rtÉ orchestras, quartet and choirs

8/20/2019 RTÉ Orchestras, Quartet and Choirs

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OPERATIONAL REVIEWRTÉ RADIO

ORCHESTRAS, QUARTET AND CHOIRS


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RTÉ ANNUAL REPORT & GROUP FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2014 59

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OPERATIONAL REVIEW CONTINUEDORCHESTRAS, QUARTET AND CHOIRS

There are over 350 performers in RTÉ’s music ensembles, of which 130are full-time professional musicians. RTÉ is the single largest supporterof orchestral music in Ireland, presenting significant numbers of live

music performances, many of which are also broadcast and availableonline. In addition, the impact of RTÉ’s support for live music is seen inthe significant number of freelance musicians engaged each year asspecialist players, accompanists and internationally recognised soloists

and conductors.

During 2014 RTÉ Orchestras, Quartet and Choirsperformed to more than 180,000 people. There are fiveensembles: the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, theRTÉ Concert Orchestra, the RTÉ Contempo Quartet,the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir and RTÉ Cór na nÓg.

John Wilson with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra


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Output and Audiences

During 2014 RTÉ Orchestras, Quartet and Choirs performed to morethan 180,000 people through 239 live performances and events. Manyof these concerts were made available for broadcast on RTÉ lyric fmand RTÉ Radio 1 and internationally through the European Broadcasting

Union. These performances were designed to serve the public throughconcert seasons, contemporary music concerts, opera and balletproductions, film music, jazz and contemporary popular music, family

concerts and education activities. Concerts were supplemented withrecordings for radio, television, commercial releases and soundtracks.

RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra

The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra’s (RTÉ NSO) artisticprogramme for 2014 presented programmes of enormous diversity,

including the greatest works of the symphonic tradition, encompassingcontemporary, popular classical, operatic, film and music inspired bythe Irish tradition. The orchestra presented twenty-nine performances

as part of its Subscription Seasons at the National Concert Hall.Performances under the dynamic leadership of principal conductorAlan Buribayev continued to showcase this conductor’s natural affinity

for the Russian repertoire, with major symphonies by Prokoviev andRachmaninov. On the 150th anniversary of the great late-romanticRichard Strauss, Buribayev also launched a dedicated programmestrand featuring some of Strauss’s most ravishing songs and

spectacular tone poems.

The RTÉ NSO worked with major Irish and international soloists,

including cellist Daniel Müller-Schott, violinist and conductor Julian

Rachlin, pianist Joanna MacGregor, trumpeter and conductor HåkanHardenberger, pianists Barry Douglas and Michael McHale, sopranos

Celine Byrne and Claudia Boyle, flautist James Galway and fiddle playerZoë Conway. In addition, the orchestra showcased a number of risingstars, young Irish musicians making international headlines, including

mezzo-soprano Rachel Kelly, soprano Anna Devin and the Belfast-bornNew York Philharmonic Assistant Conductor Courtney Lewis.

The orchestra was also heard in Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway,the latter in partnership with Music for Galway and featuring AlanBuribayev with superstar German cellist Daniel Müller-Schott.

RTÉ Concert Orchestra

John Wilson made his début as Principal Conductor of the RTÉ Concert

Orchestra (RTÉ CO) in January 2014 with Hollywood Rhapsody , acelebration of instrumental Hollywood film scores. Other notableevents from his first year included a concert performance of Bizet’sCarmen, headed by world-renowned Irish mezzo Patricia Bardon, and acelebration of the music of Jerry Herman. His Essential Classics serieswith the RTÉ CO continued to attract a new audience in 2014. Critical

reaction to Wilson/RTÉ CO performances consistently acknowledgesthe high standards being achieved.

Exceptional performances of guest artists with the RTÉ CO includedthose of jazz guitarist John Scofield and conductor/arranger VinceMendoza, traditional fiddle player Martin Hayes and guitarist Dennis

Cahill, classical guitarist Miloš Karadaglić and singers Lesley Garrett,

Hayley Westenra, Declan O’Rourke and Duke Special.

