It gives me great pleasure to launch our festival programme for 2023. We are thrilled and honoured to open this year’s festival with the National Symphony Orchestra in the National Concert Hall in a lunchtime programme of French music featuring renowned concert organist David Goode, who will also give a solo recital in St Patrick’s Cathedral.  

We look forward to welcoming one of the longest established and most venerable of early vocal ensembles, The Tallis Scholars, to perform in Christ Church Cathedral. Their programme celebrates the music of William Byrd, who died 400 years ago. Byrd’s music is also the focus of our activities in Trinity College, where we welcome organist and scholar John Kitchen who will lead a discussion, masterclass and give a concert on the new Goetze and Gwynn instrument in the Public Theatre.

Our partnership with Sandford recitals continues with a concert given by brilliant young freelance concert organist Francesca Massey. The festival concludes in customary fashion in St Michael’s Church, Dún Laoghaire, where once again we partner with the venerable Dún Laoghaire Organ Concerts series there. This year we welcome Belfast based organist Matthew Owens, who will give the Irish premiere of a significant new work for organ, Howard Skempton’s Preludes and Fugues.

And as ever education and the encouragement of young organ talent are at the core of the festival.  All of your major artists will also give masterclasses, and we will also feature some of the most outstanding of Ireland’s young organists in a platform concert, again kindly hosted by the Unitarian church. It is my hope that all lovers of organ and choral music will find much to enjoy herein.

Yours,
David Leigh

Pipeworks Artistic Director.