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RTÉ News
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Something For The Weekend: Sarah Davachi's cultural picks
is a Canadian composer and performer of electroacoustic and minimalist music; her acclaimed work is concerned with the close intricacies of timbral and temporal space, utilizing extended durations and considered harmonic structures that emphasize gradual variations in texture, overtone complexity, psychoacoustic phenomena, and tuning and intonation. Her new composition Song of the Smile's Fig. was commissioned by Eamonn Quinn of Louth Contemporary Music Society, and will be performed by Chamber Choir Ireland at Louth Contemporary Music Society's Echoes Festival on Saturday 14th June. We asked Sarah for her choice cultural picks... FILM My all-time favourite film is Barry Lyndon, every aspect of it – the production, the cinematography, the pathos of the story, the pacing, the music, the costumes – is perfect and I have a thing for slow period epics. It's the kind of film that I would love to score. I also really love the films of Abbas Kiarostami, especially Taste of Cherry and Certified Copy, the way he plays with perspective and narrative has really challenged my thinking and leaves me deeply moved by the films even years later. I've never seen anything like the end of Taste of Cherry, it gave me chills. More recently, I'll give a shout-out to Irish filmmaker Damian McCarthy, who made Oddity and Caveat, which are some of the best horror films I've seen recently. BOOK I'm just finishing a doctoral degree in musicology and I'm still in that headspace, so most of what I read these days is theoretical non-fiction. I look forward to the time when I can return to fiction and really get indulgent with it. Lately I've been going through this two-volume exploration of the compositions and writings of James Tenney, who was an incredible American composer that I think has been greatly overlooked. The books, called The Music of James Tenney, are by Robert Wannamaker, who also has a new book on Tenney's music (called Writings and Interviews on Experimental Music) coming out in June, which is very exciting. In terms of fiction, one of my favourites is Murakami's Kafka on the Shore, it's so beautifully melancholy. I also love reading longer collections of poetry – my favourites are by Rainer Maria Rilke (especially his Sonnets to Orpheus), André Breton, and Richard Brautigan. MUSIC Where to begin? I study and listen to a lot of 'early' music, and recently I've been returning to the work of William Byrd, a renaissance composer who wrote quite a lot of choral music as well as some very beautiful works for keyboard. Listening to early music tends to be as much about the composers as it is about the performers, and different ensembles that interpret the same repertoire can vary greatly in their approaches. I've been returning lately to Noah Greenberg's New York Pro Musica, they've always sounded very straightforward to me, like they embody exactly what you'd imagine when you think of early music and they have this kind of wintry east coast academic vibe that I'm into, so I've really been enjoying going there mentally lately. I also love listening to the Huelgas Ensemble, a group from Belgium that's been around since the 1970s; on the other side of that coin, they often feel very experimental to me in their interpretations, partly in their choice of instrumentation and in the acoustic orientation of the players. There are a lot of contemporary experimental musicians who engage with early music in really meaningful ways (I like to think of myself as belonging to this group of people, if I may say so!), and a few of my favourites right now are Mara Winter, an American composer and flautist based in Switzerland, and Clara Levy, a French composer and violinist based in Belgium. If you follow my monthly radio show on NTS, you'll know that I'm also a huge fan of progressive rock music from the 1970s especially. I've been heavily into South American prog (I contend that the best prog came from Argentina) but lately I've been getting back into Italian prog a bit more, bands like Picchio dal Pozzo, Le Orme, and Latte e Miele. THEATRE I actually don't attend the theatre, and I can't say that I've read many plays outside of the usual suspects that you'd read in university literature courses. Los Angeles is of course better known for its film and television production and I've never lived somewhere that had a strong theatre scene, so it's never been something that I've felt was missing in my life. It clearly wasn't enough to get me into reading plays, but I do remember being very taken by the work of Harold Pinter, which I had to read for a philosophy course I was taking on existentialism. The