Latest news with #NationalConcertHall
Irish Independent
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Notions and necessities: From music and interactive events to spa and GAA experiences, it's all here
Hearing voices The National Concert Hall is hosting its inaugural Festival of Voice from June 27 to 29 at the NCH and other venues throughout Dublin. Dedicated to the power, beauty and universality of the human voice, the festival offers a weekend of main stage and more intimate concerts, pop-up events and interactive workshop performances. Artists taking part include Tolü Makay, Dublin Gay Men's Chorus, Eimear Quinn and sean nós singer Iarla Ó Lionáird. LH For tickets, see National Concert Hall Box Office, Tel: 01-4170000 or NOTION Living the dream The Dream Point Experience for children is a multi-room immersive experience from the creators of the Van Gogh Experience that has just launched in Dublin. The 21,000sq ft premises includes a balloon room, a projection space featuring an interactive animation wall, an inflatable room, glow corridor, and a ball-pit room with 250,000 balls. Dream Point operates in 90-minute sessions, six days a week (it is closed Tuesdays), and will be open for a six-month run. LH See NECESSITY Quiet time The working-outside-the-home parent-of-small-children in your life is about to enter the school-summer-holidays-hell months. Before that kicks off, treat them to some childfree relaxation time. The Spa at Farnham Estate in Cavan, an adult-only premises which boasts an indoor/outdoor infinity hydrotherapy pool with bucolic views of the hotel's 1,300ac estate, has just launched skincare brand Comfort Zone as part of their treatments, including their new Himalayan Salt Massage Ritual. LH See NECESSITY Love of the game Running until early August, the Bord Gáis GAA Legends Tours return to Croke Park to bring fans up close to where and how the magic happens. Icons of the sport leading this family day out will include Dublin's Brian Fenton and Lyndsey Davey Diarmaid Marsden of Armagh, Pat McEnaney from Monaghan and many more. Highlights include first-hand accounts of the highs and lows of the game, access to the GAA Museum and Hall of Fame, as well as the interactive Games Zone. SC To book, see NOTION Strike it lucky Not just for the kids, in case you didn't know, bowling has now come to town, or Clarendon Row in Dublin 2, to be specific. Lane7, which also has a location in the Dundrum Town Centre, offers bowling, gaming, cocktails and, they promise, Insta-friendly interiors. SC See NECESSITY All mapped out Open now until early September at the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin Castle, D2, is an exhibition of the Book of Routes and Realms (Kitāb al-Masālik wa al-Mamālik), a collection of 21 colour maps of world regions, composed by 10th-century geographer Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm al-Istakhri. The exhibition also features a contemporary art response from Dublin-based artist Diaa Lagan. SC For more information on workshops and tours, see NOTION Secretly shaping Following their launch two years ago in Brown Thomas Dublin, SKIMS, the Kim Kardashian underwear, shapewear and loungewear range, is now available in Brown Thomas Cork and Dundrum. While we could live without her muted, muddy palette taking over our entire wardrobes/lives, the neutral shades Kardashian favours work and she genuinely makes good bras. LH See NOTION Complexion attraction The new Dermalogica Magnetic Afterglow Cleanser promises not only to thoroughly clean, but thanks to positive-charge hyaluronic acid, counters the natural negative charge of your skin to lock in moisture. As well as other nourishing ingredients, it also features phyto mucin, a plant-derived alternative to K-Beauty snail excretion, which also works to achieve that glass-skin effect. SC From €56, selected stockists nationwide
RTÉ News
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
New Dublin event to tackle vexed question of AI and the arts
This Thursday, Let's make AI:OK for music and the creative sector takes place at the National Concert Hall in Dublin to discuss the impact of AI on the creative arts in Ireland It is one of the great questions and challenges of the first quarter of the 21st century - will Artificial Intelligence enrich our lives or will the near-future be a joyless dystopia where machines do all our thinking and human creativity becomes redundant? It has long been the theme of countless sci-fi books and movies and while it is still only in its infancy, AI is already everywhere - from the `AI slop,' deepfakes, fake news, and memes that clog up our social media to search engine bots. In the new Mission: Impossible movie, the Entity, an advanced, self-aware AI plans to destroy the world by hacking into countries' nuclear arsenals. Which may even be scarier that those hyper-realistic deepfake videos of Tom Cruise on TikTok. And, as usual, when it comes to new tech, it is the creative arts that are the canary in the coalmine of these radical disruptions. Struggling musicians, film makers and authors already facing existential threats now have to contend with the creeping and, let's face it, creepy rise of a technology that has the potential to have a huge impact on their livelihoods. For Dr Martin Clancy, the genie is already very much out of the bottle. He's a senior researcher in artificial intelligence and its potential impact on the creative arts and the founder of AI:OK, an initiative dedicated to promoting the responsible use of AI in the music industry. He is on a mission to educate, demystify and protect rights and employment in the face of this new technology. This Thursday, he will be part of "Let's make AI:OK for music and the creative sector," a free event at the National Concert Hall in Dublin discussing the impact of AI on the creative arts in Ireland. Organisers are calling for an ethical and responsible path for AI integration and the the event will be "an exploration and a call to action, highlighting