amplify – Details, episodes & analysis

Larissa O'Grady joins CMC's Jonathan Grimes for an explorative discussion about her new release, Six New Works for Violin. on Farpoint Recordings. Show Notes Six New Works for Violin (Farpoint Recordings) by Larissa O'Grady Six New Works For Violin is the debut release by Larissa O'Grady on the Farpoint Recordings label, and features an extraordinary programme of new music composed by a collection of six leading Irish composers including David Bremner, Jenn Kirby, Judith Ring, Anselm McDonnell, Robert Coleman, Fiona Linnane. This project came into existence as part of the Contemporary Artists Network, established by the Contemporary Music Centre, which pairs composers and performers interested in engaging with contemporary music from Ireland as artistic partners. As part of this Network, in 2022 Larissa O'Grady commissioned six new works for violin and electronics/multimedia by a group of six composers from Ireland, collaborating to explore the possibilities of new sounds, which culminated in a public performance of the commissioned works for violin and multimedia. These commissions were generously supported by Arts Council Ireland. Featuring a wide range of presentations from spoken word to sensor led playback, live and fixed electronics, microtonal writing conveying the chemical process of burning sugar, and a live field recordist recording and playing back the violin and sounds of a greater spotted woodpecker. Farpoint Recordings

• David Bremner
  • CMC Composer Page
• Robert Coleman
  • CMC Composer Page
• Jenn Kirby
  • CMC Composer Page
• Fiona Linnane
  • CMC Composer Page
• Judith Ring
  • CMC Composer Page
• Anselm McDonnell
  • CMC Composer Page

Music All music featured in this episode is available from Farpoint Recordings from the links below. Salient Memories - David Bremner Body Fragmented - Jenn Kirby Swept Through the Floods - Judith Ring Rusted Sugar - Anselm McDonnell Capturing Sound - Robert Coleman Would Be Poetess - Fiona Linnane Episode Credits Recording and editing: Jonathan Grimes Additional Editing: Keith Fennell Introduction: Evonne Ferguson

A live podcast discussion recorded at the 2024 West Cork Chamber Music Festival. Composers Rhona Clarke and Deirdre Gribbin join Jonathan Grimes to discuss their work on ‘Magdalene Songs’, an ongoing project by pianist Deirdre Brenner, which features their songs along with songs by Deirdre McKay, all based on testimonies from survivors of the Magdalene Laundries. This discussion took place following a performance the previous evening of the ‘Magdalene Songs’ by mezzo Lotte Betts-Dean and Deirdre Brenner. From 1922 to 1996, more than 10,000 women and girls were incarcerated in Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries. Operated by four religious orders in 10 locations around the country, these for-profit institutions detained individuals against their will and forced them to work long hours, unpaid, under abusive and humiliating conditions. These institutions committed some of the most serious systematic violations against human rights in Ireland in the 20th century. This work by is intended to honour those women who were so gravely mistreated by church and state in the Magdalene Laundries by giving voice to their experience. Show Notes • https://www.westcorkmusic.ie/chamber-music-festival/ • https://www.rhonaclarke.com/ • https://www.cmc.ie/composers/rhona-clarke • http://jfmresearch.com/home/preserving-magdalene-history/about-the-magdalene-laundries/ • https://www.deirdregribbin.com/ • https://www.cmc.ie/composers/deirdre-gribbin • https://www.cmc.ie/composers/deirdre-mckay • https://www.deirdre-brenner.com/ • https://www.lottebettsdean.com/ Music All music from Magdalene Songs, performed live at West Cork Chamber Music Festival on 5 July 2024 at St Brendan’s Hall, Bantry by Lotte Betts-Dean (mezzo-soprano) and Deirdre Brenner (piano), and recorded by RTÉ Lyric fm. • Rhona Clarke - Martina • Deirdre Gribbin - Bernadette • Rhona Clarke - Evelyn • Deirdre McKay - Litany to the Magdalene Dead Recording and editing: Keith Fennell

A performance from composer and improviser Bianca Gannon, recorded at IMRO on 25 April during CMC’s New Music Dublin Exchange - a programme which took place during the New Music Dublin festival, to which representatives of some of the most significant international contemporary music festivals, venues, programmers, promoters and broadcasters were invited.​

Show Notes

• Bianca Gannon
• New Music Dublin Exchange

Recorded and edited by Keith Fennell

CMC wishes to thank Culture Ireland for their funding of New Music Dublin Exchange, and IMRO for their support.

Production and editing - Jonathan Grimes, Keith Fennell

Episode 15 of CMC’s podcast features composer and producer Matthew Whiteside on the current challenges for composers and musicians in light of the Covid–19 Pandemic, and harpist and composer Úna Monaghan on working on ‘Aonaracht I’, a collection of pieces for New Music Dublin. Presented by Jonathan Grimes and Evonne Ferguson.

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Please get in touch - amplify@cmc.ie

Show Notes

• Matthew Whiteside
  • www.matthewwhiteside.co.uk/
  • Twitter
• The Night With
• Classical Next
• Scottish New Music Awards
• Ensemble Offspring concert
• Úna Monaghan
• Aonaracht I

Music

Please consider supporting these and other Irish composers and musicians by purchasing their music

• Úna Monaghan - Réalta
• Matthew Whiteside - Response One
• David Fennessy - Hirta Rounds
• Matthew Whiteside - Quartet No. 6
• Linda Buckley - Oscillate
• Úna Monaghan - Aonaracht I (rehearsal recording)

Episode 14 of CMC’s podcast features an interview with sound artist and instrument designer Ed Devane on live streaming and the use of technology in creating and sharing music, composer Brian Irvine on his Totally Made Up Orchestra, and recent music from John McLachlan, Izumi Kimura and Cora Venus Lunny. Presented by Jonathan Grimes and Evonne Ferguson.

