Grisha Martirosyan

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Lina Gonzalez-Granados conductor Gavan Ring tenor

Debussy Prélude à l’après-midi d’une faune

Stephen McNeff The Celestial Stranger Irish Premiere.

NSO co-commission with BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Rachmaninov Symphony No. 2

Melodies pour out of Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony, one of the great orchestral love songs.

Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’une faune is a spellbinding portrait of a faun on a blissful Spring afternoon. Stephen McNeff’s song cycle

The Celestial Stranger, composed for Gavan Ring, conjures in its Irish premiere a 17th-century mystic’s vision of aliens visiting Earth and falling under the spell of ‘this little star, so wide and full of mysteries’, only to realise that dangerous shadows are falling across the fragile blue planet.

NSO SEASON

Friday 31 January 2025, 7.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Pre-Concert Talk: 6.15pm – 7pm

Tickets: €15, €25, €29, €34.50, €39. For discounts and packages see page 96

Lina Gonzalez-Granados

Gavan Ring

©Todd Rosenberg

©Frances Marshall

NOBUYUKI TSUJII

Nobuyuki Tsujii piano

Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 21, Waldstein

Liszt En rêve

Liszt Mephisto Waltz No. 1

Chopin Nocturne No. 7

Chopin Nocturne No. 8

Chopin Piano Sonata No. 3

The young Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii, who has been blind from birth, is ‘one of the most unique classical pianists performing today’ (Classical Voice), as you’ll hear in music by three giants of the piano.

Beethoven’s virtuosic Waldstein Sonata is fierce and fiery, Liszt’s First Mephisto Waltz a helter-skelter dance with the devil. Two lyrical Nocturnes by Chopin complement the tortured grandeur of his Third Piano Sonata, like a coiled spring that bursts into vibrant life.

INTERNATIONAL ORCHESTRAS AND RECITALS

Saturday 1 February 2025, 7.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Pre-Concert Talk: 6.15pm – 7pm

Tickets: €15, €26.50, €33, €39, €45. For discounts and packages see page 96

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

David Brophy conductor

Aoife Miskelly soprano

Gemma Ní Bhriain mezzo-soprano

Robin Tritschler tenor

Milan Siljanov bass-baritone

National Symphony Chorus

David Young choral director

Deirdre McKay New work World Premiere. NSO commission.

Arvo Pärt Berliner Messe

Mozart Requiem

Two sides of the same spiritual coin celebrate faith and anticipate death. Arvo Part’s Berliner Messe is a luminous expression of joy written in response to the re-claiming of religious freedoms following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Mozart’s Requiem is the most personal and rousing of declarations of a composer contemplating his own end.

Be the first to hear a new work by Deirdre McKay, ‘exceptionally imaginative in the sound world she creates’ (Irish Examiner ).

NSO SEASON

Friday 7 February 2025, 7.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €26.50, €33, €39, €45. For discounts and packages see page 96

Gemma Ní Bhriain

Milan Siljanov

©Miriam Kaczor

©Sven Germann

FAMILY CONCERT PETER AND THE WOLF

& THE

YOUNG

PERSON’S GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA WITH THE NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Jessie Grimes presenter

Maeve Clancy shadow puppetry

Neasa Ní Chuanaigh shadow puppetry

Gavin Maloney conductor

Get set for an immersive experience for all ages, blending storytelling, puppetry and orchestral brilliance into a magical fusion of sight and sound.

Be enchanted by Prokofiev’s beloved Peter and the Wolf, newly reimagined with specially commissioned shadow puppetry by Maeve Clancy, bringing the story to life in a whole new light. Explore Britten's masterful The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra as Learning & Participation Artist-in-Residence Jessie Grimes unveils the beauty and diversity of orchestral sounds.

Designed for children aged 5 and up and their families, all are welcome.