thematic content is of course interesting, but I was also intrigued by his writing style, which is almost minimalist in its emphasis on negative space by way of silence and pauses. TV My husband and I started watching the Dekalog earlier this year as I'd never seen it before and he's a big fan of the filmmaker. It's a Polish television miniseries made by Krzysztof Kieslowski in the late 1980s, each episode articulating one of the ten commandments in the modern context of people who all live in the same social housing project in Warsaw. There's one episode that I just couldn't deal with (episode 4... there's no moral dilemma to be had, it's just wrong either way) but the rest of the series is really well done. In terms of more modern/mainstream television, I was a big fan of the Ripley miniseries with Andrew Scott in the titular role. It was gorgeously shot, wonderfully acted, beautiful sound design, and the pacing is just incredible. GIG I regrettably also don't attend as much live music as I should or would like to – I'm a bit of a homebody and Los Angeles is also very conducive to that kind of lifestyle, for better or for worse. Most of the concerts that I take in happen while I'm on tour, which I do quite a lot, alongside other things that are happening at the concerts or festivals that I play. Most recently two performances that left a lasting impression on me were a collaborative commission by Ed Atkins and Chris Shields, which I heard at the Organ Sound Art Festival in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2024, and a presentation of Éliane Radigue's Occam Ocean for orchestra, performed by Onceim as part of Festival Musica in Strasbourg, France in September 2024. Those kinds of works hit completely differently when they're resonating in a large, acoustic space as opposed to a recording. ART Similar to the music I described above, I find that most works of art just impact you in a completely different way when you see them in person. A few years ago I was giving a concert in Madrid and I had a few days off there so I went to the Museo del Prado as I'd never been. I didn't realize that they had Francisco Goya's Black Paintings series there, so I just stumbled onto it by accident and was really overwhelmed. I think part of it is knowing that they weren't created for public consumption, so there's a desperation and a sadness about them that feels really vulnerable, especially in comparison to the public works that he is known for. He simply painted these directly onto the walls of the house he was living in and that gives them a much darker feel, both visually but also psychologically. El Perro (The Dog) especially, something about seeing it in person made me want to vomit, it just felt so tragic and lonely. RADIO/PODCAST I actually don't really listen to a lot of podcasts for whatever reason. If I'm not listening to music, I tend to just prefer silence. And sometimes listening to people talk lulls me to sleep, which is obviously not good when you live in a city that requires driving on a constant basis. I occasionally listen to episodes of Marc Maron's WTF podcast – his interview style used to really bother me because he frequently interrupts people, but I've grown to embrace it and I think he conducts pretty honest and unusual discussions, which I appreciate. TECH I don't know that I have a great answer for this question. On a personal level, I adore geography games/apps, like this one, where you identify all kinds of maps, both current and historical, geopolitical and topographical. I love that kind of stuff and am always looking for similar games that challenge your memory in different ways. On a professional level, I suppose the main "tech" that I use these days is for sorting out tuning systems. There's an online tool built by the German theorist and composer Caspar Johannes Walter that I use quite a lot, he has a lot of amazing resources on his website, and I also use the Hayward Tuning Vine, which is an incredible lattice-based interface designed by Robin Hayward, a British musician and composer based in Berlin, also notable for developing the microtonal tuba mechanism. On my phone, I use the iStroboSoft app for in situ tuning – it's modelled after the old Peterson strobe tuners and it's great, it allows you to do a lot of tuning modifications and achieve a level of specificity that most generic tuners struggle with. THE NEXT BIG THING... I can't think of an answer that isn't pessimistic and sardonic in light of the current state of the world, so I will leave it at that for fear of sounding too negative. Perhaps just enjoying whatever you can in life, I guess – that's really important and I think it's also severely underrated. Life is short, take whatever meaning you can, whenever and wherever you can get it.
