Saturday 1st April
Ramadan Diaries. A weekly series running on Saturdays from 25th March to 15th April, in which a variety of Irish Muslims share insights into how their faith impacts on their lives during the holy month of Ramadan. (17.40, RTÉ One)
Sunday 2nd April (Palm Sunday)
Mass for Palm Sunday. Fr Paul Dunne celebrates Mass with parishioners from Our Lady Mother of Divine Grace parish, Raheny, Dublin, featuring music from the Raheny Folk Group, which, this year, celebrates its 50th year in continuous service. (11.00-11.55, RTÉ One & RTÉ Radio 1 Extra / LW252)
Service for Palm Sunday led by the Ven. Simon J. Lumby in St. Mary’s, Killarney, Co. Kerry – “the Church of the Sloes.” (14.15, RTÉ News Channel)
Passover: Festival of Freedom. Rabbi Zalman Lent and members of Dublin’s Jewish community explore the Passover story of liberation and freedom. Dublin Bakery owner, Caryna Camerino, retells her grandfather Enzo’s story of surviving the holocaust and shares how her family marks Passover/Pesach with a traditional Seder meal. Lucy John is a 29-year-old Jewish refugee from Donetsk, who shares her modern-day exodus story from war in Ukraine. With the help of Ireland’s Jewish community, she has found sanctuary in the Dublin home of Renee Borchardt, a 95-year-old Jewish woman. (17.30, RTÉ One)
Thursday 6th April, 2023 (Holy / Maundy Thursday)
Chrism Mass from St Aidan’s Cathedral, Enniscorthy (10.30am, RTÉ News Channel)
Service for the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. A multi-denominational Service on Holy / Maundy Thursday, marking the 25th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement. A diverse group of religious and community leaders, peacemakers, activists, survivors and family members of victims of The Troubles come together to re-affirm the principles of the Belfast Agreement. (16.40 on RTÉ One TV & 19.00 RTÉ Radio 1 Extra / LW252)
Friday 7th April, 2023 (Good Friday)
Solemn Liturgy for Good Friday broadcast live from the Franciscan Friary, Multyfarnham, Co. Meath. The Principal Celebrant is Very Rev. Kieran Cronin OFM. Featuring the Schola Cantorum of St. Finian’s College, Mullingar. The Music Director and Organist is Mr Gerard Lillis. Music featured will include “The Reproaches” arr. John O’Keeffe (Plainchant), “Attende Domine” (Plainchant), “Deus Meus, Adiuva Me” (Ancient Hymn in Gaelic and Latin). (15.00-16.00 RTÉ One & RTÉ Radio 1 Extra)
Searmanas na Páise. Craolfar Searmanas na Páise inniu beo ó Shéipéal Ghobnatan i gCúil Aodha, Co. Chorcaí. (Good Friday ceremonies will be broadcast live today from Séipéal Ghobnatan in Cúil Aodha in Co. Cork.) (15.00, Raidio na Gaeltachta) Saturday 8th April, 2023 (Holy Saturday)
Daybreak with Evonne Ferguson. Evonne Ferguson will be up with the early birds to share her gentle blend of musical selections for the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, plus news and weather. Music for the day before Easter Sunday includes Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater, with counter-tenor, Andreas
Scholl and Ensemble 415 and a selection of different settings from across the centuries of the chant Ubi Caritas, traditionally sung as part of the Holy Thursday liturgy. And at 9.20 we explore the lesser-known realms of nature on our island in Nature File with ecologist, Anja Murray. (0700-1000, RTÉ Lyric fm)
Ramadan Diaries. A weekly series from 25th March to 15th April, in which a variety of Irish Muslims share insights into how their faith impacts on their lives during the holy month of Ramadan. (17.40, RTÉ One)
The Easter Vigil Mass broadcast from the Franciscan Friary, Multyfarnham, County Meath. The Principal Celebrant is the Very Rev. Kieran Cronin OFM. He will be accompanied by Rev. Gabriel Kinahan OFM. Featuring the Schola Cantorum of St. Finian’s College, Mullingar. The Music Director and Organist is Mr Gerard Lillis. Music featured in the Easter Vigil will include the Exultet Out Of Darkness by Tom Kendzia, the “Laudamus Te” by Vivaldi; “Song of the Resurrection” by Ronan McDonagh and “In Christ Alone” by Getty & Townend (23.00-00.15, RTÉ One & RTÉ Radio 1 Extra / LW252)
Sunday 9th April, 2023 (Easter Sunday)
Vox Nostra with Vlad Smishkewych. Vlad invites you to enjoy some of the most exquisite vocal Early Music dedicated to this special feast day in the Church calendar. Not only will we hear vocal works written for the feast of the resurrection going back over 1200 years, but sacred chamber music will also receive prominence this week. Biber’s Sonata XI, The Resurrection, is the centrepiece of today’s show, alongside a wide range of new releases from Capella Pratensis, La Corte Musical, Profeti della Quinta and La Morra. (0700-1000, RTÉ Lyric fm)
Easter Sunday Mass from L’Église de St-Pierre, Fribourg, Switzerland, with commentary and translation by Michael Kelly. (10.00-11.00, RTÉ One & RTÉ Radio 1 Extra / LW252)
Aifreann an Domhnaigh. Craolfar aifreann Dhomhnach Cásca inniu beo ó Shipéal Ghobnatan i gCúil Aodha, Co. Chorcaí. (Easter Sunday mass will be broadcast today live from Séipéal Ghobnatan in Cúil Aodha in Co. Cork.) (11.00, Raidio na Gaeltachta)
Easter Sunday Service with staff and pupils of Methodist College, Belfast (1100-1145, RTÉ One & RTÉ Radio 1 Extra / LW252)
Urbi et Orbi – Pope Francis’ Easter Message (11.45-12.10, RTÉ One)
The Secret Peacemaker. Drama-documentary about the secret role played by the visionary and maverick Redemptorist priest, Fr Alec Reid, in devising and developing the peace plan that brought an end to violence, 25 years ago, in Northern Ireland. (2230-midnight, RTÉ One)
