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Welcome to New Music Dublin 2025! ​

This is my 8th year as director of this wonderful, madcap, rollicking rollercoaster of a festival - and you’d think by now, after 8 years at the helm, I had some kind of a handle on what to say or to write as an introduction to it all. I should be able to stick my big Festival Director hat on and come up with some nice, pithy, condensed way of describing what is about to happen between the 2nd and 6th April: maybe a well-thought-through article about the big themes I’ve threaded through the programme, or a smart blog post

that elucidates all the subtle links from concert to concert. But, in truth, every year, whenever I attempt to do that, I find that any neatly-constructed boxes of ideas and themes end up leaving more out than they include. It’s as though the sheer creative aliveness of all the music at this festival makes it wriggle out of any shackles or definitions I try to make for it - and instead the music simply enjoys being itself without me - or anyone - trying to tell it what to be.

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So, what’s to be said? With explorations of Javanese Gamelan alongside Uilleann Pipes, new music for the cosmos at Dunsink Observatory, sonic sculptures, free improvisation in complete darkness in a disused fridge, and compositions shaped by environmental recordings - and far far more besides - the music at this festival cheerfully resists any attempt at easy categorisation. It is, as always, a testament to the glorious unexpectedness and creativity of new music-making on this island and beyond.  25 events from Wednesday to Sunday - every single one its own, splendid, unique thing. Come and join us!

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Our heartfelt thanks to Aisling Agnew / Aisling Coyle / Andreas Borregaard / Andrew Smith / Aoife Concannon / Berginald Rash / Brian Irvine and the Valiant Members of the Totally Made up Orchestra / Brian Lynch / Caimin Gilmore / Caroline Feehily / Catherine Kirby / Cathy Stokes / Caitriona O'Mahony / Chamber Choir Ireland /  Ciaran Kelly / Conor McAuley / Crash Ensemble / Declan Smyth / Derek O'Connor / Dr Alexandra Lukes / Ed Bennett./ Elisabetta Sabbatini / Embassy of France in Dublin / Everyone at the Contemporary Music Centre / Everyone in Cór na nÓg and Cór Linn / Evlana / Evonne Ferguson / Ficino Ensemble / Fiona Robertson / Gary Sheehan / Graham McKenzie / Harry Martin /  Ian Smith / The Improvised Music Company / Jennifer Phillips / Joanna Wyld / Joanne Taaffe / Joe Csibi / John Butcher / Jonathan Pearson / Karlin Lillington / Keith Farrell / Kerry FitzGerald / Kevin Sommerville / Kieran Tobin / Lesley Bishop / Louis Scully / Luke Clancy / Majella Hollywood / Marjie Kaley / Mary Amond O'Brien / Mary Sexton / Matthew Nolan / Maya Homburger / Molly Keane / Everyone at the National Concert Hall / The National Symphony Orchestra / Patricia Flynn / Paul Hunt / Peter Moran / Phoebe Nevins / Quiet Music Ensemble / Robert Kearns / Robert Read / Rosita Wolfe / The RTÉ Concert Orchestra / RTÉ Culture / RTÉ Lyric FM / RTÉ Radio 1 / Sadhbh Leahy / Siân Cunningham / Thurston Moore / Toner Quinn / Everyone in every department at the Arts Council / All the composers / All the performers / All the technicians / … and everyone else who has made this festival possible. We thank you and salute you!

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