The National Concert Hall, The Arts Council and RTÉ will mark the 50th Anniversary of the death of composer Seán Ó Riada with two special concerts featuring the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Ceoltóirí Chualann, Seán's son the renowned composer Peadar Ó Riada, acclaimed traditional singer Seán Ó Sé, Seán Keane, Cormac Begley, Crash Ensemble, Stephen Rea and many more.
Ó Riada is one of the most important figures in the history of Irish music. Over the course of his life, which included time as Music Director at Radio Éireann and The Abbey, founder and director of Ceoltóirí Chualann, a lecturer in music in UCC as well as extensive performance, composition and broadcasting work, he changed forever the evolution and perception of Irish traditional music.
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His soundtrack for Mise Eire and the album O Riada Sa Gaiety are two of Ireland’s most culturally significant artefacts.
The concerts, which celebrate the diversity and breadth of Ó Riada's influence, are part of the NCH's Autumn Season, Refractions. Both concerts will be live-streamed on and free to view on RTÉ Culture and NCH.ie.
Portraits of Seán Ó Riada Part I on September 25th at 2 pm will see the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Brophy, explore Ó Riada's landmark orchestral output. Ó Riada’s ambition was to create orchestral music in the European tradition: as he said himself, "it is my composition that gives meaning to my existence".
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The programme includes his landmark Hercules Dux Ferrariae, the evocative Banks of the Sullane and Ceol na Laoi as well as his famous film scores for Mise Éire and Saoirse. This performance includes contributions from fiddler Aoife Ní Bhríain and uilleann piper Mick O’Brien.
Portraits of Seán Ó Riada Part II on September 25th at 8 pm features Peadar Ó Riada with Ceoltóirí Chualann and a host of the country's finest musicians and singers. This portrait shines a light on Ó Riada’s extraordinary legacy, one that has helped shape the national psyche.
His diverse and influential canon will be celebrated by acclaimed artists such as traditional singer Seán Ó Sé, fiddler Sean Keane, Michael Tubridy, concertina player Cormac Begley, composer and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Molloy, Sibéal Ní Chasaide and Ó Riada’s granddaughters Doireann and Siún Ní Ghlacáin. Also performing on the night are Mick O’Brien, John Kelly, Kevin Glackin, Seán Potts and Éamon McGivney and Mel Mercier.
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Elsewhere in the programme, Crash Ensemble will interpret his landmark Hercules Dux Ferrariae : Nomos 1 with single-strings. Ó Riada also had a considerable impact on the world of poetry, for this celebratory event Stephen Rea will explore the effect he had on the writings of poets like Seamus Heaney and Thomas Kinsella. In addition, a curated soundscape contextualises Ó Riada’s disparate musical life.
Speaking about the 50th Anniversary celebrations, Maureen Kennelly, Director of the Arts Council said: "The name Seán Ó Riada is synonymous with the development of Irish traditional music, and in his short career he has left a remarkable legacy. His reimagining of our music has undoubtedly helped preserve the tradition and his contribution has shaped how we appreciate the traditional arts today. Ó Riada was Artistic Director of the Abbey Theatre in the 1950s and it was during this time he created his seminal work Mise Éire, the vinyl recording of which could be found in nearly every household in Ireland. His compositions and arrangements of orchestral music were lesser known to many and I am delighted that this concert, as part of the Tradition Now partnership, will celebrate and present Seán Ó Riada's important contribution to music in Ireland."
Highlights from the concerts will be aired on RTÉ One on Saturday October 2nd and on RTÉ lyric fm on Sunday October 3rd.
On Friday 1st October, Nationwide on RTÉ One will mark the 50 years since Sean O'Riada's death in an hour-long special. For Nationwide, Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh meets family and friends of Ó Riada and visits Cúil Aodha in West Cork which became his home for the last few years of his short life.
On RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, Ó Riada's anniversary weekend will be marked with two special broadcasts. On Friday 1 October at 12.08 pm, there will be a special edition of An Saol ó Dheas with Ó Riada's seven children. The world knows Ó Riada as a gifted composer, arranger and musician, but this programme will explore his children's memories of him as a father. Peadar, Eoghan, Ally, Rachel, Sorcha, Cathal and Liadh will join Helen Ní Shé for a programme live from Cúil Aodha. Then, on Sunday at 11 am, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta will broadcast the special commemorative mass honouring his legacy live from Cúil Aodha church, with music from the wonderful Cóir Chúil Aodha, under the direction of Seán's son Peadar Ó Riada.