Elsewhere on RTÉ this Holy Week…
During Holy Week, there is Mass at 1030am every day from Monday to Thursday on the RTÉ New Channel. Also…
On RTÉ Lyric FM…
NIALL CARROLL’S CLASSICAL DAYTIME – SHIRLEY KEANE PRESENTING (10am-1pm, Mon. 3rd – Fri. 7th April)
Shirley Keane plays music from the heart of the classical repertoire, with Sounds on Screen, a piece from the big or small screen each day at 11am, and each day at midday, one of Shirley’s Five of a Kind. This week Shirley chooses five movements from Joseph Haydn’s Paris Symphonies. Each day, the series will also feature an episode of…
Jerusalem Passion. Another chance to hear this award-winning five-part series, exploring the Passion of Christ through dramatisations of medieval texts, with documentary contributions and original music, elucidating universal themes of suffering and devotion. Produced by Conor O’Toole; Dramatic parts played by Mark D’Aughton; Historical Contributor Dr Malgorzata Krasnodebska-D’Aughton of UCC School of History; Original Music composed and performed by Mark Wilkins
Monday 3rd April Episode 1: Jerusalem as the centre of the world. Exploring the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as a pilgrimage site with the aid of the only medieval account of a pilgrimage from Ireland to Jerusalem ‘The Journey of Simon Semeonis from Ireland to the Holy Land’. (RTÉ Lyric FM)
Tuesday 4th April Episode 2: Visions of Jerusalem. Virtual pilgrimage and relics of the Passion are explored using dramatisations from the medieval travelogue ‘The Journey of Simon Semeonis from Ireland to the Holy Land’. (RTÉ Lyric FM)
Wednesday 5th April. Episode 3: Images of Suffering. The significance of personalised accounts of suffering and the ‘The Journey of Simon Semeonis from Ireland to the Holy Land’. (RTÉ Lyric FM)
Thursday 6th April. Episode 4: The Suffering Mother. The featured text is the Latin hymn Stabat Mater Dolorosa which is attributed to the 13th century Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi. Edward Caswall translation from the Lyra Catholica (1849) is used as starting point for a discussion of depictions of Mary living through the suffering of her son. (RTÉ Lyric FM)
Friday 7th April. Episode 5: The Death of Christ (Good Friday 7th April). Francis of Assisi’s ‘The Office of the Passion of the Lord’ is the textual base for an introduction to medieval forms of devotion to the suffering of Christ. (RTÉ Lyric FM)
THE FULL SCORE WITH LIZ NOLAN
MONDAY 3RD APRIL. Liz begins Holy Week with a concert of radiant music on the theme of light featuring music by Glass and Pärt performed by Mari Samuelsen, violin with the BBC Concert Orchestra and Anna-Maria Helsing, conductor. Philip Glass explores scientific possibility in the first piece he ever wrote for a symphony orchestra, The Light. Norwegian violinist Mari Samuelsen brings her imagination and finesse to a selection of haunting pieces, including Peteris Vasks’ luminously mournful Lonely Angel and Arvo Pärt’s transcendent Fratres, one of the composer’s tintinnabula works, characterised by pure, bell-like sounds. Liz Nolan presents a showcase of unabridged musical masterworks, featuring live recordings of Irish and international performers, plus selections from the latest CD releases. (1300-1600, RTÉ Lyric FM)
Wednesday 5th April. In today’s Full Score concert we’ll hear the opening concert of the Irish Chamber Orchestra’s season. We’ll hear Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante and Raymond Deane’s evocative and atmospheric Embers features alongside Haydn’s Symphony No. 49, The Passion Symphony, which explores grief with dramatic flair. Liz Nolan presents a showcase of unabridged musical masterworks, featuring live recordings of Irish and international performers, plus selections from the latest CD releases. (1300-1600, RTÉ Lyric FM)
Irish Chamber Orchestra: Thomas Zehetmair Director/Violin; Ruth Killius Viola
Strauss Serenade Op.7 (arr. Stein)
Mozart Sinfonia Concertante in E flat for Violin and Viola, K364
Raymond Deane Embers
Haydn Symphony No. 49, F minor ‘La Passione’
AEDÍN IN THE AFTERNOON. Stunning choral works this Good Friday afternoon, including the requiems of Mozart, Fauré and Brahms. Aedín also features a selection of recordings from acclaimed Argentine composer and guitarist Gustavo Santaolalla. Jacqueline de Pré plays Gabriel Faure’s Elegie in C minor, pianist Gabriela Montero gives us her take on Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring and we hear a jazzier side of mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter. (1300-1600, RTÉ Lyric FM)
RTÉ lyric Live: National Symphony Orchestra. Paul Herriott brings us Bach’s great St John Passion recorded by the National Symphony Orchestra this afternoon at the National Concert Hall in Dublin at a special performance this Good Friday. David Hill, conductor; James Gilchrist (Evangelist); Aoife Miskelly (soprano); James Hall (countertenor); Dean Power (tenor); National Symphony Chorus – David Young (chorus director). (1900-2200, RTÉ Lyric FM)
SEÁN ROCKS ON SUNDAY. On Easter Sunday, Séan celebrates the best of Easter music, from baroque to contemporary, and from traditions and cultures around the world, including the whole of Bach’s infamous Easter Oratorio, sung by the Gabrieli Consort, and a beautiful version of traditional slow Easter Snow played by Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh. For a beautiful mix of music. (1300-1600, RTÉ Lyric FM)
