DAYBREAK WITH EVONNE FERGUSON
Evonne Ferguson will be up with the early birds to ease you into the weekend with her selections of music from across the centuries plus news and weather and the beginning of a new series of ecologist Anja Murray's Nature File at 9.15
Nature File Episode 4: Chiffchaff
In April, chiffchaffs are one of the first warblers to return to Ireland. Males are eager to stake out breeding territory among hedgerows, woodland edges, and scrubby corners, their song an indicator that spring is properly underway.
RTÉ lyric fm, Saturday 25th April, 7am-10am
OPERA NIGHT WITH PAUL HERRIOTT
The Metropolitan Opera New York presents La Sonnambula by Bellini
Following triumphant Met turns in Roméo et Juliette, La Traviata, and Lucia di Lammermoor, Nadine Sierra summits another peak of the soprano repertoire as Amina, who sleepwalks her way into audiences' hearts in Bellini's poignant tale of love lost and found. In his new production, Rolando Villazón - the tenor who has embarked on a brilliant second career as a director - retains the opera's original setting in the Swiss Alps but uses its somnambulant plot to explore the emotional and psychological valleys of the mind. Tenor Xabier Anduaga returns after his acclaimed 2023 Met debut in L'Elisir d'Amore, co-starring as Amina's fiancé Elvino, alongside soprano Sydney Mancasola as her rival, Lisa, and bass Alexander Vinogradov as Count Rodolfo. Riccardo Frizza takes the podium for one of opera's most ravishing works.
RTÉ lyric fm, Saturday 25th April, 7pm-10pm
Photo: Marty Sohl | Met Opera
VOX NOSTRA WITH VLAD SMISHKEWYCH
As April turns towards May, Vox Nostra greets the season with music of brightness, ceremony and renewal. Vlad's playlist this Sunday travels through the sacred and secular worlds of Alessandro Scarlatti and Ludovico Viadana, with room too for the sonorous imagination of Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber. Motets, vocal miniatures and instrumental splendour all have their place in today's programme, poised on the threshold of May, with spring in the air and the promise of festive music just ahead. A nod, too, to the ever-distinctive poet and bon vivant Oswald von Wolkenstein adds yet one more colour to the morning's musical palette.
RTÉ lyric fm, Sunday 26th April, 7am-10am
AMBIENT ORBIT
A carefully crafted mix of ambient sounds and field recordings that allows the listener to reset and escape the noise of everyday life.
RTÉ lyric fm, Monday 27th April, 12am-1am
THE FULL SCORE WITH LIZ NOLAN
The European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO), under the direction of Enrico Onofri, perform a programme of Baroque composers from Purcell to Rameau in today's Full Score concert. For forty years, the EUBO has brought together the best young talents in early music from Europe's music academies, crossing borders and playing as cultural ambassadors for Europe. Liz Nolan presents a showcase of unabridged musical masterworks, featuring live recordings of Irish and international performers, plus selections from the latest CD releases.
RTÉ lyric fm, Monday 27th April, 1pm-4pm
LORCAN MURRAY'S CLASSIC DRIVE
Classic Drive brings you the perfect musical soundtrack, including Lorcan's Pick of the Week:
Mozart | Concert Arias from Sarah Fox and Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León. Bringing together Fox's operatic experience and the orchestra's distinctive sound, this album comprises eight concert arias showcasing Mozart's expressive vocal writing and orchestral colour. And with news, weather and sports, Lorcan's with you all the way!
RTÉ lyric fm, Tuesday 28th April, 4pm-7pm
THE FULL SCORE WITH LIZ NOLAN
Our final Full Score Spring Lunchtime Concert with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra is a rare treat - with euphonium soloist Christopher Nery in the spotlight. He will perform Wesolowski's Euphory Concerto, written in 2019. We'll also hear Florence Price's powerful Concert Overture No. 1 and Berlioz's rousing Hungarian March. The concert is completed by Chopin's Waltz from Les sylphides and Franck's symphonic poem Le chasseur maudit. Liz Nolan presents a showcase of unabridged musical masterworks, featuring live recordings of Irish and international performers, plus selections from the latest CD releases.
Florence Price: Concert Overture No. 1 'Sinner, please don't let this Harvest pass'
Wesolowski: Euphory Concerto for euphonium and string orchestra
Berlioz: Hungarian March from 'Faust'
Chopin (arr. Douglas): Waltz Op. 64 No. 2 from 'Les sylphides'
César Franck: Le chasseur maudit
RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Stephen Bell, conductor
Christopher Nery, euphonium
RTÉ lyric fm, Wednesday 29th April, 1pm-4pm
NIALL CARROLL’S CLASSICAL DAYTIME
Niall Carroll plays music from the heart of the classical repertoire with Sounds on Screen, a piece from either the big or the small screen at 11am, and at midday each day Niall chooses his Five of a Kind. This week we'll hear five pieces by Claude Debussy.
RTÉ lyric fm, Thursday 30th April, 10am-1pm
Photo by: Photo12/Fondation Napoleon/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
THE FULL SCORE WITH LIZ NOLAN
Today's Full Score concert comes from the Drogheda Classical Music Series as we'll hear soprano Jade Phoenix, baritone Seán Boylan and pianist Dearbhla Collins in a recital of music by Mozart, Schubert and Lerner & Lowe. Liz Nolan presents a showcase of unabridged musical masterworks, featuring live recordings of Irish and international performers, plus selections from the latest CD releases.
RTÉ lyric fm, Thursday 30th April, 1pm-4pm
Photo | Bertie Watson
AEDÍN IN THE AFTERNOON
Aedín marks the 27th birthday of RTÉ lyric fm today with highlights from three live music sessions recorded with Brazilian guitarist Plínio Fernandez, Irish Bouzouki player Macdara Ó Faoláin and the wonderful violin and piano duo; Aoife Ni Bhríain and Cormac McCarthy. Staying with birthdays, French violinist Renaud Capuçon turned fifty earlier this year, and to mark this significant birthday he released his recording of Bach's Sonatas & Partitas, a set of six works for solo violin which will also feature. On vocals today, Niall McCabe, John Spillane, Joni Mitchell and Aretha Franklin.
RTÉ lyric fm, Friday 1st May, 1pm-4pm
RTÉ LYRIC LIVE WITH PAUL HERRIOTT
Pianist Kirill Gerstein is one of today's most prolific and compelling performers. In tonight's programme Kirill journeys through some of the Romantic repertoire's most profound piano works by Liszt and Brahms. This concert was recorded at the National Concert Hall in Dublin in February this year as part of their International Concert Series.
Liszt: Three Petrarch Sonnets
Liszt: Après une lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata, S. 161 No. 7
Brahms: Scherzo in E-flat minor, Op.4
Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5
RTÉ lyric fm, Friday 1st May, 7pm-10pm
Photo | Marco Borggreve