FAMILY

Sunday 9 February 2025, 12.30pm, 3pm and 5pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Tickets: Full Price €30, Child €23, Restricted View €15, Family Ticket €94 (4 tickets, maximum 2 adults)

David Young, Choral Director, National Symphony Chorus

Ciarán Kelly, Choral Director, Cór Linn

‘CHARISMATIC,

Herald Tribune

Anu Tali

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE:

TARA ERRAUGHT

CELEBRATING THE VOICE:

A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME FOR SINGERS

NSO Artist-in-Residence Tara Erraught and a team of international guest artists and industry experts lead an immersive professional development programme comprising vocal coaching, seminars, discussions and performances. This intensive programme is uniquely tailored to classical singers, giving them the supports and resources they need both on and off the stage to navigate their professional careers.

Guest international artists and industry experts include:

• Morgane Fauchois-Prado pianist

• Dearbhla Collins pianist

• Alexander Neef Director of Opéra National de Paris

• Paul Kwak world authority on vocal health and ENT specialist working with opera singers

• Andreas Massow Artist Manager and former Casting Director at Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich

RTÉ lyric fm’s Liz Nolan will host panel discussions, Q&A events and performances during the week.

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE

Monday 10 February –Friday 14 February 2025

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Dearbhla Collins

CELEBRATING THE VOICE: SONG RECITAL

Selected participating performers in the Celebrating the Voice programme will present a song recital with pianist Dearbhla Collins.

Presented by Liz Nolan, RTÉ lyric fm

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE

Friday 14 February 2025, 1.05pm

John Field Room National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15 For discounts and packages see page 96

CELEBRATING THE VOICE: OPERA GALA

National Symphony Orchestra

Anu Tali conductor

Selected participating performers in the Celebrating the Voice programme will join the NSO for an Opera Gala featuring some of the repertoire's best-loved arias, duets and ensembles.

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE

Friday 14 February 2025, 7.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Tickets €15, €19.50, €22.50, €26, €30.

For discounts and packages see page 96

PRAGUE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Tomáš Brauner conductor Alexander Sitkovetsky violin

Dvorˇák The Noonday Witch

Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto

Dvorˇák Symphony No. 9, From the New World

The wonderful Prague Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor Tomáš Brauner pay tribute to their Bohemian heritage with two sides of Dvorˇák.

The Ninth Symphony is a nostalgic, homesick anthem, a tuneful meeting of two cultures as American spirituals blend with Czech folk songs. The Noonday Witch is a tragic tale of an errant son, a scolding mother, and a demanding demon.

Alexander Sitkovetsky is the soloist for Tchaikovsky’s hi-octane, melody-packed Violin Concerto.

INTERNATIONAL ORCHESTRAS AND RECITALS

Sunday 16 February 2025, 7.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Pre-Concert Talk: 6.15pm – 7pm

Tickets: €15, €27.50, €36, €44, €55. For discounts and packages see page 96

Ailís Ní Ríain

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Jessica Cottis conductor

Karen Cargill mezzo-soprano

Samuel Sakker tenor

Ailís Ní Ríain The Land Grows Weary of its Own Irish Premiere.

NSO co-commission with BBC Radio 3 and Manchester International Festival.

Mahler Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth)

Two works which speak of a deep love of life and living and of the world in all its riches. Three superb artists include Jessica Cottis and Karen Cargill, both widely praised on the operatic stage.

Mahler’s The Song of the Earth is a profound and exquisitely beautiful song cycle from a man facing his own end and recognising how precious this world is. Inspired by the lyrics of U2’s A Sort of Homecoming , Ailís Ní Ríain imagines ‘a world that is wearied by the actions and inactions of its human destructors’, and in particular, ‘the effects of climate change on birds’.

NSO SEASON

Friday 21 February 2025, 7.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Pre-Concert Talk: 6.15pm – 7pm

Tickets: €15, €25, €29, €34.50, €39.

For discounts and packages see page 96

ALICE SARA OTT

Alice Sara Ott piano

Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 19

Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 30

Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 14, Moonlight Field Selection of Nocturnes

‘The energy propelling her playing seems unstoppable’ (The Guardian). Alice Sara Ott, an exciting and groundbreaking artist, performs three of Beethoven’s most distinctive Piano Sonatas – the deeply affecting 19th, the intimate and lyrical 30th, and the Moonlight, an awesome work, its calm middle movement described by Liszt as a ‘flower between two abysses’.

