Improvised Music Company (IMC) has recently launched The Cooler – a new performance, rehearsal and artist development space for jazz and improvising musicians located within the multidisciplinary arts space The Complex in Smithfield, Dublin. The venue has been open since January this year and will host its first series of concerts as part of the MusicTown festival later this month. 

MusicTown is a series of jazz, contemporary, experimental, traditional and indie concerts, taking place from 27 to 30 July. The series was launched in 2015 and in previous years has hosted events across various venues in Dublin city. This year, the programme is guest curated by IMC, Dublin Digital Radio and Crash Ensemble and all concerts will take place at The Complex, including two concerts in the new jazz venue. 

On 29 July, funk and neo-soul guitarist and composer Max Zaska – participant in IMC’s WRITE RECORD PERFORM programme this year – will perform at The Cooler, in a concert also featuring jazz drummer Shane O’Donovan’s electronic music project H-Ci, and contemporary pianist Izumi Kimura. On 30 July, the space will host a concert with the Carole Nelson Trio and the Michael Buckley Quartet. 

IMC also runs Create at The Cooler, an artist support programme providing jazz and improvising musicians the space for collaborative rehearsal purposes. Find out more here. 

Philip Glass and other concerts
The MusicTown programme also includes a range of afternoon and evening concerts, including the Irish premiere of Philip Glass’ renowned work Glassworks performed in full by Crash Ensemble in three performances on 28, 29 and 30 July. The work is a chamber music piece of six movements recorded by Glass in 1982 as an attempt to create a more pop-oriented piece, with short and accessible movements. 

Also performing at this year’s MusicTown is singer-songwriter Anna Mieke (27 July), keyboard and cello duo Natalia Beylis and Eimear Reidy (27 July), alt-folk singer Junior Brother (28 July), indie singer-songwriter Paddy Hanna (28 July), Cuban-Irish singer Qbanaa (29 July), Limerick experimental electronic group Péist (30 July), Paddy Keenan performing with John Francis Flynn and Alan Burke (30 July), Cormac MacDiarmada (Lankum) and Ruth Clinton’s (Landless) alt-folk duo Poor Creature (30 July), and more. Tickets are available per concert and range from €12 to €15. 

‘In previous years we’ve had more sprawling programmes, but this year, as music in Dublin rapidly spreads its wings post-pandemic, we wanted to offer a more intense snapshot of what it looks like,’ said festival Creative Director Leagues O’Toole.  

Commenting on the mix of musics, O’Toole added:  

As our identities as performers, producers, as people change, so too does the framework by which we identify music. We are gradually transcending traditional genres. As the rigid identities  that once dictated music dissolve we are experiencing a new level of diversity. Each of the 30+ artists performing over the weekend will present their own personal and unique genre, an expression of their story, their dreams and struggles.

For further information and tickets, visit www.musictown.ie/

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