Month: November 2011

To round off a hugely successful year O Emperor have announced a select three-date tour, their final appearances of 2011. Taking time off from working on their second album the shows in Cork, Dublin and Waterford will see the band premiere much of their brand new material as well as highlights from their highly successful debut album “Hither Thither”, which was released in October 2010 and subsequently nominated for the Choice Music Prize (Irish Album of the Year).

Choral Music Seminar at the Irish World Academy, Wednesday November 16th
1.10 pm and 2.30 pm, Tower Theatre, Irish World Academy, University of Limerick
 
Special Guest: Professor Mary Goetze (University of Indiana)
The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, in association with Music Generation and the Association of Irish Choirs, presents a lunchtime open workshop and afternoon seminar with internationally renowned music educationalist Professor Mary Goetze from University of Indiana.

The Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) will host a songwriting workshop for 12-18 year-olds in The Dock Arts Centre, Carrick-on-Shannon, Leitrim on Saturday, 26th November (12pm – 6pm).

MIDEM is the world's largest music industry trade fair, which has been held annually at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France, since 1967. Bringing together musicians, business people, cultural policy makers, and journalists from many countries, it provides a forum for business talks, discussing political and legal issues, and showcasing new artists, musical trends and music-related products.

The first EP ever to excite your olfactory as well as aural senses?

Imagine a tryst between Brian Eno, Olafur Arnalds and a classic Moog synth in a Berlin back alley circa 1982. Ambient? Check. Haunting? Certainly. Interesting? You betcha.

Petrichor, the debut EP from Colin J. Morris, is all of these things, and more. This 26 minute, instrumental 4-track EP is, like all Morris' work, music for thinking to, walking to, basking in and maybe getting a little lost in (in a nice faffing-around-on-a-Sundayafternoon kind of way, mind you).

The Contemporary Music Centre presents two short films by Irish composers and visual artists
 
The Contemporary Music Centre’s Platform for Performance presents a cross art-form night of contemporary music and visual art with the screening of two short films, 6pm – 7pm, Tuesday, 15 November 2011.
 
Relic by composer Rhona Clarke and visual artist Marie Hanlon is a short film approximately ten minutes in duration which draws its visual material from the Burren landscape of North Clare in Ireland. Initially the sequences seem to be unconnected but gradually a pattern of cycles emerges: the cycle of the tides, the cycle of the seasons and ultimately the cycle of life and death. Relic was first viewed at the 8th Burren Annual exhibition, curated by Josephine Kelliher, 27 August 2011. The exhibition ran from 27 August 2011 to 24 September 2011.
 
The Sea by composer Stephern Gardner and visual artists Gary Coyle is a collaborative film which explores a shared passion for the sea. It was commissioned by Wexford County Council under a Per Cent for Art Scheme in 2005 as part of a new round of commissions open to all disciplines inclusive of writers, choreographers, artists, filmmakers, etc. Coyle and Gardner's collaborative film is an exploration of the sea along the 200 kilometers of Wexford Coastline. The project was curated by Cliodhna Shaffrey. Their film was screened for a week at Christ Church Old School, Gorey. www.publicart.ie
 
Rhona Clarke was born in Dublin. She studied music at University College, Dublin, and completed a Ph.D at Queen’s University, Belfast under the supervision of Michael Alcorn. Her output includes choral, chamber, orchestral and electronic works. She has received commissions from RTÉ, the Cork International Choral Festival, Music Network and the National Concert Hall, among others. Her work has been performed and broadcast throughout Ireland and at several European music festivals. Rhona Clarke is a lecturer in music at St. Patrick’s College, Drumcondra. In 2005 she was elected to Aosdána, Ireland’s state-sponsored academy of creative artists.
 
Stephen Gardner was born in Belfast and studied at the University of Ulster and the University of Wales from 1984 to 1989, gaining the degrees of BA in music and MMus in composition. In 1998-99 he was composer-in-residence with Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, the first such position with a local authority in Ireland. His orchestral works have been performed by the RTE Concert Orchestra, the Ulster Orchestra, the RTE National Symphony Orchestra and the Ulster Youth Orchestra. Stephen Gardner was elected to Aosdána, Ireland’s state-sponsored academy of creative artists, in 2003.

Marie Hanlon, born Ireland 1948, is a visual artist, now based in Dublin represented by the Rubicon Gallery. Recent solo exhibitions include Rua Red, Tallaght, Dublin, 2010; Éigse Carlow 2009 and Rubicon Gallery, Dublin 2009.

Gary Coyle was born in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin in 1965, where he now lives and works having spent nearly a decade living in New York and London. He works in a variety of media, drawing, film, photography, and more recently performance. He has exhibited widely in Ireland and abroad. His work has been included in shows at The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris, The Sainsbury Gallery, Norwich and The Tate Liverpool. 

Admission is free for the screening which will be followed by a wine reception in the Centre’s library. Places are limited so booking is recommended.
 
The Contemporary Music Centre celebrates 25 years in 2011 and this event is part of a series of Platform for Performance events taking place across 2011 to celebrate 25 years of the Centre.
 
