Culture | Books, Music, Theatre, Film & The Arts

The Radio Eireann Symphony Orchestra with leader Renzo Marchionni, circa 1953

The refugee virtuosos who changed Irish music - The Lyric Feature

This week's Lyric Feature, Stranieri, tells the stories of some of the foreign musicians who were recruited into the Radio Eireann Symphony Orchestra 70 years ago in the immediate post-war era.

The Lyric Feature • 12 Nov 18

The Life and Music of John Field - The Lyric Feature

Lyric Feature preview: John Field's life reads like a picaresque novel. There's a touch of the Barry Lyndons about his continental peregrinations and ability to use his charm and talent to get on.

The Lyric Feature • 05 Nov 18

Tales of Bantry Bay- The Lyric Feature

The Lyric Feature on Sunday 16th September at 6 pm is Bantry Bay, a sequence of poems by Mick Delap which explore stories of the land and sea from across more than two centuries - listen to Bantry Bay above.

Rté Lyric Fm • 16 Sep 18

An image from a vintage poster promoting a minstrel show

The hidden history of Irish minstrelsy - Lyric Feature preview

One of the strands in the complex relationship between the Irish American and African American communities is explored in this week's Lyric Feature.

The Lyric Feature • 10 Sep 18

RTÉ lyric fm celebrates legendary composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein

Celebrating Leonard Bernstein at 100 with RTÉ lyric fm

There have been certain figures that have had such an impact on modern music that it's difficult to understate their influence. Leonard Bernstein is undoubtedly one of them.

Rté Lyric Fm • 23 Aug 18

Composer Amy Marcy Cheney (later Amy Beach), aged 16 - this week's Lyric Feature tells her story.

The woman who wrote the Gaelic Symphony - The Lyric Feature

Listen to this week's Lyric Feature: The composer Amy Beach wrote what is arguably the first great American symphony. But where did she find her inspiration?

Music • 04 May 18

Ludwig Wittgenstein - the greatest philosopher of the twentieth century?

Wittgenstein uncovered - investigating a philosophical enigma

Lyric Feature Preview: Producer Eoin O'Kelly writes for Culture about his Lyric Feature, Philosophical Investigations, which airs this Sunday (the 18th of February) at 6pm on RTÉ lyric fm.

The Lyric Feature • 16 Feb 18

Revolutionary composer Henry Cowell (1897-1965), the subject of this weekend's Lyric Feature.

The radical composer who changed American music - Lyric Feature

In the Lyric Feature on RTÉ lyric fm at 6 pm on Sunday 21st January, American pianist Guy Livingston explores the influence of Ireland and Irish music on the work of American composer Henry Cowell in The Banshee and The Tiger.

Rté Lyric Fm • 29 Jun 18

Irish war poet Francis Ledwidge (1887-1917)

Poet Francis Ledwidge remembered - When the War is Over

Next month marks the centenary of the death of the poet Francis Ledwidge, killed in Flanders on 31 July 1917. This week's Lyric Feature tells the story of the life and poetry of Ledwidge in the programme When the War is Over.

Books • 26 Jun 17

The late, great Joylon Jackson, subject of a new lyric fm documentary.

Joylon Jackson - a forgotten king of Irish prog rock

When researching Jolyon Jackson's life for a forthcoming lyric fm documentary, an archive article from 1972 in the Connacht Tribune caught my eye...

Music • 06 Jun 17

Irish violin bow-maker Gary Leahy tests the camber on his latest creation

If the Stick Dances - the fine art of making a bow

Why is the bow so important to a player and to the quality of violin, cello or viola music? Éamon Little's splendid new RTÉ lyric fm documentary If the Stick Dances takes the listener on a journey in the company of Irish violin bow-maker Gary Leahy.

Culture • 01 Feb 17

The Lyric Feature