Interspersed with these, a selection of watercolour-delicate Nocturnes by the Irish composer John Field.

INTERNATIONAL ORCHESTRAS AND RECITALS

Thursday 27 February 2025, 8pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €26.50, €33, €39, €45. For discounts and packages see page 96

©Yvonne Schmedemann

With the ‘impeccable’ (Bachtrack ) Alexander Shelley on the podium, two major works by Brahms and Schumann. In the soul-bearing Violin Concerto by Brahms two rugged outer movements frame a bewitchingly beautiful slow movement with the ‘absolutely stunning’ (Chicago Tribune) Simone Lamsma as soloist. Schumann’s simmering, slow-burning Rhenish Symphony is a romance-filled celebration of the Rhineland’s natural beauty that bursts into exuberant life.

In association with Music for Galway

Friday 28 February 2025, 7.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Pre-Concert Talk Friday 28 February: 6.15pm – 7pm

NCH Tickets: €15, €25, €29, €34.50, €39. For discounts and packages see page 96

Galway ticket details will be available at musicforgalway.ie

Simone Lamsma

©Otto van den Toorn

MUSIC IN THE CLASSROOM JUNIOR CYCLE MUSIC GUIDE

National Symphony Orchestra

Jessie Grimes presenter

Built around the new Junior Cycle Music

Learning Outcomes, and using some of the greatest orchestral music ever written, the NSO, Learning & Participation Artist-in-Residence Jessie Grimes will explore how live music can provoke emotion, change mood and illustrate a scene.

SCHOOLS

Tuesday 4 March 2025, 10.30am & 12.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Tickets: €10 student. Accompanying teachers go free.

Speranza Scappucci

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

RAVEL: A BIRTHDAY

CELEBRATION

Speranza Scappucci conductor

Julie Boulianne mezzo-soprano

Lionel Lhote baritone

Ravel programme.

On the very day of the 150th anniversary of his birth, we celebrate the genius of Maurice Ravel with a veritable ‘greatest hits’ selection of evergreen works.

There’s fairy-tale magic and mayhem in Ma mère l’Oye (Mother Goose); comic fantasy in Don Quichotte à Dulcinée – with ‘the beautiful and wide baritone’ (Ôlyrix ) of Lionel Lhote; exotic romance in Shéhérazade – with ‘refined and elegant’ (The Independent ) soprano Julie Boulianne; and, of course, the mesmerising rhythms of Boléro.

We welcome another exciting conductor, the sensational Speranza Scappucci, Principal Guest Conductor at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the first woman to conduct at Teatro alla Scala Milan.

NSO SEASON

Friday 7 March 2025, 7.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Pre-Concert Talk: 6.15pm – 7pm

Tickets: €15, €26.50, €33, €39, €45. For discounts and packages see page 96

©Ian

Ehm

MUSIC IN THE CLASSROOM MUSICAL ADVENTURES

FUN CONCERTS FOR CHILDREN AGED 8-12

National Symphony Orchestra

Jessie Grimes presenter

Join in the adventure and fun with the National Symphony Orchestra!

Let Learning & Participation Artist-in-Residence

Jessie Grimes be your guide on an exciting musical journey. From soaring strings to thundering timpani, discover the wonders of orchestral music and unlock the secrets of symphonic storytelling!

SCHOOLS

Tuesday 11 March 2025, 10.30am & 12.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Tickets: €10 student. Accompanying teachers go free.

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Christian Reif conductor

Anastasia Kobekina cello

Richard Strauss Metamorphosen

Schumann Cello Concerto

Beethoven Symphony No. 6, Pastoral

Brimming over with vibrant images and scents of the countryside, Beethoven’s joyful Pastoral Symphony is a glorious depiction of the natural world.

Schumann’s Cello Concerto, with the ‘unrivalled’ (Le Figaro) Anastasia Kobekina as soloist, finds cello and orchestra as equals in the most personal, immediate and enigmatic of statements.