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Please get in touch - amplify@cmc.ie

Show Notes

• John McLachlan Soundcloud
• Covid–19 update from CMC
• Covid–19 survey
• Ed Devane
• Plastic
• Brian Irvine
• Ed Devane Instagram
• Helmholtz Challenge
• Izumi Kimura
• Cora Venus Lunny
• Field Recording Project
• Farpoint Recordings
• Totally Made Up Orchestra

Music

Please consider supporting these and other Irish composers and musicians by purchasing their music

• John McLachlan - Segue 1
• Devane / Parmar ISSTA Cork 2019
• Ed Devane - The Strolling Zither
• Izumi Kimura - Storm Emma, Above and Below

Episode 13 of CMC’s podcast includes an update on CMC’s working arrangements following the closure of its building to the public in light of the Covid–19 emergency, and a selection of recordings from Ed Bennett, Linda Buckley, Roger Doyle, Gráinne Mulvey, Ailís Ní Ríain and Garrett Sholdice. Presented by Jonathan Grimes and Evonne Ferguson.

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Please get in touch - amplify@cmc.ie

Show Notes

• cmc.ie/Covid–19
• Fee guidelines for music commissions
• Ed Bennett
• Linda Buckley
• Roger Doyle
• Gráinne Mulvey
• Ailís Ní Ríain
• Garrett Sholdice

Music

Please consider supporting these and other Irish composers and musicians by purchasing their music

• Ed Bennett - Togetherness (excerpt), Decibel
• Gráinne Mulvey - Awakening
• Ailís Ní Ríain - Highfalutin (excerpt), Iwona Glinka (flutes)
• Roger Doyle - Second Oak
• Linda Buckley - Númarímur (excerpt), Elizabeth Hilliard (voice)
• Garrett Sholdice - Weihnachtliche Musik / 2013, Garrett Sholdice (piano)

A live recording of CMC’s podcast held during New Music Dublin on 1 March 2020. The event featured an interview with composer Kevin O’Connell, whose portrait concert performed by the Hard Rain Ensemble took place during the festival, and a panel discussion on diversity in new music, ‘Whose music?’, with NMDX programme delegates Eve O’Donnell (National Sawdust) and David Pay (Music on Main), composer Amanda Feery, and New Music Dublin Festival Director John Harris. Presented by Evonne Ferguson and Jonathan Grimes.

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Production, editing and recording - Keith Fennell

Show Notes

• Kevin O’Connell
• Kevin O’Connell portrait concert at New Music Dublin
• Dreamcatchr - opera by Kevin O’Connell and Lily Akerman
• Amanda Feery
• Eve O’Donnell
• National Sawdust
• David Pay
• Music on Main
• John Harris
• New Music Dublin

Music

• Kevin O’Connell - Aves de Paso III, Elizabeth Hilliard, Paul Roe, David Bremner.

See www.cmc.ie/amplify/episode-12-NMD-Live for full details 

A special episode for International Women's Day, featuring recordings of works by Jennifer Walshe, Anna Murray and Jenn Kirby from their recent albums, introduced by the composers.

Music

• Jennifer Walshe - Hildegard von Bingen: In Principio Omnes, from Ordo Virtutum
• Anna Murray - Rndr7 (Moon) (extract)
• Jenn Kirby - Smart Music

Featured albums

Jennifer Walshe - A Late Anthology of Early Music Vol. 1

Anna Murray - Rndr II

Jenn Kirby - Machine Being

Production and editing - Jonathan Grimes Recording - Keith Fennell

To mark International Women's Day 2020, episode 10 of CMC's podcast amplify profiles the work of the Sounding the Feminists collective with a conversation between Evonne Ferguson and STF Working Group Members Ann Cleare, Karen Power and Laura Watson; and STF Research Associate, Ciara Murphy on her project to carry out a Gender Balance Review Project for the collective. Presented by Jonathan Grimes.

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Show Notes

• Sounding the Feminists
• Ann Cleare
• Karen Power
• Laura Watson
• Ciara Murphy
• Sounding the Feminists and Contemporary Music Centre Announce Gender Balance Review Project 2019

Music

• Ann Cleare - fiáin, Crash Ensemble from the Album Crashlands - 00:02
• Karen Power - Invitation to Wander, Quiet Music Ensemble, Ute Wassermann, Michelle O’ Rourke, Sound Choir led by Karen Power - 17:13

Production and editing - Jonathan Grimes Recording - Keith Fennell

Episode 9 of CMC’s podcast features a conversation recorded in early February 2020 at the University of Limerick during the International Conference on Live Coding. Guests include writer-artist Emma Cocker, musician Alex McLean, composers Neil O’Connor and Giuseppe Torre, and curator Nora O’ Murchú. Presented by Jonathan Grimes.

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Show Notes

• International Conference on Live Coding 2020 Emma Cocker
• Alex McLean
• Nora O’ Murchú
• Neil O’Connor
• Giuseppe Torre
• International Conference on Live Coding YouTube channel
• CMC Live Amplify podcast recording at New Music Dublin - 1 March 2020

Music

• Ordinance Survey - Chrome - 00:02, 26:18
• Kate Sicchio, Marissa Forbes and Zeshan Wang- Terpiscode - 02:09
• Alex McLean - Prototype - 05:34
• Char Stiles - eCosystem - 09:34
• Alex McLean - Bionic March - 17:25