The National Concert Hall has announced details of its new International Concert Series, which takes place between January and November 2022.

The 13 concerts will feature a range of international soloists and groups as well as Irish artists.

It opens on 20 January with pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason of the famous British musical family. She recently released her second solo album Summertime as well as Muse with her brother, the cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason. In her solo Dublin programme, she will perform Mozart Beethoven, Sofia Gubaidulina, Scriabin, Rachmaninov and Chopin.

In February, South African soprano Golda Schultz accompanied by Jonathan Ware will present a full programme of works by female composers including Clara Schumann, Nadia Boulanger, Rebecca Clarke, Emilie Mayer, and a new work ‘This be her Verse’ by South African pianist and composer Kathleen Tagg.  

Celebrated pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard will make his NCH debut in March, with a programme including Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Mozart, Elliott Carter, CPE Bach, Beethoven and George Benjamin. 

In April, Joyce DiDonato returns to Dublin with a new project titled Eden. Accompanied by Italian baroque ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro under Maxim Emelyanychev, Eden is a theatrical and musical exploration of the majesty, might, and mystery of nature and the relationship we have to our environment. The show is directed by Marie Lambert-Le Bihan.

 
In June, the Irish Baroque Orchestra will joined by award-winning violinist and musical director Rachel Podger, whose recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons won her a BBC Music Magazine Award. She also received Gramophone Artist of the Year. Podger and the Orchestra will perform a complete programme of Bach with Claire Duff, Kinga Ujszászi, Malcolm Proud, Miriam Kaczor and Alex Bellamy. 

Autumn concerts
The Hallé Orchestra under Delyana Lazarova return to Dublin in September with a programme of Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Guy Johnston performing British-Bulgarian composer Dobrinka Tabakova’s Cello Concerto. Pianist Philippe Cassard will celebrate his 60th birthday in September also with a concert that features Ailish Tynan, Finghin Collins, Fiachra Garvey, Katherine Hunka, Joachim Roewer, Christian Elliott and Malachy Robinson. 

In October, the innovative Aurora Orchestra will make their Irish debut with a concert featuring Three Studies from Couperin by Thomas Adès, Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G played by Tom Poster, and Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique played from memory. Poster will also give a recital with his wife, violinist Elena Urioste, in the Kevin Barry Room on 26 October, and the following day the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective will perform a programme featuring music by Antonín Dvorák, and, to mark Black History Month, rarely heard works by Florence Price, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and George Walker.

Finally, in November, the Chineke! Orchestra with pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason will also perform works by Price, Coleridge-Taylor and Walker on 13 November; the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir with founder and artistic director Tõnu Kaljuste will perform Arvo Pärt and Veljo Tormis on 16 November; and, to complete the season, on 28 November, the French Ébène Quartet will perform Ligeti and Purcell and also be joined by Finghin Collins to play Brahms Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34. 

Commenting on the series, Robert Read, CEO of the National Concert Hall, said:  

As the National Cultural Institution for music in Ireland, we are proud to once again be a position to welcome world-class visiting musicians to our stage and to showcase our own leading artists in a series that invites audiences to ‘rediscover’ and ‘reimagine’ the concert experience and what this series has to offer. The first International Series at the NCH to be presented in over a year, it celebrates musical excellence and diversity, ensuring accessibility and cultural equity both on and off stage. 

Expanding musical horizons and encouraging engagement with music as a means of personal development, creative involvement and social inclusion is a key feature of our strategy for the organisation and it is my hope that this series demonstrates our commitment to that vision and to our ambition to be a world-class centre for music and a symbol of national pride for Irish people everywhere.

All concerts will be preceded by a pre-concert talk. Tickets from €15 are on sale on Friday 17 December at 10am (or Wednesday 15th December for NCH Friends, Season Friends and Patrons) from www.nch.ie. Download the season brochure below.