A lyrical lament for the war-time bombing of Dresden, the 23 strings of Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen borrow a motif from the funeral march of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony. Late-Romanticism at its most personal, immediate and affecting.

NSO SEASON

Friday 21 March 2025, 7.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Pre-Concert Talk: 6.15pm – 7pm

Tickets: €15, €25, €29, €34.50, €39. For discounts and packages see page 96

Anastasia Kobekina

©Johanna

Berghorn

‘AMONG

THE GREATEST OF CELLISTS’

The Arts Desk

Gautier Capuçon

CAPUCELLI

Gautier Capuçon and his cello ensemble

Killian White guest cellist

Piazzolla La muerte del Angel (arr. by Sébastien Walnier)

Delibes

Flower Duet (Lakmé) (arr. by Sébastien Walnier)

Bryce Dessner

The Forest. Sederunt Principes – Perotin Irish Premiere

Bartók Romanian Dances (arr. Cornelius Zirbo)

Dvorˇák Lasst mich allein (arr. Gautier Capuçon)

Tchaikovsky ‘Waltz of the Flowers’ (arr. Samuel Parent) (The Nutcracker )

R. Dubugnon

Heptasyllabes

Grieg In the Hall of the (arr. Jérôme Ducros)

Mountain King (Peer Gynt )

Guillaume Connesson Trois jardins

Bacharach

South American Getaway

J. Martínez Campos Fantaisie pour la classe d’excellence

Ravel Bolero (arr. Jérome Ducros)

Bernstein

Mambo (West Side Story ) (arr. Jérôme Ducros)

Gautier Capuçon, acclaimed for his expressive musicianship and exuberant virtuosity, brings his Capucelli Ensemble to perform an exciting programme of music to seduce and surprise.

INTERNATIONAL ORCHESTRAS AND RECITALS

Wednesday 26 March 2025, 8pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €25, €29, €34.50, €39. For discounts and packages see page 96

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Lio Kuokman conductor Jonathan Biss piano

Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1

Berlioz Symphonie fantastique

Infatuated by the Irish actress Harriet Smithson, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique blazes with all the intensity of an opium-induced phantasmagoria. Desire and delirium go hand in hand in music as surreal and savage as it is sensual.

‘An eloquent interpreter with a powerful technique’ (New York Times), Jonathan Biss is the soloist for Brahms’s vigorous and flamboyant First Piano Concerto, one of the most popular and frequently performed of all piano concertos.

NSO SEASON Friday 28 March 2025, 7.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €25, €29, €34.50, €39. For discounts and packages see page 96

Jonathan Biss

©Benjamin Ealovega

FAMILY CONCERT

SYMPHONY SHORTS − BERLIOZ

National Symphony Orchestra

Lio Kuokman conductor

Jessie Grimes presenter

Berlioz Symphonie fantastique

What do you get when you take an imaginative Frenchman’s wild and tragic dream about true love at a fancy ball, throw in some shepherds and witches, and bring it all together with a huge 90-piece orchestra? It’s Symphonie fantastique !

Embark on a mesmerising journey guided by our exuberant presenter and Learning & Participation Artist-in-Residence, Jessie Grimes. In this interactive family-friendly show, you’ll sing, dance and play along with the outrageous story, exploring all the amazing sounds a giant orchestra can make in Berlioz’s riotously colourful orchestral masterpiece.

Designed for children aged 5 and up, including those with ASD, and their families, this relaxed event promises a rollicking musical adventure for all. All are welcome.

FAMILY

Saturday 29 March 2025, 12.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Tickets: Full Price: €20, Child: €15, Family Ticket €65 (4 tickets, max. 2 adults)

Lio Kuokman

©Tey

Tat Keng

THE REMARKABLE PIANO DUO OF SISTERS KATIA AND MARIELLE LABÈQUE

Katia and Marielle Labèque

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE: BRYCE DESSNER

National Symphony Orchestra

André de Ridder conductor

Bryce Dessner guitar

David Chalmin guitar

Katia Labèque piano

Marielle Labèque piano

Bryce Dessner St. Carolyn by the Sea

Bryce Dessner Concerto for Two Pianos

Irish Premiere

Stravinsky Petrushka (1947 version)

An exciting opportunity to hear the Irish premiere of Artist-in-Residence Bryce Dessner’s athletic and animated Concerto for Two Pianos played by its dedicatees, the remarkable piano duo of sisters Katia and Marielle Labèque.