both the threats and potential of AI within Ireland's creative sectors." Dr Clancy has skin in the game and not just as a lecturer and campaigner for fair use of AI. The softly spoken academic has had a long career in the music industry. He was a founding member of Dublin band In Tua Nua and has managed successful Kildare singer Jack L for over thirty years. Supported by Enterprise Ireland and Research Ireland, he has become a global voice in the movement for ethical AI in the creative industries and is a Senior AI Research Fellow at Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics at DCU and a Policy Fellow at Trinity College Dublin's Long Room Hub. "This Saturday is about giving people a chance to figure AI out themselves," he says. "Whether you're a writer or a musician or a nurse of an accountant. AI is everywhere. We will be asking what are people worried about? What do they think? We want to address those questions and keep supporting the arts." Without blinding us with science, Let's make AI:OK for music and the creative sector aims to explain in plain language the good and the bad of AI and let people make up their own minds. It will feature a panel made of experts and interested parties, including Prof. Noel O'Connor, CEO of Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics, Anna McPartlin, an author, film producer, and screenwriter of RTÉ drama Gone, and Ciaran Conroy, Acting CEO of the Association of Independent Music Ireland (AIM). "We're bringing in a range of people to say this is why we care," Clancy says. "Anna McPartlin is making her first movie this year and she is horrified by AI. "She's spent the last thirty years writing a bunch of books in her voice and she works as a tv producer and an author. It's all about developing her individual voice and about 18 months ago I sent her a piece written by AI in the style of Anna McPartland and she went nuts. It's as simple as that. This NCH event is about getting people to talk about their concerns." The event is timely as it follows the announcement of the Irish government's new guidelines for the responsible use of artificial intelligence in the public service. Dr Clancy's work has taken him all over the world to share his expertise in the area. He first became involved in an area clouded by copyright and creative ownership through his job teaching DJs how to use a software called Ableton. His interest in the area led to him being invited by Trinity College to do PhD on the subject and his research led to a book, Artificial Intelligence and Music Ecosystem, which was published just before the advent of ChatGPT in 2022. AI:OK has support from the major record labels, music streamer Deezer and music industry bodies such as the American Association of Independent Music, AIMP (Association of Independent Music Publishers), and the Association of Independent Music Ireland. "When I was doing my research I could see what was coming," Dr Clancy says. "As opposed to having a dystopian vision it was important to figure out at some point what was ok and what was not ok about AI." So, what does he see as the threats posed by AI? "The threats are really simple," he says. "I've worked in music for forty years, doing pretty much everything you can imagine. Most people who work in music have two or three jobs and most of those jobs are threatened by AI and they don't necessarily have to be. "The idea here is very simple - if we mark products and services that are helpful for humans to stay in work, there's not too much not to dislike about that." Musicians and film makers have already begun the fightback. Last year, Hollywood ground to a halt after filmmakers and writers went on strike over big studios' plans to introduce AI into film production. Last week in the House Of Commons, producer Giles Martin - son of Beatles producer George Martin - led a delegation calling on the UK government to do more to protect artists from AI as the controversial Data (Use and Access) Bill makes its make through parliament. The UK government recently rejected proposals from the House of Lords to force AI companies to disclose what material they were using to develop their programmes. A spokesperson for the British government said that "no changes" to copyright laws would be "considered unless we are completely satisfied they work for creators". Elton John, a man who has never being a shrinking violet when it comes to the inequities of the music industry, was very forthright in an interview with BBC News last Sunday. "For young people and for everyone who is creative the fact that AI could run rampant is scary," he said. "You have to ask for approval and you have to have transparency. It's quite simple. If someone wants to use your song, ask, and then you have to have transparency about how it's used. "But the danger is young artists haven't got the resources to fight big tech if there is a lawsuit or anything like that. I am very angry about it. A machine is incapable of writing anything with any soul in it. When you try to rob young people of their creativity, it's a criminal offence." Dr Clancy is not opposed to AI. He believes that it is better to ride the tiger's back than to be eaten by the tiger. "The one thing that we can all be certain of is that there is no great AI art being made, like something new, something really fantastic like hip-hop," he says. "At the moment it is very pedestrian and very predictable but a moment will come soon with this technology where something fantastic will happen. "My personal agenda is - find out what's happening, go and do some crazy stuff, ideally with tools that are ethical - meaning that some humans are getting paid for using them. "When we find that, we might find some way of making a living from it. If we can't think of a way of fixing it or at least approaching it then we should really give up. There is only a short window to get this right." Let's make AI:OK for music and the creative sector takes place at Dublin's National Concert Hall on Thursday, 22 May at 1pm.
