National Symphony Orchestra to perform Bodies by David Fennessy due to postponement of Deirdre McKay world premiere

Programme change 

National Symphony Orchestra to perform Bodies by David  Fennessy due to postponement of Deirdre McKay world premiere  

The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) wishes to advise that the planned world premiere performance by the NSO, conducted by David Brophy, of a new work by Deirdre McKay on Friday 7 February at the National Concert Hall (NCH) has been postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. It will be replaced by a performance of Bodies by David Fennessy, a work commissioned by RTÉ on behalf of the orchestra and which received its world premiere on 5 February 2010. The programme remains otherwise as advertised: Arvo Pärt’s Berliner Messe with the National Symphony Chorus, and Mozart’s Requiem with the National Symphony Chorus and soloists Aoife Miskelly, soprano; Gemma Ní Bhriain, mezzo-soprano; Robin Tritschler, tenor; and Milan Siljanov, bass-baritone.  

Prompted by his experience working in a hotel room in Hong Kong in 2009 ‘in apparent perfect solitude’ whilst feeling ‘hemmed in…by bodies - thousands of bodies’ in ‘a city so dense and crammed with people’, David writes that Bodies is ‘informed by my memories of that strange experience and my feelings of connection with that unseen congregation’. Arvo Pärt’s Berliner Messe (Berlin Mass) is a luminous expression of joy written in response to the re-claiming of religious freedoms following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Mozart’s Requiem is the most personal and rousing of declarations of a composer contemplating his own end. 

For full concert listing and biography for David Fennessy, see NOTES TO EDITORS below.  

Media Queries 

Assumpta Lawless, Marketing & Communications Manager, National Symphony Orchestra. 

Email: assumpta.lawless@nch.ie 

Mobile: 087 290 4168  

NOTES TO EDITORS 

Concert information 

Friday 7 February 2025, 7.30pm 

Main Stage, National Concert Hall 

National Symphony Orchestra 

David Brophy conductor 

Aoife Miskelly soprano 

Gemma Ní Bhriain mezzo-soprano 

Robin Tritschler tenor 

Milan Siljanov bass-baritone  

National Symphony Chorus 

David Young choral director 

  
David Fennessy Bodies (replacing Deirdre McKay New work)

Arvo Pärt Berliner Messe (Berlin Mass)

Mozart Requiem 

Tickets: €15, €26.50, €33, €39, €45. 

(Concessions available. 10% Discount for Friends of NCH and Groups of 10 or more). 

Booking: Online: www.nch.ie / Telephone: 01 417 0000 

Full details: www. nch.ie 

David Fennessy  

David Fennessy is an Irish composer, performer and teacher who lives and works in Glasgow. 

His music is regularly performed nationally and internationally by leading orchestras and ensembles. 

Recent highlights include Blood, premiered by the Irish Chamber Orchestra and Chamber Choir Ireland with solo violinist Katherine Hunka, OPEN GROUND for Ensemble Modern, THE RIOT ACT for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and RAIN I&2 for Scottish Ensemble. The complete, revised version of his Conquest of the Useless was given its premiere by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Jack Sheen with the composer himself as electric guitar soloist in November 2023. 

On disk, his Triptych recorded by Chamber Choir Ireland on the Naxos label won a Scottish Award for New Music and his debut CD Panopticon was released on the NMC label. A new CD of his work Caruso, was released on the Unsounds label in April 2024. 

David is currently working on Bog Cantata for the Dunedin Consort with a specially composed text by Marina Carr which will receive its first performance at The Barbican, London in March 2025. 

David’s music is published by Universal Edition, Vienna.   

About the National Concert Hall 

The National Concert Hall (NCH) is Ireland’s national cultural institution for music, proudly serving the Irish public since it opened in 1981 through live music performances and significant educational and cultural programmes. Based in the heart of Dublin’s city centre, next door to the picturesque Iveagh Gardens, the NCH is proud home to our National Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Chorus, Cór Linn and Cór na nÓg, as well as providing residence for a range of other music organisations including Chamber Choir Ireland, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Music Network, Crash Ensemble and Music Generation. It is currently planning for a major redevelopment of all its facilities as part of the National Development Plan and Project Ireland 2040.    

Faoi an Ceoláras Náisiúnta 

Is institiúid chultúrtha náisiúnta na hÉireann don cheol é an Ceoláras Náisiúnta, a fhreastalaíonn go bródúil ar phobal na hÉireann ó osclaíodh é i 1981 trí thaibhithe ceoil beo agus cláir shuntasacha oideachais agus chultúrtha. Lonnaithe i gcroílár Bhaile Átha Cliath, agus béal dorais le Gairdíní Uíbh Eachach, tá an Ceoláras Náisiúnta bródúil as ár gCeolfhoireann Shiansach Náisiúnta, Cór Siansach Náisiúnta, Cór Linn agus Cór na nÓg chomh maith le háit chónaithe a chur ar fáil do réimse eagraíochtaí ceoil eile lena n-áirítear Cór Aireagail Éireann, Ceolfhoireann Bharócach na hÉireann, Music Network, Crash Ensemble agus Music Generation. Tá sé i gceist faoi láthair athfhorbairt mór á dhéanamh ar na háiseanna go léir mar chuid den Phlean Forbartha Náisiúnta agus de Thionscadal Éireann 2040. 

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