Chamber Choir Ireland, Irish Chamber Orchestra & Paul Hillier
Biographie Chamber Choir Ireland, Irish Chamber Orchestra & Paul Hillier
The Irish Chamber Orchestra
is Ireland’s most dynamic ensemble. Mixing traditional repertoire with new commissions and collaborating with everyone from DJs to dance companies, the ICO pushes the boundaries of what a chamber orchestra can do. These days, you are as likely to find us at the Electric Picnic as Mozartfest, but wherever we perform, the ICO delivers world-class concerts feted for their energy and style.
Each year, Ireland’s busiest chamber ensemble presents concert seasons in both Limerick and Dublin, embarks on two national tours, and makes a series of prestigious international appearances supported by Culture Ireland. Our Artistic Committee works closely with our Artistic Partners to devise exciting, diverse and innovative programmes, mixing standard repertoire with new work – often specially commissioned – from the best young Irish composers. This versatile approach enables us to appeal to music fans of every stripe while upholding the highest artistic standards.
The driving force behind our recent success is our Principal Conductor/Artistic Partner Jörg Widmann, a composer, conductor and clarinettist whose irrepressible energy and pursuit of excellence has enabled the ICO to expand its horizons, attracting outstanding international performers such as Thomas Zehetmair, Brett Dean, Sheku Kanneh-Mason Tabea Zimmermann, Igor Levit and Elisabeth Leonskaja. The last seven years have seen ICO perform at leading concert halls and festivals across Europe, the U.S. and South America. The ICO released a series of acclaimed recordings on the prestigious Orfeo label with another recording due to be released on Alpha Classics in the Autumn. The ICO was the first Irish Orchestra to complete a three-year residency at Heidelberger Frühling and is currently orchestra-in-residence at Kilkenny Arts Festival.
Widmann’s enthusiasm and commitment is matched by the orchestra itself, led by the ebullient Katherine Hunka, and comprises of 22 outstanding musicians. The ICO’s special rapport, forged by over 20 years of playing – and sometimes singing! – together, creates the unique sound that has captivated audiences all over the world.
The orchestra enjoys outstanding support. The enthusiasm and forward thinking of CEO Gerard Keenan has been instrumental in realising some of the ICO’s most exhilarating collaborations, while the board, chaired by Aibhlín McCrann, comprises members whose diverse professional expertise is matched by their determination to realise the orchestra’s vision.
At the heart of this vision is the belief that music is for everyone. That is why the ICO has implemented an ambitious and far-reaching strategy that aims to take music out of the concert hall and into the local community, inspiring children to try music for themselves, and supporting them on their journey from first lesson to public performance.
Our groundbreaking initiative, Sing Out with Strings (SOWS), offers primary school children in Limerick the chance to learn free music. Now in its eleventh year, the project has been hailed as a model of social inclusion, offering opportunities for young people, developing key life skills and providing tangible long-term benefits for participants, their families and the wider community.
The success of SOWS has inspired us to set up a youth orchestra, the ICOYO, which provides aspiring musicians aged 12 to 18 with the support they need to grow. However, it doesn’t stop there: the orchestra has made its home at the University of Limerick for over 20 years, and UL’s MA in Classical String Performance is run under the auspices of the ICO – providing a rigorous programme with close, “hands-on” contact to the orchestra, its visiting directors, soloists and guests.
Paul Hillier
The founding director of the Hilliard Ensemble and Theatre of Voices, Paul Hillier is regarded as one of the most versatile artists. His career has embraced singing, conducting, composing, and writing about music.
His recordings, over a hundred and fifty CDs including seven solo recitals for harmonia mundi, Dacapo Records, Ondine among others have earned worldwide acclaim and won numerous prizes. In 2007 he was awarded a Grammy for Best Choral Recording of Arvo Pärt’s Da Pacem, followed by his second Grammy with David Lang's The Little Match Girl Passion with Theatre of Voices in 2010.
The British early music icon was Principal Conductor of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir from 2001 to 2007 and holds this position with Ars Nova Copenhagen since 2003. In 2008 he became Chief Conductor of Chamber Choir Ireland and was appointed artistic director of Coro Casa da Musica in Porto.
Hillier regularly collaborates with the leading chamber choirs as the Danish National Radio Choir, NDR Rundfunkchor, Rundfunkchor Berlin, ChorWerk Ruhr, Houston Chamber Choir and orchestras as London Sinfonietta, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Concerto Copenhagen, Athelas Sinfonietta, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Remix, Concerto Palatino, Copenhagen Philharmonic, South Denmark Philharmonic, Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto among others.
Engagements have led him to festivals such Ravenna, Bergen International Festival, RheinVokal, Musikfest Berlin, Schwetzingen, Niedersächsische Musiktage, BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Kilkenny Arts and Hong Kong Arts Festival and to Elbphilharmonie Hamburg etc.
Paul Hillier enjoyed close collaborations with many composers and has led numerous first performances by Arvo Pärt, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, John Cage, Ingram Marshall, John Adams, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Heiner Goebbels, Kaija Saariaho, Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, Helena Tulve, Sunleif Rasmussen, Jóhann Jóhannsson and many more.
In addition, he is closely working with the Kronos Quartet, Peter Sellars, Bobbie McFarren, Tim Rushton and Richard Alston.
Paul Hillier was born in Dorchester and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He has taught at the University of California and from 1996-2003 was Director of the Early Music Institute at Indiana University. During 2009 he was Artist-in-Residence at Yale University’s Institute for Sacred Music.
His books about Arvo Pärt and Steve Reich are published by Oxford University Press. In 2008 he also created his own music publishing company, Theatre of Voices Edition (www.tov-edition.com).
In 2013 Paul Hillier was made Knight of Dannebrog (the Danish knighthood) by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. For his services to choral music he was awarded the Order of the White Star of Estonia in 2007 and the Order of the British Empire in 2006.
