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Arty Ireland  MALCOLM
ROGERS suggests some hidden nuggets in the world of arts in Ireland in
2008 to enliven your trip back home.
Cello and charisma
Steven Isserlis, one of the world’s most charismatic of cellists,
directs the Irish Chamber Orchestra for the first time in February. The
programme concentrates on Haydn.
National Concert Hall Dublin, February 13, tel 00 353 1 4170000.
UCH, Limerick, February 14; CIT Cork School of Music, February 15.
www.irishchamberorchestra.info
Art at Imma
An exhibition of the work of the pioneering 20th-century Irish abstract
painter Cecil King (1921-1986). His earlier output was highly stylised
and formalised, his later work was pure abstraction.
Cecil King. Imma, Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin. February 27 to May
18.
www.modernart.ie
Choral music in the Cathedral
The Louth Contemporary Music Society is bringing the State Choir Latvija
to Drogheda and Dundalk with a mixed programme of traditional and contemporary
choral works.
State Choir Latvija. St. Peter’s, Church of Ireland, Drogheda,
February 13; St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dundalk, February 14; RTÉ
Living Music Festival, Dublin. February 15-17.
When shall we three meet again
An unusual production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth heads for Dublin
in February. Macbeth is played by Rory Kennan, an actor in his 20s and
Lady Macbeth by the redoubtable Barbara Brennan.
Macbeth opens at The Empty Space in Smock Alley, Dublin, February 28.
Arias in Erin
Opera Ireland will present works from Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner
performed by the Slovak National Theatre of Bratislav and the
National Theatre, Prague in a short season. Mozart’s Le Nozze di
Figaro will make up the operatic hat trick.
Opera Ireland. Gaiety Theatre, Dublin. March 28 to April 5.
www.operaireland.com
August in March
August Strindberg’s most famous play, Miss Julie, is re-located
in the North in this Frank McGuinness version. Complete with swaggering
Orangeman, Anglo-Irish ascendancy and Irish footman.
Opens at the Project Arts Centre Dublin, March 1.
Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer
Dublin, the sea and a high-stakes game of poker with the devil finally
marks McPherson’s National Theatre debut under the direction of
Jimmy Fay.
Just as The Seafarer finishes, Garry Hynes’ new production of McPherson’s
celebrated The Weir opens on Cavendish Row. The Seafarer opens at the
Abbey
Theatre, Dublin, on April 30.
Impressionists at the National Gallery
And we’re not talking about the Dead Ringers crew. This is an exhibit
of Manet, Renoir, Degas, Monet, Signac and Caillebotte.
National Gallery of Ireland Millennium Wing, Dublin. May 10 to August
10.
Britten in Belfast
Opera North present a production of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes.
“Electrifying and engulfing,” was The Independent’s
view of the production, while The Guardian suggested it “may be
the perfect Peter Grimes”. It shares the short Belfast season with
Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Jonathan Dove’s family opera
The Adventures Of Pinocchio.
Grand Opera House, Belfast. February 19-23.
www.goh.co.uk
Baltic Blues
The National Chamber Choir’s opening production under the supervision
of its new artistic director Paul Hillie, at the National Gallery of Ireland
in May. Four programmes, under Hillier himself, Bo Holten, Kaspars Putnins
and Nigel Short, present the rich diversity of composers from the nine
countries that surround the Baltic Sea.
National Chamber Choir’s Baltic Blues National Gallery of Ireland,
Dublin. May 22 to July 24.
www.dcu.ie/chamber
4th Dimension in Dublin
Probably the most influential jazz guitarist in the world these days, John
McLaughlin brings his 4th Dimension quartet with Gary Husband (keyboards/drums),
Mark Mondesir (keyboards/drums) and Hadrian Feraud (bass guitar) for his
Dublin debut.
John McLaughlin, Vicar Street, Dublin, May 30.
Berlioz’s Requiem
Berlioz’s Requiem is one of the most spectacular works of the 19th
century. The production normally requires more than 200 musicians (including
nearly 38 in the four off-stage bands) and 200 singers. Regrettably this
is rather more than the National Concert Hall can accommodate so the Dublin
performance will see the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir and RTÉ
National Symphony Orchestra reduced to fit — but the grandeur will
still be there.
Berlioz’s Requiem. NCH, Dublin, May 23.
www.nch.ie
Hugh Lane bequest
For the first time since 1913 Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane will feature
all 39 pictures that make up the Hugh Lane Bequest including several Impressionist
masterpieces. Also on show will be many of the works that made up the
gallery’s collection as originally established by Lane.
Hugh Lane Centenary Exhibition Dublin City Gallery.
Opens on Jun 26 and runs throughout the summer.
Wexford Opera
Wexford finally gets a chance to present its first opera production in its
new home.
The theatre that’s currently being built on and around the site
of the old one will be substantially bigger in all key respects —
auditorium, stage, pit, backstage and rehearsal areas — and is expected
to deliver 21st-century creature comforts to replace the cramped conditions
of old.
The first production to grace the new stage will be Rimsky-Korsakov’s
Snow Maiden, followed by Richard Rodney Bennett’s The Mines of Sulphur
and Carlo Pedrotti’s Tutti In Moschera.
Wexford Festival Opera. October 16 to November 2.
www.wexfordfestival.com
Friel at the Gate
The world premiere of a new undertaking by Brian Friel, a production of
Hedda Gabbler.
The event coincides with the 80th anniversary of the Gate and coincides
with the unveiling of the theatre’s new wing.
The Gate Theatre, Dublin, September 30.
www.gate-theatre.ie
HH at the National Gallery
Hugh Douglas Hamilton, a major figure in the history of Irish art, was
a brilliant pastel portrait artist as well as an extremely capable practitioner
in other areas.
This show, curated by Anne Hodge, will bring together 40 paintings, pastels,
prints and albums.
A Life in Pictures, National Gallery of Ireland. End of September to
mid-December (exact dates to be confirmed).
Kahlo and Rivera at Imma
The phenomenally popular Kahlo and her partner Rivera (you may have seen
their work on poster, postcards etc without realising it was them) are
treated to their own show at Imma. If you don’t know them, get along
and broaden your horizons in all senses of the word.
The Gelman Collection, Kahlo & Rivera Imma, Royal Hospital, Kilmainham,
Dublin
Begins November 26. |
