‘THE SYMPHONY SESSIONS’
RTÉ One, Monday 5 September, 10.15pm
Programme 4 of 4
‘THE SYMPHONY SESSIONS: TCHAIKOVSKY & DENNEHY’
Conductor Robert Houlihan leads the RTÉ NSO in prepartion and the performance of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo And Juliet Fantasy Overture and a new composition by Irish composer, Donnacha Dennehy.
Tchaikovsky: Romeo And Juliet Fantasy Overture
Dennehy: Elastic Harmonic
violin: Ioana Petcu-Colan
conductor: Robert Houlihan
SERIES BACKGROUND
The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra: 89 people (sometimes a few less, occasionally quite a few more) with just one thing in common – the magnificent sound they make together. In a new four-part RTÉ TV series featuring the orchestra, ‘The Symphony Sessions’ takes viewers behind the scenes and into the music.
If you’ve ever wondered what lies behind the black tie and tails and the formal frocks, tune in to RTÉ One on Monday nights to find out. These programmes could change the way you look at – and listen to – a symphony orchestra.
At the heart of the series, there’s wonderful music, from 18th-century Germany to 20th-century America to 21st-century Ireland. Bernstein, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven – from immediately recognisable classics of the orchestral repertoire to a world première by the young Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy.
You get to eavesdrop on rehearsals, to discover something of what’s behind the glorious sound of an orchestra at full throttle. There are revealing interviews with some of Ireland’s international rising star soloists and with the conductors from Germany, the US and Ireland. Composer Donnacha Dennehy describes his approach to writing for the TV audience for the first time. And we also talk to the orchestra members themselves about their lives – the ordinary men and women whose everyday job is to produce the exuberance, power and beauty of this tremendous music.
Featuring three of Ireland’s most successful young soloists, Catherine Leonard (violin), Carol McGonnell (clarinet) and Ioana Petcu-Colan (violin).
Conducted by the RTÉ NSO’s Principal Conductor Gerhard Markson, Principal Guest Conductor William Eddins and Guest Conductor Robert Houlihan. (RTÉ TV viewers will have seen William Eddins lead the orchestra last year in the successful series ‘Rhapsody in the Park’.)
DONNACHA DENNEHY – BIOG
Born in 1970, Donnacha Dennehy studied flute and counterpoint at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and music at Trinity College Dublin. With the assistance of a Fulbright Scholarship he followed graduate studies in composition for four years at the University of Illinois, USA. He undertook further studies in electronic music at the Royal Conservatory of the Netherlands, and IRCAM, Paris. His composition teachers have included Hormoz Farhat, Salvatore Martirano, William Brooks and Herbert Brun. He now lives in Dublin, where he lectures in music technology and composition at Trinity College Dublin, and is artistic director of the Crash Ensemble.
As a composer he is especially interested in writing for “mixed media” ensembles. He has received numerous commissions, and his pieces have been performed by among others, the London Sinfonietta, the Percussion Group of the Hague, Orkest de Volharding, the Crash Ensemble, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, London Brass, Camilla Hoitenga and Joanna MacGregor.
His music has been featured at festivals such as the Bath International Music Festival, the Saarbrucken Festival of 20th Century Music, the Gaudeamus Music Days, and the State of the Nation at the South Bank, London.
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