Irish Examiner
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
In profile: Donnchadh Mac Aodha, winner of the composition competition at Cork Choral Festival
When Donnchadh Mac Aodha was deciding where to pursue his musical studies, the obvious choice was Dublin, just down the road from his home in Dundalk, Co Louth. But as a traditional Irish and classical musician also interested in contemporary composition, he found the perfect fit further afield, in UCC. 'I was set on Dublin but when I looked into the course specifics, it was that blend of traditional, classical and contemporary that drew me to UCC,' he says. Mac Aodha is currently completing a degree in Irish and music at UCC, where he is a Quercus creative and performing arts scholar. Earlier this year, he was announced as winner of the prestigious Seán Ó Riada composition competition, which celebrates new works from Irish composers. His winning composition, a choral piece entitled Babel, draws on his love for traditional music and the Irish language, and was described by the judges as "captivating" with "a distinct musical identity". It will be performed by Chamber Choir Ireland at St Fin Barre's Cathedral Cork this Friday as part of the Cork International Choral Festival. The decision to study at UCC has paid off both professionally and personally. 'I wanted something that encompassed everything. I have had an absolute ball in terms of the extracurricular stuff as well," says Mac Aodha. Coralia of the University of Puerto Rico performing at last year's Cork International Choral Festival. Picture: Chani Anderson Mac Aodha, who plays tin whistle, flute, trad harp and piano, has cultivated his many talents under the guidance of lecturers including contemporary art music specialist and founding member of Crash Ensemble, John Godfrey, and traditional music scholar and concertina player, Jack Talty. His love for the Irish language is reflected in his use of a poem by Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh, from which his composition Babel takes its name. Inspiration struck, as it often does, when Mac Aodha was under creative pressure. 'Ailbhe was actually a lecturer of mine in UCC. The deadline for the composition was probably about three weeks away, and I still had no text. I whipped out some books and started going through them. I found the poem and I just emailed her asking her 'can I please use this'.' Mac Aodha grew up steeped in traditional music. His mother played flute and the family would go to the Fleadh Cheoil and various festivals and summer schools around the country. 'My dad had no choice even though he doesn't play music, although there is a lot of music on his side. 'Music in the blood with poor circulation' is always his line,' he laughs. The various cycles whereby traditional music or the Irish language are deemed to be 'cool' again leaves Mac Aodha somewhat bemused. 'Maybe in terms of outside appreciation, traditional music and the Irish language is on an upward trajectory but it's hard to say that within your own circle, because I've grown up playing traditional music since I was wee and I know so many people that play it. We've always been playing away and we don't need to be kind of rejuvenated and reinvented. I wouldn't see any people that I play with as backwards or old-style.' Outside of his studies, Mac Aodha says he has started listening to a lot of folk music. 'It's always been hard to even define what folk is in Ireland… I listen to a lot of Joshua Burnside, and Ye Vagabonds. I enjoy it, and you can pull stuff from that into your own compositions.' In his own composition Babel, the judges reflected positively on 'the (quite deliberate) absence of harmonic stability'. Mac Aodha is very aware of the balance between composing a challenging work and not alienating the listener, or the performer. "My mum is getting to grips with all this contemporary stuff, and she says, 'So is that piece going to be normal or wacky?'. At the moment, I'm treading some sort of line in between. A lot of the choral scene is amateur musicians, so if it's not enjoyable to sing, they're not going to sing it. That's the way music survives — that it is performed. With choral music, you really want to have something that draws people back to it. There's too much music in circulation for people to be working away at something that they're not enjoying for weeks on end.' Babel will be performed at St Fin Barre's Cathedral Cork as part of a concert performance by Chamber Choir Ireland this Friday, May 2, at 7.30pm. Cork International Choral Festival runs April 30 - May 4. For full details, see Cork International Choral Festival through the years* 1954: The inaugural Cork International Choral Festival is established. 1957: A 21-year-old Luciano Pavarotti gave his first Irish performance at the Cork International Choral Festival, as part of a male voice choir called Societa Corale Gioachino Rossini, from Modena in northern Italy. 1964: Introduction of the International Trophy Competition, which was later renamed the Fleischmann International Trophy Competition in honor of Aloys Fleischmann, a significant figure in the festival's history. 1959: Expansion of the festival to include a vibrant Fringe Fest, bringing choral music beyond traditional concert halls. A concert at Cork City Hall during the Choral Festival in 1955. Picture: Irish Examiner Archive 1962: The Seminar for Contemporary Music began in 1962 with the commissioning of Seán Ó'Riada, Edmond Rubbra and Darius Milhaud and over the following years commissioned multiple distinguished composers including; Flor Peeters (1963), Herbert Howells and Elizabeth Maconchy (1965), William Walton (1974), John Tavener (1990) and Mícheál O'Súilleabháin (2000). 1966: The launch of the Schools Competition, fostering a love of choral music among young singers. 1972: Introduction of the Seán Ó Riada Competition, initially designed to encourage amateur adult Irish choirs to perform original works in the Irish language. By 1976, it had evolved into a composition competition. 2000: Introduction of the Light Jazz and Popular Music Competition, which this year our most popular competition. 2010: A reimagining of the Seán Ó Riada Composition Competition, incorporating anonymous submissions to ensure unbiased judging. 2021: Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival embraced virtual performances, keeping the music alive during a time of global uncertainty. 2021: The launch of the IBEC Workplace Choir of the Year, celebrating the role of music in corporate and community life. 2022: A return to live performances, reaffirming the festival's place at the heart of Cork's cultural scene. 2025: The festival's landmark 70th anniversary, set to feature a special programme of concerts, events, and tributes honouring its legacy. (*Source: Cork International Choral Festival)