Beat Generation guru Jack Kerouac is the inspiration for St. Carolyn by the Sea featuring the composer himself on guitar.

Stravinsky’s ballet Petrushka is a nightmarish tale of puppets coming murderously to life in music of burlesque brilliance.

Post-concert talk*

Bryce Dessner, André de Ridder, Katia and Marielle Labèque in conversation with John Kelly. *This event will commence approximately 15 minutes after the main stage performance ends. nch.ie

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE

Friday 11 April 2025, 7.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €27.50, €35, €42.50, €49. For discounts and packages see page 96

‘A LANDMARK FOR CONTEMPORARY MUSIC’

Rowan Williams

NSO: JAMES MCMILLAN’S ST JOHN PASSION

National Symphony Orchestra

David Hill conductor

Christopher Purves baritone

National Symphony Chorus

David Young choral director

Chamber Choir Ireland

James MacMillan St. John Passion

Irish Premiere

The Irish premiere of a Good Friday Passion for our times: James MacMillan’s St. John Passion , hailed by Rowan Williams as ‘a landmark for contemporary music’.

Echoes of Latin motets, Gregorian chant and Bach chorales can be heard alongside Scottish folk accents in a striking, modern re-telling with Christ portrayed by ‘extraordinary’ (Sinfini ) baritone Christopher Purves, and the Evangelist by Chamber Choir Ireland, with the National Symphony Chorus giving voice to other roles in this dramatic story.

Presented in association with Chamber Choir Ireland.

NSO SEASON

Friday 18 April 2025, 3.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €27.50, €35, €42.50, €49. For discounts and packages see page 96

SHEKU KANNEH-MASON ISATA KANNEH-MASON

Sheku Kanneh-Mason cello

Isata Kanneh-Mason piano

Fauré Cello Sonata No. 1

Poulenc Cello Sonata

Natalie Klouda New Work Irish Premiere

Mendelssohn Cello Sonata No. 1

Superstar musicians Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason have taken the musical world by storm, staking a claim to the world’s great concert houses and making history with their performances and recordings.

Both artists make a much-anticipated and welcome return to the NCH with rarely heard treasures by Fauré, Poulenc and Mendelssohn.

Written for the siblings, Natalie Klouda’s new work receives its Irish premiere.

INTERNATIONAL ORCHESTRAS AND RECITALS

Thursday 24 April 2025, 8pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Pre-Concert Talk: 6.45pm – 7.30pm

Tickets: €15, €26.50, €33, €39, €45. For discounts and packages see page 96

Sheku Kanneh Mason

Isata Kanneh Mason

©Ollie

Ali

©David Venni

Members of the National Symphony Orchestra

‘A MODEL OF PRECISION AND ATTENTION GIVEN TO SINGERS’ Forum Opéra

Tara Erraught

Clelia Cafiero ©Cyril Cosson

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE:

TARA

ERRAUGHT

National Symphony Orchestra

Clelia Cafiero conductor

Tara Erraught mezzo-soprano

Mozart The Marriage of Figaro Overture

Mozart ‘Come scoglio’ (Così fan tutte)

Mozart ‘Giunse alfin il momento... Deh, vieni, non tardar’ (Le nozze di Figaro)

Donizetti Maria Stuarda Overture

Donizetti ‘O nube! che lieve per l’aria’ (Maria Stuarda)

Puccini I crisantemi

Puccini ‘O mio babbino caro’ (Gianni Schicchi)

Bellini Norma Overture

Bellini ‘Casta Diva’ (Norma)

Rossini The Barber of Seville Overture

Rossini 'Ah se è ver che in tal momento’ (Il barbiere di Siviglia)

Rossini The Thieving Magpie Overture

Rossini ‘Tanti affetti’ (La donna del lago)

An unmissable event as NCH Artist-in-Residence and acclaimed mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught ventures into repertoire which showcases another side of her remarkable voice and artistry.

