The Dublin International Chamber Music Festival (formerly Great Music in Irish Houses and Ireland’s oldest chamber music festival) has announced its programme for 2023. This year’s event runs from Wednesday 7 June to Monday 12 June at a number of historic buildings including Dublin Castle, Killruddery near Bray, Co. Wicklow, and Castletown House in Celbridge, Co. Kildare.

The 2023 programme features the exciting South African cellist and singer Abel Selaocoe whose music combines his own newly composed songs and African rhythms with instrumental arrangements and classical works. He will perform with the Bantu ensemble. Selaocoe has recently performed at the Cologne Festival with the new music group Manchester Collective, with the BBC Concert Orchestra at the London Jazz Festival, and made his BBC Proms debut in 2021. He also previously played at the Spike Cello Festival and last month performed with the Ulster Orchestra. In 2022 he released his album Where is Home / Hae ke Kae on Warner Classics and also appeared on Later with Jools Holland. Selaocoe will perform on 9 June at the Printworks at Dublin Castle.

The festival opens on 7 June with a concert of five leading Irish pianists: Máire Carroll, Thérèse Fahy, Ruth McGinley, Veronica McSwiney and Fionnuala Moynihan. Each will present a work by a female composer alongside an array of music from the traditional, pop and classical worlds nominated by a number of inspirational Irish women. The concert will take place at the Windmill Quarter in Dublin at 7.30pm. McGinley will also perform a solo concert on 11 June at Castletown House with a number of arrangements of Irish airs written by composer Neil Martin. McGinley released a full album of the works, Aura, last October.

Lost voices
At the Castle Hall in Dublin Castle on 9 June, Dutch singer Nora Fischer and the Ficino Ensemble will give the world premiere of Voces amissae (Lost voices) by composer Ian Wilson. The work explores different ways in which people have lost their voices, whether for medical, social, political or other reasons. This is a free concert.

On 11 June at the Kilmainham Gaol Museum, the quartet of Finghin Collins (piano), Mia Cooper (violin), Marc Coppey (cello) and Carol McGonnell (clarinet) will perform Messiaen’s evocative Quartet for the End of Time along with four newly commissioned solo works by Turkish composer Cenk Ergün and Irish composers Amanda Feery, Gráinne Mulvey and Jonathan Nangle.

French pianist Philippe Cassard will return to the festival on 10 June for a concert with violinist David Grimal and cellist Anne Gastinel at Kilruddery. Their programme will include Brahms’ Piano Trio No 1 in B major and Schubert’s Piano Trio N0. 2 in E-flat major.

The Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, founded by British pianist Tom Poster and American violinist Elena Urioste, will also return this year with a programme of Fanny Mendelssohn, Mozart, Dvořák and Errollyn Wallen’s Dervish on 8 June at the Windmill Quarter. Urioste and Poster will also give a free family concert at Kilruddery on 10 June at 1pm.

Quatuor Ébène
Finally, the acclaimed French group Quatuor Ébène will conclude the festival with a programme of Ravel, Schumann and Swiss composer Richard Dubugnon (his Secular Suite for String Quartet, based on works by Bach) at the National Botanic Gardens on 12 June at 7.30pm.

Commenting on this year’s programme, Ciara Higgins, Artistic Director, said:

We are delighted to present the artistic programme for the 2023 Dublin International Chamber Music Festival which boasts a line-up of truly celebrated musicians, both international and home-grown, and scintillating chamber music, including a number of world premières. Access to high quality chamber music experiences for audiences is at the heart of DICMF’s activities and this year we are delighted to present a number of free admission concerts in addition to offering early bird tickets for a selection of our concerts.

Priority booking and early bird booking for a number of concerts (including the opening concert, Selaocoe, and Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective) opens on 4 April. General booking opens on 17 April.

For more, visit https://dicmf.com or download the programme below.

Subscribe to our newsletter.