Irish Independent
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Feast of song whets the appetite for this year's Wexford Festival Opera
The concert, given in the National Opera House, the National Concert Hall and the Ironmongers' Hall in London, was one of several gatherings that make being a Friend such an "enriching experience', to quote Selina Scott, long-time Friend and volunteer. The Friends I spoke to were unanimous in their praise for Nuala Sheedy, Donor Development Director at the WFO, saying nothing is too much trouble for her. In Nuala's words, 'the Wexford welcome is hard to describe and bottle'. Being a Friend makes that welcome all the warmer. There are five levels of Friendship, rising from Prelude, €80, to Bravura, €2000. The scheme provides one-fifth of the Festival's overall funding and accounts for 50-60% of ticket sales, a contribution 'vital to the Festival', says Nuala. Prelude level is a good introduction to the scheme, being affordable to younger members – some of whom, still in their teens, have received membership as a gift. It's never too early to tick items off that Christmas list! A subscription has the double merit of drawing newcomers to the festival and including those who might not otherwise see an opera, through support for the many community events fostered by Rosetta Cucchi. During the Festival, Friends are invited to welcome coffee mornings and complimentary post-opera parties. The latter, in the Opera House, serve 'excellent finger food and wine galore' according to Alma Hynes, manager of hospitality for the Friends, adding that 'it's a great way to meet other Friends and members of the festival team'. It is a one-stop shop for distributing Friends' pins and programmes, giving directions to an event or recommending a hairdresser. "Volunteers love interacting with the Friends,' says Alma. When Selina Scott first came to Wexford in 1965 she paid someone to sit on a butter box outside the theatre, to ensure that she got tickets for the operas. As a young teacher in St. John's she rented a room from Nellie Walsh, sister of Dr. Tom Walsh, one of the Festival's founders, and a member of the Festival Chorus. No wonder she caught Festival fever. The town was very different then, she says. 'Boats were not coming into the harbour because of silting but the stevedores sat around waiting for them to come in. . . . The Festival was the only big thing in Wexford. There was a sense of ownership among the people, and real knowledge.' She recalls groups going 'to gawk at the glamour' when the opera train arrived from Dublin. Not to be outdone, Selina sports a fetching Flapper-style headband, adorned with all her Friends' pins, and a spray of feathers. At that time, there was a two-year waiting list to become a Friend. Now, Selina is one of the volunteers in the Friends' Hospitality Lounge in the Opera House. Coffee, tea, newspapers and congenial company are available here from 12 to 2.30 p.m. for Friends who need refreshment as they dash from one event to another. 'It's a privilege to be a Friend,' she says, 'you feel part of a family of interested people.' She adds that it would be the last thing she'd let go if money was tight. Selina's enthusiasm is matched by that of Lionel and Susan Rosenblatt, annual visitors from England. 'It's the best weekend of our lives,' says Lionel. They love the 'warmth of people in Wexford and their pride in what the Festival has achieved'. He first came in 1987, having been invited by the WFO's then Artistic Director, Elaine Padmore. Lionel and his friend, David Buchler, had just appointed Elaine artistic director of their not-for-profit venture, the London International Opera Festival, LIOF, whose aim was 'to introduce as many people as possible to opera'. Lionel had been smitten by his first opera. The night his father brought him, as a reluctant sixteen-year-old, to see Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci in Covent Garden he was 'transformed from a boy who liked to dance to one who loved opera'. Lionel joined the Friends in 1988, and he and Sue attend all the Friends' events in London and in Wexford because 'there is a warm atmosphere where opera plays a part. It enhances your time there and you meet likeminded people' and they have made friends through the Friends. Being a Friend makes you 'feel part of the Wexford family', says Mary Mullin, a Trustee of the Wexford Festival Opera UK Foundation. The Friends events in the UK 'try to recreate that family atmosphere. People come from Wexford to give talks. It makes Friends see that they are important.' Indeed, Barbara Wallace, former Chairman of the Wexford Festival Trust, said the contribution of UK Friends equalled that of a sponsor and she always urged them to encourage others to come to Wexford. Mary Mullin first knew Barbara as a sparring partner at the Junior Chamber Debating Society, Mary representing Kilkenny, Barbara, Wexford. In 1986, when the Arts Council withdrew funding from the Festival, Barbara contacted Mary, who had moved to London, to enlist her help in organising a fundraiser. Since then, Mary has been involved with the Friends and is one of only three Honorary Friends. Each year she brings large groups of personal friends, from various countries, to Wexford. Her guests love the way everyone they meet around town wants them to enjoy the Festival. 'Other festivals don't give you the same feeling of being encompassed,' she says. UK Friends' events take place in spring as a reminder to book for the Festival, and again in September, giving Friends a chance to meet Rosetta, Festival Chairman, Paul Cleary and the interim Executive Director, Loughlin Deegan. This makes the Friends feel welcome, Mary says, which is important in the UK, where the 'lines of communication are very extended'. Selina's and Mary's work, and the Rosenblatts' loyal participation, reflect the social value of the Friends' scheme, which, Alma says, 'extends beyond the Festival and is a valuable commodity in Wexford'. Now's your chance to join that community, enhance your enjoyment of the Festival, and share it with family and friends. The first stage of booking for this year's 74th Wexford Festival Opera will open on Wednesday April 23 for Bravura, Cabaletta, Aria and Ensemble+ level Friends of the Festival. The next level opens on Wednesday April 30 for Ensemble and Prelude Friends of the Festival. General booking opens on Wed May 7. Box office opens Mon - Sat, 9.30am - 5pm, +353 53 912 2144
