Donnacha Dennehy X Crash Ensemble Land Of Winter Irish Premiere: Sounds From A Safe Harbour
Sun 14 Sep 2025
1pm
€25/€22
Crash play the Irish premiere of founder/composer Donnacha Dennehy’s ‘Land of Winter’; a twelve-movement sonic exploration of Ireland’s seasonal changes. ‘Land of Winter’ reflects a reimagining of the Latin name for Ireland - Hibernia (Land of Winter) intertwining the cyclical nature of time with a beautiful and dense sonic landscape. A little note from Donnacha: ‘Structurally, the piece is divided into twelve ‘months’ continuously connected, beginning in December, and culminating at the end of November, ready to start all over again in winter. Solstices and equinoxes are translated musically using overtone distributions throughout the ensemble, creating sweeps of color and shade across the aural space.” “….an Irish new-music collective with international cachet and considerable chops” - Washington Post
“André de Ridder conducts Dennehy’s own Crash Ensemble with swagger and enthusiasm, and they respond with a bright, urgent performance…” - The Arts Desk
ENSEMBLE Crash Ensemble Credits: André de Ridder, Conductor Larissa O’Grady, Violin Maria Ryan, Violin Lisa Dowdall, ViolaKate Ellis, Cello Malachy Robinson, Double Bass Leonie Bluett, Clarinet Macdara O’Seiradain, Clarinet Rebecca Halliday, Oboe Cliona Warren, Bassoon Alex Petcu, Percussion Caitriona Frost, Percussion Andrew Zolinsky, Piano Glen Carr, Trumpet Roddy O’Keeffe, Trombone Production Francesca de Buyl - Production
Manager FOH Sound Engineer - John ‘Spud’ Murphy (TBC) Audio Producer - Adrian Hart LX - TBC Management Siân Cunningham - CEO Kate Ellis - Artistic Director Matthew Corrigan - Ensemble Manager Rebecca Roche - Marketing Lead/Maternity Cover About Donnacha DennehyCalled ‘thrilling’ by The Guardian and ‘arrestingly beautiful’ by The New Yorker, Donnacha Dennehy’s music has featured in festivals and venues such as the Edinburgh International Festival; Beethovenfest, Bonn; Royal Opera House, London; Carnegie Hall, New York; Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam; Barbican, London; the Huddersfield Festival and BAM, New York among others. In addition to a trilogy of operas with the writer Enda Walsh, recent large-scale works include Land of Winter for Alarm Will Sound, Tessellatum, a microtonally shifting 40-minute piece for strings, The Hunger, a docu-cantata, and a violin concerto for Augustin Hadelich that has received performances in the Netherlands and US already. The Konzerthaus Orchester will give the German premiere, conducted by Joanna Mallwitz. Dennehy continues a close connection with the group he founded in Ireland, Crash Ensemble, and they feature in his opera, The Second Violinist, which won the 2017 FEDORA Prize. Portrait albums of his music have been released by Nonesuch, New Amsterdam, Cantaloupe, NMC and Bedroom Community. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2021. Nonesuch Records released the debut recording of Land of Winter, a twelve-movement sonic exploration of Ireland’s seasonal changes by Donnacha Dennehy.
About Crash Ensemble Crash Ensemble is Ireland’s leading new music ensemble; a group of world-class musicians who play the most adventurous, ground-breaking music of today. Amazingly ordinary people doing extraordinary things - Crash is innovative, adventurous and ambitious. The ensemble commissions, collaborates, explores, investigates and experiments with a broad spectrum of music creators
and artistic collaborators: ‘We love to innovate, with quality always at the heart of everything we do. We are passionate about the music we play. We create experiences; exploring new ways of presenting music and bringing our audiences on new adventures. Community for us is key – our community inspires us to create and experiment more. We value our audiences and our connection with them.’ Crash perform both in Ireland and internationally. The ensemble’s music is available on their own label, Crash Records and they have recordings on Nonesuch, Cantaloupe, NMC, Ergodos and Bedroom Community labels. Crash Ensemble is funded by the Arts Council of Ireland and Dublin City Council, is a resident ensemble at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, Ireland and at Kilkenny Arts Festival, Ireland.