The Contemporary Music Centre is Ireland's national archive, resource centre and promotional body for new music, supporting the work of Irish composers from the Republic and Northern Ireland.  The Centre is supported by the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon.
 
For further information on the screening and the composers involved and to book contact Karen Hennessy, Promotion Manager, The Contemporary Music Centre, 19 Fishamble Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 8. Tel: 01 6731922 Email khennessy@nullcmc.ie web site www.cmc.ie
 
 
 

"Closer to You"
Out 11-11-11 Available on 3ú Records
Featuring the single "Addicted To Progress"
Produced by Tony Hoffer – Recorded in the Sound Factory (Los Angeles)

 
Produced by Tony Hoffer (Air, Beck, The Kooks, Belle & Sebastian) The Coronas release their eagerly awaited 3rd album. Recorded in the Sound Factory (Los Angeles), the Dublin based band have made their most far-reaching album to date & will be embarking on a nationwide tour which includes FIVE shows in Dublin’s OLYMPIA THEATRE.
 
Ireland has been home to some of the most influential artists and Dublin rock band The Coronas are no exception. This platinum-selling four piece have established themselves as one of Irelands biggest bands AND are now ready to take their place on the world stage. Their high energy live shows have made them one of the country's most popular concert attractions, and this summer they sold out their biggest ever headline concert in Marley Park to over 7,000 fans.
 
The Coronas ::: LIVE ::: Irish Tour Dates 2011:
Nov 25th – Live at the Big Top, Limerick
Nov 26th – Nerve Centre, Derry
Nov 27th – Empire Music Hall, Belfast
Dec 2nd – Black Box, Galway
Dec 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th – The Olympia, Dublin
Dec 15th – The Savoy Theatre, Cork
Dec 17th – The Forum, Waterford
Dec 26th – Royal Theatre and Event Center, Mayo
Dec 28th – INEC Gleneagle Hotel, Kerry
Check thecoronas.net for updates
 
 
The Coronas platinum-selling album “Tony Was An Ex-Con” shot straight to #1 in the Irish Indie and iTunes charts and #3 in the National Album chart and won the guys a prestigious Meteor Award for album of the year beating the likes of U2, The Script and Snow Patrol.

• The Coronas sold out 3 nights in a row at The Olympia over the Christmas of 2010 and were special guests on The Script’s European Tour this year.
• They also have previously played Ireland’s Oxegen Festival in front of a crowd of 30,000 and have performed at many major UK and European festivals including Benicassim and Hard Rock Calling winning over a legion of new fans.
• The Coronas opened for Sir Paul McCartney in Dublin and also shared the stage with him at the Isle of Wight festival last summer.
• Hit singles include “San Diego Song”, “Someone Else’s Hands”, “Won’t Leave You Alone” AND 'Listen Dear'.
• The band maintains a high profile on YouTube with over 1million collective views and an international following.

www.thecoronas.net

The world premiere of Kilcormac, a new Cantata by Vincent Kennedy commissioned by Offaly County Council will take place in the KDA Hall in Kilcormac, County Offaly on Sunday 27^th November at 4pm.

The new work combines choral, solo voice, instrumental and music in traditional Irish idiom and is inspired by stories, events, history and poetry on many facets of life in Kilcormac past and present.  The piece will begin with a look back to the very beginning when the first men and women recorded in Ireland, lived around present day Kilcormac. Another movement is based on words from the ancient Kilcormac missal. The middle section is inspired by the story of the 500 year old wooden Pieta of Kilcormac that was hidden in the bog by six local men in safety from Cromwell’s advancing army. There it lay covered in peat until the last person who knew its location was carried on his deathbed aged 90 to the bog.  When he pointed out where he and others had buried it 60 years earlier the people dug down and re-discovered the Pieta perfectly preserved.  It is venerated to this day in the parish church of Kilcormac. 

Vincent has been working with the pupils of the local national and secondary schools and with local choirs, singers and instrumentalists and the new composition stems from a very collaborative process with all these elements. In addition Vincent invited Offaly native Eleanor Lamb to work alongside him with the national school children making their own instruments and also using the enormous array of percussion instruments Eleanor has collected from all parts of the world. Under Eleanor’s guidance the children are creating their own compositions and sound pictures for the performance inspired by the bog and local field names.

Also performing in Vincent Kennedy’s Band for this world premiere is Matthew Manning (Oboe), Adele O’Dwyer (Cello), Oisín Kennedy (Percussion), Patrick Hughes (Saxophones), Niall O’Sullivan (Trumpets), Aisling Kennedy (Soprano), Cliona Warren (Bassoon), Karen Abe (Keyboards and Trumpet). 

The award winning poet Ann Egan, whose has family ties with Kilcormac, has written a new poem which Ann will read as part of the performance accompanied by solo cello.  Vincent met Ann at a recent stay in Annaghmakerrig and the collaboration was born.  The great dual star Offaly GAA man Liam Currums (only man alive to win back to back All-Ireland medals in football and Hurling and also to receive All Stars in both Football and Hurling), a native of Kilcormac has also accepted Vincent’s invitation to narrate the opening of Kilcormac.