RTÉ ORCHESTRAS CONTEMPORARY

MUSIC ACTIVITIES

7

6

Dedicated contemporarymusic concerts

2014 2013

Source: RTÉ

World premieres ofRTÉ-commissioned works

3

2

RTÉ Choirs

General

RTÉ CQ

Total

RTÉ CO

Educational

RTÉ CQ

Educational

RTÉ CQ

General

RTÉ CO

General

RTÉ CO Total

RTÉ NSO/

Phil Choir

RTÉ NSO

Educational

RTÉ NSO

General

RTÉ NSO Total

Overall

Educational

Overall General

Overall Total

RTÉ ORCHESTRAS PERFORMANCES

Guest Ensembles

RTÉ Choirs

Education

RTÉ Choirs

Total

2014 2013

7

6

1

1

8

6

9

7

2

9

28

19

30

28

19

21

82

95

101

116

4

7

18

18

70

76

88

94

40

49

199

209

239

258

Source: RTÉ

RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra


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RTÉ ORCHESTRAS EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

Workshops/Mentoring/

Open Rehearsals etc.

Total Educational

Activity

2014 2013

Source: RTÉ

Pre-concert Talks

Educational

Performances

26

30

14

4

40

49

80

83

There were evenings specially dedicated to the music of composers

Shaun Davey and Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin. David Puttnam joined theRTÉ CO and his son Sacha Puttnam for an evening of music and

reminiscences from his film-producing career. In a celebration of hisseventieth birthday, composer Karl Jenkins conducted the RTÉ CO andGoethe-Institut Choir in an evening of his music.

Film screenings with live score included the Irish premieres of Gladiator Live and Pixar in Concert. This year for the first time the RTÉ CObrought a film project to Cork, performing Psycho Live at Cork Opera

House for Halloween.

The RTÉ CO joined Ballet Ireland for performances of Swan Lake,

performed with Lyric Opera for Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore andPuccini’s Tosca, and recorded scores for Things We Throw Away , five

short operas performed open-air in Dublin by Wide Open Opera. Therewere successful appearances at Galway International Arts Festival andat Clifden Arts Festival. The orchestra also participated in a specialtribute in remembrance of the late Seamus Heaney in the National

Concert Hall.

Recording work included the score to The Price of Desire by Golden

Globe nominee and RTÉ CO Artist in Residence Brian Byrne, StephenMcKeon’s score to Ooops! Noah Is Gone and Andy O’Callaghan’s scoreto Mrs Brown’s Boys: D’Movie.

RTÉ Contempo Quartet

Commencing in May 2014, the RTÉ Contempo Quartet began a three

year engagement during which it will provide a range of chamber musicservices. The RTÉ Contempo Quartet gave around thirty concerts/events and three educational workshops. These included performances

in a number of regional locations including Listowel Writers’ Week(May), the Oriel Centre (June – Dundalk Gaol), Farahy, Co. Cork (June),Yeats Summer School (July – Sligo), Clifden (September), Waterford

(October), Letterkenny (November) and Cork (December).

Of particular note was ‘Father & Sons’, a new and ongoing series

of concerts featuring the music of Haydn and a wide range ofcontemporary and non-classical music, presented in both Limerick CityLibrary and the Hugh Lane Gallery Dublin. The quartet’s commitment to

performing contemporary music was also evident in their participationin a concert promoted by Irish Composers Collective at Project Arts

Centre, Dublin, which premiered nine new works by Irish composers.Other Dublin appearances included Bloom Fest, the president’s annual

garden party in Áras an Uachtaráin and Culture Night.

