The National Concert Hall’s Perspectives series sees leading contemporary international and Irish artists explore the musical present in a series of five new and exciting concerts announced today for 2022.
Perspectives 2022 is as diverse as ever boasting performances by Grammy-nominated jazz pianist Vijay Iyer and Chicago-based vocalist and composer Haley Fohr aka Circuit Des Yeux. In addition, celebrated musician Martin Hayes will return to the NCH stage with his new project the Common Ground Ensemble, this band rooted in traditional Irish music that also embraces jazz, improvised and classical idioms. Elsewhere in the series, pioneering artist Laurie Anderson follows her 2017 residency by bringing her latest solo work The Art of Falling to the National Concert Hall – the project addresses the complex questions of our shifting world. And finally, one of jazz’s most influential guitarists John McLaughlin will perform with his electric fusion quartet 4th Dimension. Further Perspectives concerts and projects will be announced throughout 2022.
Robert Read, CEO of the National Concert Hall said: ‘Perspectives presents the most vital, ground-breaking artistic contemporary performances to the National Concert Hall audience. It strives to break boundaries and exceed expectations. Over the years Perspectives has welcomed artists such as Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Brad Mehldau, Kristin Hersch and Meshell Ndegeocello. For 2022 we are proud to present such a high-calibre, inventive programme of events and would like to thank Davy our Innovation Partner and The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media for their continued support.’
Vijay Iyer is one of the most intellectually and musically exciting artists in jazz today. His unique musical approach has carved out a path as an influential, prolific, shape-shifting presence in twenty-first-century music. He has received a MacArthur Fellowship, a United States Artist Fellowship and a Grammy nomination amongst many accolades. He recently served as composer-in-residence at London’s Wigmore Hall, music director of the Ojai Music Festival, and artist-in-residence at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. He has released twenty-four albums of his music, most recently UnEasy – an album as a trio featuring bassist Linda May Han Oh with whom he will perform at the NCH. The New Yorker described it as ‘a triumph of small-group interplay and fertile invention’.
Martin Hayes is one of the world’s most celebrated fiddle players and a key figure in Irish traditional music. He began playing the fiddle at the age of seven in his native East Clare and went on to become a multiple All Ireland Fiddle Champion as a teenager. He went on to form a successful duo with Chicago guitarist Dennis Cahill in the late 80s and also enjoyed solo success. In 2011 he founded Irish-American supergroup The Gloaming who have released three successful studio albums and Live at the NCH. His new band the Common Ground Ensemble, although rooted in Irish traditional music, possesses a wealth of talent spanning, improvisation, arrangement, jazz, avant-garde and cutting edge contemporary classical. The line-up comprises Cormac McCarthy (piano, ‘Cottage Evolution’), Kate Ellis (cello, Artistic Director of Crash Ensemble), Kyle Sanna (guitar, a collaborator with Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile), Brian Donnellan (bouzouki, harmonium, concertina, and, like Hayes, an alumnus of The Tulla Céili Band), David Power (Uilleann pipes) and Síle Denver (sean nós singer, harp).
Haley Fohr is a vocalist and composer based in Chicago, Illinois. Her musical endeavours focus around the human condition, and her 10-year career as Circuit des Yeux has grown into one of America’s most successful efforts to connect the personal to the universal. Her acclaimed latest album ‘-io’ maps a geography of grief – a place where ‘everything is ending all the time.’ While Fohr’s music has never been short on ambition, these songs are striking in their brilliance and strangeness. On ‘-io’, Circuit des Yeux has delivered a work that is vivid, immense, and fully illuminated. ‘Haley Fohr has crafted her most expansive work to date, capturing a sprawl of emotions too complicated to be named’ Pitchfork.
Laurie Anderson is one of the most important artists working today. A composer, musician and avant-garde artist, she is known for her multimedia presentations and innovative use of technology. As writer, director, visual artist and vocalist she has created ground-breaking works that span the worlds of art, theatre and experimental music. Her recording career, launched by ‘O Superman’ in 1981, includes the soundtrack to her feature film Home of the Brave and Life on a String (2001). In 2002, Anderson was appointed the first artist-in-residence of NASA which culminated in her 2004 touring solo performance The End of the Moon. Recent projects include a series of audio-visual installations and a high-definition film, Hidden Inside Mountains, created for World Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan. In 2007 she received the prestigious Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize for her outstanding contribution to the arts. In 2011 her exhibition of new visual work titled Forty-Nine Days In the Bardo opened in Philadelphia, and Boat, her first exhibition of paintings, premiered at the Vito Schnabel Gallery in New York. She has recently been appointed as a three-year fellow at both EMPAC, the multi-media centre at RPI in Troy, NY, and PAC at UCLA. The Art of Falling is Laurie Anderson’s latest solo work addressing the complex questions of our shifting world. Incorporating songs, electronics and visual imagery, The Art of Falling is a masterful mix of stories about falling in love, falling asleep and falling in line.
John McLaughlin is one of jazz’s most influential guitarists, from his work with Miles Davis in his ground-breaking fusion era to projects such as Mahavisnhu and Shakti. Mc Laughlin’s band project – 4th Dimension – brings together musicians from different cultures and musical traditions to form an all-star band. The line-up features Gary Husband on keyboards, Étienne M’Bappé on bass and drummer Ranji Barot. The music of this group integrates all these cultural influences in a unique way while at the same time preserving the spontaneity of jazz. Gary Husband is a truly versatile instrumentalist, he switches from keyboard to drums with amazing ease and has worked with many well-known musicians such as Jeff Beck and Gary Moore. Ranjit Barot – Indian by birth and living in Mumbai – has been known for years as a globally active drummer (for Bill Evans, Scott Kinsey, among others). Since 2011 he has been a member of 4th Dimension. Étienne M’Bappé is one today’s world’s finest bass players. He has performed with Ray Charles, Salif Keita, Joe Zawinul and many others
Perspectives at the National Concert Hall is supported by Davy as Innovation Partner.
PERSPECTIVES 2022 AT THE NATIONAL CONCERT HALL
Vijay Iyer Trio featuring Linda May Han Oh – 1st March 2022
Tickets: €24.50; €34.50
Martin Hayes and the Common Ground Ensemble – 26th and 27th March
Tickets: €29.50; €39.50
Circuit Des Yeux – 15th April 2022
Tickets: €17
Laurie Anderson – 26th April 2022
Tickets: €29.50; €39.50
John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension – 26th May 2022
Tickets: €39.50; €49.50
Tickets on sale Monday 20th December 10am from nch.ie