A gala recital of arias full of emotion and lit up by coloratura splendour from operatic heroines by Mozart, Donizetti, Bellini and Rossini.

Bristling, bright Overtures add brilliant ballast with Clelia Cafiero, ‘a model of precision and attention given to singers’ (Forum Opéra), on the podium.

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE

Thursday 1 May 2025, 7.30pm

University Concert Hall, Limerick

In association with the University Concert Hall

Friday 2 May 2025, 7.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €26.50, €33, €39, €45. For discounts and packages see page 96

Limerick ticket details will be available at uch.ie

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA SHOSTAKOVICH 50

John Storgårds conductor

Yukine Kuroki piano

Sibelius The Oceanides

Rachmaninov Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

Victoria Vita Polevá Symphony No. 3, White Interment Irish Premiere

Shostakovich Symphony No. 1

‘Earthy, powerful, passionate’ (New Listener ) John Storgårds is renowned for his interpretations of Scandinavian and Russian music.

Rachmaninov’s Paganini Rhapsody is a mesmerising musical kaleidoscope of gleaming styles with 2022 Dublin International Piano Competition winner Yukine Kuroki the virtuosic soloist.

Fifty years after his death, Shostakovich’s First Symphony still bursts with energy and lacerating wit. Ukrainian Victoria Polevá’s Third Symphony is desolate but darkly beautiful, Sibelius’s The Oceanides is a tempestuous tribute to the power of the sea.

NSO SEASON

Friday 9 May 2025, 7.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Pre-Concert Talk: 6.15pm – 7pm

Tickets: €15, €25, €29, €34.50, €39.

For discounts and packages see page 96

John Storgårds Yukine Kuroki

©Marco Borggreve

ROYAL LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Domingo Hindoyan conductor Guy Johnston cello

Roberto Sierra Fandangos Irish Premiere

Elgar Cello Concerto

Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances

From Dublin’s twin city comes the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic with its Chief Conductor Domingo Hindoyan and exceptional cellist Guy Johnston for Elgar’s bleak but beautiful Cello Concerto, an emotion-filled high-watermark of modern English music.

Dance dominates Roberto Sierra’s Fandangos in a set of vibrant orchestral variations with distinctive Spanish trumpets and castanets to the fore. Quoting from several of his major works, Rachmaninov’s leave-taking Symphonic Dances wrestles with death in music to put you through the emotional wringer.

INTERNATIONAL ORCHESTRAS AND RECITALS

Thursday 15 May 2025, 8pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Pre-Concert Talk: 6.15pm – 7pm

Tickets: €15, €30, €42.50, €54, €65. For discounts and packages see page 96

©Gareth Jones

DUBLIN INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION FINAL

National Symphony Orchestra

Jonas Alber conductor

Three finalists, each performing a popular piano concerto, compete before a distinguished international jury in the final of this prestigious piano competition.

NSO SEASON

Friday 16 May 2025, 7.30pm

Main Stage

National Concert Hall

Tickets: €15, €25, €29, €34.50, €39.

For discounts and packages see page 96

FAMILY SCREENING REVOLTING RHYMES LIVE WITH THE NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Terry Davies conductor

‘Fabulous animations with hilarious brilliance’ (The Sun).

Based on the much-loved rhymes written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake, Revolting Rhymes is two half-hour films ingeniously interweaving five of Dahl’s retellings of classic fairy tales with playful twists and surprising endings. Watch them on the big screen with the NSO performing music composed by Ben Locket and additional music composed by Terry Davies.

Recommended age: 6-11 years (and parents).