RTÉ Philharmonic Choir

Under the direction of chorus master Mark Hindley, the circa 155-strongRTÉ Philharmonic Choir continued to enhance its reputation, givingcritically acclaimed performances of Bach’s Easter Oratorio and

Brahms’ German Requiem – both with the RTÉ NSO. In May, the choir’sprogramme with the RTÉ NSO included the long delayed world premiereof Irish composer Stanford’s Song to the Soul (almost a hundred years

after it was composed) and Coleridge-Taylor’s evocative The Songof Hiawatha. The choir also displayed considerable stylistic diversity

in performing in an Opera Chorus Night with the RTÉ CO in the Helix,Dublin, and, as part of Culture Night, in premiering Linda Buckley’s RTÉlyric fm commission Beloved on the Earth as part of the RTÉ NSO’s mainseason at the National Concert Hall (NCH).

RTÉ is the single largestsupporter of orchestralmusic in Ireland.

RTÉ Contempo Quartet

Pixar Live


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RTÉ ORCHESTRAS ATTENDANCES

2014 2013

180,133

197,015

Source: RTÉ

RTÉ Choirs

General

RTÉ Quartet

Total

RTÉ CO

Educational

RTÉ Quartet

Educational

RTÉ Quartet

General

RTÉ CO

General

RTÉ CO Total

RTÉ NSO/

Phil Choir

RTÉ NSO

Educational

RTÉ NSO

General

RTÉ NSO Total

Overall

Educational

Overall General

Overall Total

Guest Ensembles

RTÉ Choirs

Education

RTÉ Choirs

Total

2,974

1,047

200

250

4,052

1,906

4,252

2,156

150

954

4,607

2,304

4,757

3,258

13,024

18,659

81,334

92,875

94,358

111,534

3,654

6,786

11,633

8,210

58,505

64,024

70,138

72,234

25,007

28,073

155,126

168,942

The RTÉ NSO andRTÉ PhilharmonicChoir presented theworld premiere of Irishcomposer Linda Buckley’sBeloved on the Earth, anRTÉ lyric fm commission.

The Choral Conductor-in-Training scheme, a partnership between the

RTÉ Philharmonic Choir and the Irish Youth Choir, was offered for asecond time. The recipient of the award was Niall Kinsella, who will assist

and understudy the work of both RTÉ choirs over the forthcoming year.

RTÉ Cór na nÓg

Under the direction of Mary Amond O’Brien, the circa 65-strong

children’s choir, RTÉ Cór na nÓg, (comprising children aged 10+)provided a range of concert activity. In addition to its traditional StPatrick’s Day concert, the choir performed with the RTÉ CO in a Howard

Shore concert (April) and twice on Culture Night (September). Particularhighlights in the year included the excellent concert (December) for theFr Peter McVerry Trust in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, and the choir’s

Christmas concert with the RTÉ Contempo Quartet in St Ann’s, DawsonStreet, Dublin.

Commissions and New Work

The RTÉ NSO’s commitment to new music included its Horizons series featuring composers Rhona Clarke, Marion Ingoldsby, Brian

Irvine and Seán Clancy. The series included world premieres of RTÉ-commissioned works by the featured composers together with themusic of other Irish and international contemporary figures including

Barry, Dusapin, Takemitsu, Skempton and Frank Zappa. Togetherwith the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir, the RTÉ NSO presented the worldpremiere of Irish composer Linda Buckley’s Beloved on the Earth,

commissioned by RTÉ lyric fm.

The RTÉ NSO also presented two concerts as part of the New Music

Dublin 2014 festival in March, in partnership with The Arts Council/AnChomhairle Ealaíon, The National Concert Hall and the ContemporaryMusic Centre. A highlight was Harrison Birtwistle’s darkly energetic EarthDances in the presence of the composer (in partnership with The MusicComposition Centre, Trinity College Dublin), together with major worksby Gerald Barry, Michael Gordon and Claude Vivier

Education

Both RTÉ orchestras were active in the area of music education. The

long-running Music in the Classroom series of concerts for primaryschool children, in association with The Irish Times, continued withconcerts at the National Concert Hall by the RTÉ NSO and a tour that

brought the RTÉ CO to Drogheda, Limerick, Castlebar and Galway.The RTÉ NSO continued to partner with the National Concert Hall in

presenting two bespoke events for Leaving Certificate students andtheir teachers and, at third level, in delivering its Mentoring Scheme for

Advanced Young Musicians.

