Donnacha Dennehy x Crash Ensemble Land of Winter Irish Premiere: Sounds from a Safe Harbour

Crash play the Irish premiere of founder/composer Donnacha Dennehy’s ‘Land of Winter’; a twelve-movement sonic exploration of Ireland’s seasonal changes. ‘Land of Winter’ reflects a reimagining of the Latin name for Ireland - Hibernia (Land of Winter) intertwining the cyclical nature of time with a beautiful and dense sonic landscape. 

A little note from Donnacha: 

‘Structurally, the piece is divided into twelve ‘months’ continuously connected, beginning in December, and culminating at the end of November, ready to start all over again in winter. Solstices and equinoxes are translated musically using overtone distributions throughout the ensemble, creating sweeps of color and shade across the aural space.” 

“….an Irish new-music collective with international cachet and considerable chops” - Washington Post 

“André de Ridder conducts Dennehy’s own Crash Ensemble with swagger and enthusiasm, and they respond with a bright, urgent performance…” - The Arts Desk 

ENSEMBLE 

Crash Ensemble Credits: 

André de Ridder, Conductor 

Larissa O’Grady, Violin 

Maria Ryan, Violin 

Lisa Dowdall, Viola

Kate Ellis, Cello 

Malachy Robinson, Double Bass 

Leonie Bluett, Clarinet 

Macdara O’Seiradain, Clarinet 

Rebecca Halliday, Oboe 

Cliona Warren, Bassoon 

Alex Petcu, Percussion 

Caitriona Frost, Percussion 

Andrew Zolinsky, Piano 

Glen Carr, Trumpet 

Roddy O’Keeffe, Trombone 

Production 

Francesca de Buyl - Production Manager 

FOH Sound Engineer - John ‘Spud’ Murphy (TBC) 

Audio Producer - Adrian Hart 

LX - TBC 

Management 

Siân Cunningham - CEO 

Kate Ellis - Artistic Director 

Matthew Corrigan - Ensemble Manager 

Rebecca Roche - Marketing Lead/Maternity Cover 

About Donnacha Dennehy

Called ‘thrilling’ by The Guardian and ‘arrestingly beautiful’ by The New Yorker, Donnacha Dennehy’s music has featured in festivals and venues such as the Edinburgh International Festival; Beethovenfest, Bonn; Royal Opera House, London; Carnegie Hall, New York; Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam; Barbican, London; the Huddersfield Festival and BAM, New York among others. In addition to a trilogy of operas with the writer Enda Walsh, recent large-scale works include Land of Winter for Alarm Will Sound, Tessellatum, a microtonally shifting 40-minute piece for strings, The Hunger, a docu-cantata, and a violin concerto for Augustin Hadelich that has received performances in the Netherlands and US already. The Konzerthaus Orchester will give the German premiere, conducted by Joanna Mallwitz. Dennehy continues a close connection with the group he founded in Ireland, Crash Ensemble, and they feature in his opera, The Second Violinist, which won the 2017 FEDORA Prize. Portrait albums of his music have been released by Nonesuch, New Amsterdam, Cantaloupe, NMC and Bedroom Community. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2021. 

Nonesuch Records released the debut recording of Land of Winter, a twelve-movement sonic exploration of Ireland’s seasonal changes by Donnacha Dennehy. 

About Crash Ensemble 

Crash Ensemble is Ireland’s leading new music ensemble; a group of world-class musicians who play the most adventurous, ground-breaking music of today. Amazingly ordinary people doing extraordinary things - Crash is innovative, adventurous and ambitious. The ensemble commissions, collaborates, explores, investigates and experiments with a broad spectrum of music creators and artistic collaborators: ‘We love to innovate, with quality always at the heart of everything we do. We are passionate about the music we play. We create experiences; exploring new ways of presenting music and bringing our audiences on new adventures. Community for us is key – our community inspires us to create and experiment more. We value our audiences and our connection with them.’ 

Crash perform both in Ireland and internationally. The ensemble’s music is available on their own label, Crash Records and they have recordings on Nonesuch, Cantaloupe, NMC, Ergodos and Bedroom Community labels. Crash Ensemble is funded by the Arts Council of Ireland and Dublin City Council, is a resident ensemble at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, Ireland and at Kilkenny Arts Festival, Ireland.