Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra

Overview

Founded in the mid 1800’s, the Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra, together with the Royal Irish Academy of Music, represented the pillars of Irish classical life at a time when Dublin, after London, was considered the most vibrant and distinctive city in the British Isles. The orchestra will undertake its first tour of the U.S. under the direction of Irish Conductor Derek Gleeson, its Music Director since 1997, and featuring pianist Peter Tuite, one of Ireland’s major musical talents.

Related Sites

• The Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra

Program

• Beethoven - Coriolan Overture in C major, op 62
• Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, op. 37
• Brahms - Symphony No. 2 in D major, op. 73

About the Artists

Director & Conductor, Derek Gleeson

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Derek Gleeson studied piano, percussion, composition and conducting at the music conservatories of Dublin (College of Music Dublin, The Royal Irish Academy of Music), London (The Royal Academy of Music), and Vienna (Hochschule fur Musik), and film scoring at the University of California at Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.). As a teenager, he represented Ireland as an orchestral musician in the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) where he had the opportunity to perform under the great conductors Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado, Leonard Bernstein, Sir Georg Solti, and Daniel Berenboim, amongst others. These early experiences moved him specifically toward a career in conducting. In 1984, he was a prize winner in the Shell/London Symphony Orchestra music scholarship program.

As a freelance musician, Gleeson performed with many of the leading British orchestras, including The London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Orchestras, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, as well as European Jazz and Pop ensembles, before directing his time exclusively to conducting in 1989.

"Thanks to the authority and dynamism of their young and talented conductor, Derek Gleeson, the orchestra excelled itself." -The Irish Times (Dublin)

Derek Gleeson has conducted the premier CD recording of Tchaikovsky's oratorio, "Ode to Joy," "The Original Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture," and Prokofiev's "Zdravitsa" with The London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir (released on IMP Masters/Carlton Classics)

"Performances are entirely convincing, polished and stylish under Irish conductor Gleeson's able leadership." -In Tune Magazine

"Derek Gleeson conducted with spirit . . . striking detail. . . . A must for anyone who loves Russian music." -Classic CD Magazine

An ardent champion of contemporary music, Gleeson has provided many premier performances of works by living composers, his own works having been broadcast in Europe and the U.S., including his work titled "Buenos Aires" premiered in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2004. A percussion concerto for Evelyn Glennie will be premiered in 2009.

Amongst others, Gleeson has conducted The London Philharmonic Orchestra, the RTE Concert Orchestra and the RTE National Symphony Orchestra (Ireland), The Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Da Camera Fiorentina (Italy), the Brohuslav Martinue Philharmonic, Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonic Orchestra Hradec Kralove (Czech Republic), RTL Orchestra (Luxembourg), NOS Orchestra (Holland), Szombathely-Savaria Symphony Orchestra (Hungary), The Danish Radio Concert Orchestra, Orchestra of the Sadlers Wells Ballet (England), The Ruckert Orchestra (Ireland), Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Vratza Philharmonic (Bulgaria), Plovdiv State Opera and Bourgas Opera/Philharmonic (Bulgaria), and The Los Angeles Composers Guild Chamber Orchestra (USA). Gleeson's opera repertoire includes performances of Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera," "La Traviata," "Il Trovatore" and "Rigoletto"; Mozart's "La Nozze di Figaro," "Don Giovanni" and "Magic Flute"; Bizet's "Carmen" and Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin."

Gleeson recorded the first Gaelic rendition of Prokofiev's Peter & The Wolf. He conducts The Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra ("DPO") in Carolan Suite on Patrick Cassidy's CD, Deirdre of the Sorrows (BMG/Windham Hill), coupled with The London Symphony Orchestra in other works by Cassidy. Amongst his other recordings, Gleeson conducted the DPO recording of American composer Don Ray's orchestral suite, Family Portrait and the premier recording of Ray's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra with Philharmonia Bulgarica (Albany Records, 2004), and Ray's Homestead Dances with the DPO (Albany Records, 2007). In 2008, he will conduct the premier recording of composer Patrick Cassidy's new Mass with The London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

Gleeson composed film scores for the feature films "The White Pony" (Director: Brian Kelly), "Irish Whiskey" (Director: Jon Stevens), "Moving Target" (Director: Paul Ziller), "The Doorway" (Director: Michael Druxman), "Kitchen" (Director: Kieron Walsh) and additional music on "The Suicide Club" (Director: Rachel Samuels). In addition to composing music for film, Gleeson is Director of Screen Training Ireland's Film Scoring Program, Dublin. He is Composer Advisor to Moonstone International, and Music Jury Chairman of the IFTA Awards (Irish Film and Television Awards).

Peter Tuite

"[The piano] thundered, it whispered, it cooed, it was stentorian, caressing - there seemed no end its many voices. Like an orchestra it had many colors; strings, woodwind, brass and their combinations. As the Brahms sonata is a long one, such a variety of tone color helps to make the piece dramatically exciting, but even more impressive was the way the pianist conveyed his sense of the profundity underlying the music." -The Irish Times

Peter Tuite has developed a reputation as one of Ireland's most interesting and individual musical talents. As well as maintaining a busy international performing schedule, he has continued to successfully pursue his parallel interest in new musicology, lending him a unique perspective almost rare amongst today's musicians. This, combined with a dazzling virtuoso technique and his training as a composer, allows him to create a wholly original and unforgettable musical landscape.

Peter Tuite was born in Dublin in 1976. He was educated at Trinity College Dublin and the R.I.A.M. (Royal Irish Academy of Music) before enrolling, with an award of a Fulbright Scholarship, at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University in the United States, where in 2007 he earned a Doctorate in Music, specializing in the works of Olivier Messiaen. At Peabody, Peter studied under Leon Fleisher and Benjamin Pasternak. He also studied at the Berlin Hochschule Der Kunste and at Samuel Rubin Academy in Israel. He was recently appointed to the piano faculty of the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

In his native country, he has been awarded nearly every major prize in classical music; notably: the Millennium Young Musician of the Future 2000, the Lisney Award for a series of outstanding solo recitals, and the Chopin Prize at the AXA Dublin International Piano Competition. In 2001, he received a High Achiever Award for excellence whilst at the R.I.A.M., and recently Peter was nominated a Millennium Scholar (Ireland's prestigious national award).

Peter has performed in Germany, Israel, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Ireland, Italy and the United States and has recorded for both radio and television. In April 2003, Peter made his United States concerto recital debut at the Founders Hall Auditorium in Pennsylvania. Most recently (May 2007), he performed Beethoven's First Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland to great acclaim. As one reviewer put it, "he played as if from the elevated perspective of long experience, caressing each note out of the piano" The Irish Times

This season (2007), Peter undertakes an extended series of concerts in Germany, where he will perform the complete Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach along with late works by Beethoven and Haydn; similar concerts are scheduled in Italy and Austria. Next year, (2008) includes concert appearances throughout Europe and the British Isles. Peter will perform in the United Kingdome and Ireland the complete Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jesus (in celebration of Olivier Messiaen's Centennial) as well several lecture recitals on the topic in Scotland, Ireland and the United States.