MusicTown 2015 – A Capital Celebration of a Symphony of Sounds

MusicTown 2015 is a new festival organised by Dublin City Council and takes place from April 10th – 19th with a variety of events all across the city. There are some really fascinating events, including the Sound of Silents (silent films accompanied by proformers such as Seán Mac Erlaine) and Barrytown Meets MusicTown which is a night in Vicar street inspired by the Barrytown Trilogy by Roddy Doyle and featuring artists such as Damien Dempsey and Glen Hansard. Full details are below!

Dublin’s musical heritage and vibrant music scene are the inspiration for a brand new music festival, MusicTown 2015 taking place from April 10th – 19th across the city. Organised by Dublin City Council, it’s a celebration of all music, created and enjoyed in Dublin. Tapping into our lyrical, musical and storytelling culture, its eclectic programme will thrill all ages and interests across 10 days. The full programme will be launched in March but tickets for some events are now available on http://www.musictown.ie

Sound of  Silents is a programme of silent films from the IFI Irish Film Archive made in Dublin between 1897 and the 1970s accompanied by a series of improvised scores performed by six leading musicians working between the fields of Irish traditional, improvised and electronic music. The event will feature performances by Seán Mac Erlaine (woodwind/electronics), Seán Carpio (percussion/guitar/loops), Jack McMahon (turntables), and Shane Latimer (guitar/electronics), fiddle player tbc, in the IFI on Friday 10th April.

Handel’s ‘Il Trionfo Del Tempo e del Disinganno’ will be performed by the Opera Theatre Company in the historically significant and beautiful Christchurch Cathedral on April 10th.

Choice Cuts presents Hank Shocklee, founding member of Public Enemy and ground-breaking hip hop producer, will feature in a Q&A session and DJ set at The Sugar Club on April 10th.
First Music Contact presents ‘Breaking Tunes Music Trail’, on April 11th and 18th which will take participants on a walking tour of Dublin discovering a myriad of nooks and crannies where various artists from the breakingtunes.com stable will perform 20 minute, unplugged pop-up gigs.

Barrytown Meets MusicTown is a musical and literary celebration of Roddy Doyle’s ‘The Barrytown Trilogy’, the featured book for Dublin City Libraries’ Dublin: One City One Book Choice 2015. On April 12th in Vicar Street the music and written word that inspired Roddy Doyle during the periods of writing his famous trilogy in the mid 80s will be celebrated. Voices will come together from the worlds of theatre, film and music and confirmed to participate so far are Glen Hansard, Damien Dempsey, Aslan, Peter Coonan, Paul Mercier, The Trouble Pilgrims, Cait O’Riordan, and Colm Mac Con Iomaire.

Dodeca Cycle at City Assembly Hall, South William Street from April 16th – 18th will see music and technology come together in a novel, interactive musical installation, allowing 12 people at a time to create their own musical loops.

A Touch Of Frost featuring Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto and Sibeluis’ Symphony No. 1 in E minor will be performed by outstanding young clarinettist Julian Bliss and conducted by leading young conductor David Brophy in the National Concert Hall on Friday 17th April.

The Isle is full of Noises: Shakespeare’s Music’ at St. Werburgh’s Church on Sunday 19th April will see the Gregory Walkers perform a foot-tapping, irreverent journey through a top twenty of Shakespearean songs for all members of the family.