Revolting Rhymes: © Magic Light Pictures Limited 2016

FAMILY

Sunday 18 May 2025, 12pm, 3pm & 5pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Tickets: Full Price: €30, Child: €23, Restricted View: €15, Family Tickets: €94 (4 tickets, maximum 2 adults)

A COMPELLING AND DRAMATIC CHORAL MASTERPIECE

NSO: HAYDN THE CREATION

National Symphony Orchestra

Peter Whelan conductor

Anna Devin soprano

Lawrence Kilsby tenor

William Thomas bass

National Symphony Chorus

David Young choral director

Haydn The Creation

Nature at its beginning. A compelling and dramatic choral masterpiece relating the Biblical story of the making of the world. Orchestra, soloists and chorus combine in one of the most astounding declarations of faith and joy in the natural world. Celebration and wonder abound, as do dazzling depictions of the creation of light, the land and seas, birdlife, animals, and ultimately, man and woman.

NSO SEASON

Friday 23 May 2025, 7.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Pre-Concert Talk: 6.15pm – 7pm

Tickets: €15, €26.50, €33, €39, €45. For discounts and packages see page 96

Anja Bihlmaier

SEASON FINALE

National Symphony Orchestra

Anja Bihlmaier conductor

Mahler Symphony No. 9

The 2024-2025 Season ends with a monumental work, the ‘ferocious outburst of fiendish laughter at the futility of everything’ (Deryck Cooke) that is Mahler’s Ninth Symphony. At the helm, the ‘passionate and ever-energetic’ Anja Bihlmaier who gave audiences ‘a night to remember’ (Bachtrack ) with Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony last season.

Raging against the dying of the light, Mahler’s colossal last work is a mercurial struggle between his lust for life and fear of encroaching death. The result is heart-breaking and filled with exultant tongue-in-cheek humour, the blackest of moods, and the slow, serene leave-taking of its hushed ending.

NSO SEASON

Friday 30 May 2025, 7.30pm

Main Stage National Concert Hall

Pre-Concert Talk: 6.15pm – 7pm

Tickets: €15, €26.50, €33, €39, €45. For discounts and packages see page 96

PACKAGE DISCOUNTS AND BENEFITS

MAKING MUSIC ACCESSIBLE

National Concert Hall 2024-2025 Season Multi-buy Packages

Book multiple concerts from across the season to and save up to 35%

National Symphony Orchestra Concert Package

Love the National Symphony Orchestra? Avail of savings of up to 30% when you book 31 NSO concerts in the season.

Early Booking Benefits

Opening Night Reception

To reward early booking, the first 50 package* bookers will be invited to an interval drinks reception on the opening night of the season (7th September)

*Package to include the opening night – Saturday 7th September

Spread the cost

For concert bookers who purchase a package before the 27th of June 2024 and wish to avail of the option to spread the cost over three months, that facility will be made available at no extra cost.

See page 98 for terms and conditions.

General Package Benefits

Ticket exchange

The NCH understands that sometimes plans can change which is why we’re happy to offer all package buyers the opportunity to exchange their ticket(s) to another event across the 2024-2025 season. See www.nch.ie for terms and conditions

Same Seat from the Previous Seasons

If you are a current National Symphony Orchestra and/or NCH International Concert Series Full Season Subscriber and wish to avail of same seat when purchasing a subscription to the 2024-2025 season, the NCH is happy to offer that to you.

This seat will be held for current subscribers until 27th June 2024.

17 or more Concerts Benefits

Purchase a ticket to 17 or more concerts across the 2024-2025 season and you will receive an invitation to a special event during the season and a complimentary pair of tickets to an event to share with friends or family*.

*Event within the season to be selected by NCH, tickets will be issued in advance of opening of the season.

How to Spread Your Payments Over Three Consecutive Months

Package buyers purchasing before 27th June 2024 can avail of spreading the cost across three consecutive months at no extra cost.

Terms & Conditions:

• Scheduled payment option applies to packages only and does not apply to single concert purchases.

• Payments will be scheduled over three consecutive monthly instalments.

• Payments will be collected from credit or debit cards only.

• NCH will automatically debit the same card used to pay the initial payment.

• Credit or debit card must not expire before 09/26 in order to allow payments to complete.

• In the event the card is lost or stolen during this period, it is the responsibility of the Customer to advise NCH in order for us to manage any remaining payments.