RTÉ CO entered into a new collaboration with ESB Feis Ceoil,

establishing an orchestral conducting competition. The winner, ElaineKelly, was subsequently engaged for an RTÉ CO summer lunchtimeconcert at the NCH. The same concert featured as soloist the winner

of the Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year 2013, percussionistAlex Petcu-Colan. Other support for emerging talent was provided viacontinuation of the IMRO/RTÉ Scoring for Film Programme, which offers

successful applicants a recording session in the RTÉ radio centre withthe RTÉ CO.

RTÉ Philharmonic Choir


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Partnerships

The RTÉ NSO maintained its close working relationship with RTÉ lyricfm in 2014. This included ongoing broadcast of the RTÉ NSO’s mainseason concerts on RTÉ lyric fm, the seven summer lunchtime concerts

and a number of the seven summer evening concert programmes. Ahighlight was the Bill Whelan Gala, which included the world premiere ofthe RTÉ lyric fm commissioned Linen and Lace, a new flute concerto for

Sir James Galway and symphony orchestra, which was performed tocapacity audiences in Dublin and Limerick, the latter as a flagship eventwithin the Limerick City of Culture celebrations. The RTÉ CO provided

the second of RTÉ’s two orchestral concerts for Limerick City of Culturewhen it performed in a concert in December featuring the music ofMícheál Ó Súilleabháin and lmed for inclusion in a TG4 documentary,Lumen i Luimneach.

In other broadcast projects, the RTÉ CO took part in the RTÉ One HighHopes series; performed in Meeting House Square, Dublin, as part of aRTÉ Radio 1 Arena broadcast for Culture Night; played for RTÉ One’sCarols from Kilkenny Castle; performed live for a special edition of TheJohn Murray Show commemorating World War 1; gave two Mooney

Tunes listeners’ choice concerts and participated in Sunday MiscellanyLive at Christmas.

A high-profile cross-border collaboration saw the RTÉ CO join the UlsterOrchestra to mark the centenary of World War 1 with a performance of

Britten’s War Requiem in Belfast. In another first, the RTÉ CO teamedup with the National Concert Hall to celebrate film composer HowardShore with a concert in the composer’s presence and performed in

NCH-promoted concerts with Bryan Ferry and the outstanding tenorJuan Diego Floréz.

Both orchestras presented concerts of music intended for younger

audiences. The RTÉ CO partnered with the NCH in the first presentationin Ireland of screenings with live score of The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’sChild , while, in collaboration with RTÉjr, the RTÉ NSO presented the first

Irish performance of the full symphonic version of Sir Scallywag andthe Golden Underpants, with pre-performance recital by the children ofRTÉ Cór na nÓg.

The RTÉ NSO collaborated again with Wide Open Opera for thefirst Irish performances of one of the most renowned operas of our

generation, John Adams’ Nixon in China, given at the Bord Gáis Energy

Theatre. It also collaborated with Pipeworks and the National ConcertHall in the presentation of a free organ series linked to the orchestra’s

main season at the National Concert Hall and with the ContemporaryMusic Centre in the presentation of pre-concert talks as part of theorchestra’s free Horizons Contemporary Music Series.

The RTÉ CO enteredinto a new collaborationwith ESB Feis Ceoil,establishing an orchestralconducting competition.

Nixon in China

RTÉ Cór na nÓg


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OPERATIONAL REVIEWRTÉ RADIO


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THE NATIONALBROADCASTER

94% of Irish people use one or more of RTÉ’s services

in any given week.

[Source: B&A, February – December 2014]

rtÉ orchestras, quartet and choirs

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