David Young is the Chorus Director of National Symphony Chorus Ireland.
National Symphony Chorus Ireland (formerly RTÉ Philharmonic Choir) was formed in January 1985 by RTÉ's choral director Colin Mawby, and has been at the heart of Ireland’s choral music scene ever since.
NSCI celebrates its 40th anniversary with a landmark concert on Friday 28th November 2025 at the National Concert Hall, Dublin - they'll be joined for the occasion by conductor Gerhard Markson and soloists Ailish Tynan, Anna Stéphany, Sunnyboy Dladla and James Atkinson.
We asked James for his choice cultural picks...
FILM
I'm unlikely to be the first person to tell you to watch One Battle After Another, and in any case you’ll be hard pressed to find it still in a cinema. So instead I’ll recommend one of Paul Thomas Anderson’s previous films, Phantom Thread (2017). It’s a beautiful, strange and beguiling love story as well as a vivid character portrait of an utterly unique person. My partner made me the breakfast Daniel Day Lewis’s character orders for my birthday a few years ago, and it’s one of the most memorable acts of love in my life. If I’m allowed two, then since it is my toddler’s favourite film, I also feel compelled to push the Ponyo agenda, an underrated Studio Ghibli masterpiece which is genuinely suitable for all ages. Recently, on what must have been about my 30th watch, I realised it can be seen as a cautionary tale against trying to hold your children too close. I wonder what layers I will have uncovered by viewing number 50!
MUSIC
I’m going to go off-piste for this one and plug one of my absolute favourite artists - L’Rain. Her 2023 album I Killed Your Dog is incredible. The influences are so varied, but they range through R&B, indie, folk, and psychedelic rock - somehow she manages to make all this really coalesce into something unique but totally harmonious. There are hooks left right and centre, and it’s incredibly listenable, but at the same time I never quite feel I’m on familiar territory with her music. It’s a rare talent to make something so approachable with such character, texture and individuality.
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BOOK
The last book I read was the Cambridge Music Handbook companion to Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem - but that’s recommending a piece of music really…so the novel I have been slowly making my way through recently is Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives, translated by Natasha Wimmer. It’s my first experience with his work and it is a rollercoaster. Gripping, thrilling, hallucinatory, and above all just incredibly good writing.
(Photo by Raphael GAILLARDE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
THEATRE
Sadly I don’t get to the theatre very much any more, but I will say that when I saw Gare St Lazare’s How It Is a few years back, my brain was rewired. They are at the absolute top of their game and obviously Beckett is incredible source material. Anything they are doing, any time, is worth buying a ticket for.
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TV
I’ve recently started The Chair Company and recommend it to anyone who likes bizarro dark comedy. It’s new from Tim Robinson, who left Saturday Night Live because his material was too wacky, and then did an incredibly good sketch show for Netflix called I Think You Should Leave. I love that show (a lot of people will be familiar with it), and The Chair Company is cut from the same cloth - hysterical and unsettling in equal measure.
The Chair Company is the deeply weird, unbearably sad, full-throatedly deranged, conspiracy-addled show for our lonely, lonely times. pic.twitter.com/T2nex0CGx8
— Ana (@_motherslug) November 12, 2025
GIG
The last gig I went to was For Those I Love. He’s such a visceral storyteller, and to say he wears his heart on his sleeve would be an understatement. It was so raw and so pure, and he is so magnetic. A blast.
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Upcoming I have to plug National Symphony Chorus Ireland's 40th Anniversary concert - it’s going to be amazing. Friday November 28th at the NCH, with new music from Rhona Clarke as well as some timeless glory from Bruckner.
ART
I recently narrowly missed out on working with Haroon Mirza because I couldn’t make the dates work, and I was so sad not to be able to do it. The instruments he creates are so intriguing, and I really get a lot out of that boundary between music, art, sculpture, and design. My friends in the London-based ensemble Musarc really explore this brilliantly as well. You can find some really nice videos of Mirza’s studio and work online.
A CLOSER LOOK | Haroon Mirza and his signature audiovisual vocabulary.
— Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung (@atutsekstiftung) November 10, 2023
London-based #artist Haroon Mirza works with video and sound materials, electronics, and objects to create immersive environments and moving sculptures.#audiovisualart #kineticsculpture #haroonmirza pic.twitter.com/dkys9nBA4j
PODCAST
I’m a Liverpool fan, and couldn’t manage my commutes without The Anfield Wrap. The absolute best added extra to following the Reds, helmed by two champions in Neil Atkinson and John Gibbons.
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TECH
I’ve recently ditched Spotify and switched over to Qobuz. It’s curated with a personal touch, has far better sound quality, and they pay artists a better rate as well. Big tip!
THE NEXT BIG THING...
Deactivating all social media. I did this recently and haven’t looked back. The only small problem is I have spent a lot of time (and a considerable amount of cash) on Vinted instead - so I haven’t fully kicked my phone addiction. But my mental health has seen a huge improvement from not having Twitter or Instagram to scroll, and truthfully I feel I’ve lost so little.
National Symphony Chorus Ireland: 40th Anniversary with NSOI is at the National Concert Hall, Dublin on Friday, 28th November - find out more here
