Listen Now

To mark the premiere of John Kinsella's 11th Symphony and his Lifetime Achievement Award by the NCH on November 29th 2019 Athena Media has crafted his short documentary feature on John Kinsella, his work and life. This feature celebrating the composer John Kinsella is broadcast in the interval after the premiere of the 11th Symphony on RTÉ Lyric fm. broadcast from the National Concert Hall. The recordings in the feature were made by Jonathan Grimes with Athena Media for the RTÉ Lyric fm series Cross Currents www.crosscurrents.ie.  In this feature John Kinsella brings Jonathan around his studio and describes his influences, his work processes and his love of music. The feature was recorded while John Kinsella was composing his 11th Symphony which he describes as a homage to Jean Sibelius and how he wishes to see the work performed in Finland.  Music in this feature : 1. Symphony No.1 - John Kinsella 2. Brahms Symphony No.1 3. String Quartet Part 1 - John Kinsella 4. String Quartet Part 3 - John Kinsella 5. Sibelius, Symphony No. 1 in E Minor 6. Music for cello and orchestra - John Kinsella 7. A selected life - John Kinsella 8. Symphony No.9 Recitative - John Kinsella 9. Symphony No.10 Allegro Energico - John Kinsella

The final episode of Cross Currents looks at the legacy created by the ground-breaking generation of composers in the 1970s and their impact on the younger composers today. We hear from young Irish composers, including Linda Buckley, Michael Gallen and Amanda Feery, about how their sense of identity as Irish composers has been formed. The series ends by examining the place of the Irish composer in today's society, and asks if this role has changed over the past 40 years. Cross Currents is an Athena Media production for RTÉ Lyric fm made with the funding support of the BAI and the TV licence fee in partnership with the Contemporary Music Centre. www.crosscurrents.ie

Cross Currents is an audio led project around contemporary Irish composers. How have Irish composers dealt with their musical past and tradition? Do they challenge, react against it, embrace it or ignore it? Episode two explores how composers view the idea of tradition in Irish contemporary composition. Presenter Barry McGovern hears from Raymond Deane, Roger Doyle, Jane O’Leary and Gerard Barry on their roots, influences and how the world around them shaped the music they wrote. Barry McGovern asks what does it mean to be a composer in Ireland? Cross Currents is an Athena Media production for RTÉ Lyric fm made with the funding support of the BAI and the TV licence fee in partnership with the Contemporary Music Centre. www.crosscurrents.ie

Cross Currents is an audio led project around contemporary Irish composers. Episode 1 explores the generation of Irish composers who emerged in the 1970s and examines what and who influenced them and their emerging sound. Many of them looked towards Germany and the contemporary music developing there with composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen and Mauricio Kagel rather than looking inward to Irish sources or a tradition shaped by Sean O Riada. Award winning actor Barry McGovern presents this landmark series on contemporary Irish composers and their music. Cross Currents is an Athena Media production for RTÉ Lyric fm made with the funding support of the BAI and the TV licence fee in partnership with the Contemporary Music Centre. www.crosscurrents.ie