• No tickets will be issued until receipt of the final payment.

• The date of the final scheduled payment must not be later than 27th August 2024.

Individual Concert Discounts

For further information on individual concert discounts, see page 3.

Become a Friend of the NCH

Want to become an NCH Friend, Season Friend or Patron and avail of discounts and priority booking periods for the Season? You can do so by contacting the NCH Friends Membership Office or join online today. See details below.

How To Book

ONLINE: www.nch.ie

PHONE: NCH Box Office Tel: +353 (0)1 417 0000

Phone line is open Monday to Friday 10am – 2pm

IN PERSON: NCH Box Office Opening Hours 10am – 6pm, Monday to Friday

NCH Friends Dedicated Booking Line: Tel: +353 (0)1 408 6777

NCH Friends Membership Office Tel: + 353 (0)1 417 0067

E-mail: Friends@nch.ie

Friday night concerts are broadcast live on RTÉ lyric Live, presented by Paul Herriott on RTÉ lyric fm.

Listen live or listen back: www.rte.ie/lyricfm/lyric-live

WHERE LIFE SOUNDS BETTER

96–99fm | On Mobile | rte.ie/lyricfm

of the National Symphony Orchestra

WHERE CONCERTS MAKE CONNECTIONS

THANK YOU TO OUR CORPORATE AND INDIVIDUAL SUPPORTERS

We would like to acknowledge with appreciation and gratitude the generous support of our Corporate Partners, Corporate Members, Patrons, John Field Society Members and Friends.

PROGRAMME PARTNERS

TRUST & FOUNDATION PARTNERS

CORPORATE MEMBERS APPLAUSE

PATRONS & JOHN FIELD SOCIETY MEMBERS

Deirdre Baneham • Frank & Ivy Bannister • William Barton • James Billet • Michael Bourke Sharon Burke • Brid Cannon & Juan Pablo Cortes Ocampo • Dr Tom Carey • Dorothy Clements Bernadette Coggins • Mary Costello Ryan • Monica Cullinan • Louis & Mary Fitzgerald • Mary Fletcher Dr Crona Gallagher & Jim Clery • Gerard Gillen • Brian Kingham • Mary Mac Aodha • Deirdre Mc Connell Brian Mc Elroy • Sinead Nic Oireachtaigh • Prof Deirdre O Grady • Tiernan O hAlmhain Dr Rachel Patton • John Pollard Foundation • Beverly Sperry • Kieran Tobin • Dr Peter & Elva Wyatt

FRIENDS, SEASON FRIENDS AND SUPPORTING FRIENDS

Please get in touch with a member of the Partnerships & Philanthropy Team to learn more and find out how you can support your National Concert Hall today:

Aisling Kennedy Corporate Development Executive aisling.kennedy@nch.ie

#SupportYourNCH RCN. 200011987

Emmet McSwiney Individual Giving Executive emmet.mcswiney@nch.ie

NCH SEATING PLAN

AN CHEOLÁRAIS NÁISIÚNTA

SÉASÚR

2024 — 2025

Dé Sathairn, an 7 Meán Fómhair 2024 go Dé hAoine, an 30 Bealtaine 2025

Breis is 60 imeacht

Ceolfhoirne agus Ceadail Idirnáisiúnta

Séasúr na Ceolfhoirne Siansaí Náisiúnta

Ceoltóirí Cónaitheacha

Bryce Dessner, Tara Erraught, Jessie Grimes

Ceoltóirí, Stiúrthóirí agus Ensembles Córúla, idir Éireannach agus Idirnáisiúnta

Ceolchoirmeacha agus Taispeáintí do Theaghlaigh Ceol sa Seomra Ranga

Tionscnaimh Forbartha Gairmiúla d’Amhránaithe agus Cumadóirí

Céad Léirithe Domhanda/Céad Léirithe Éireannacha

Léirithe na Ceolfhoirne Siansaí Náisiúnta i nGaillimh, Luimneach, Port Láirge, Loch Garman

Gach eolas ar www.nch.ie