newsletter archive

May 2005

World Music Days 2005 in Zagreb more...
Aosdána composers more...
Events last December more...
Competition winners more...
Lobbying activities more...
Submission on Artists' Tax Exemption From the Association of Irish Composers more...
Opportunities more...
ISCM-VICC Composer in residence program more...

October 2004

AIC AGM notice more...
Members' Subscriptions more...
Dates for your diary more...
Winter activities 2004 more...
Gavin O'Sullivan moves on more...
Lobbying more...
ReJoyce RePort more...
Irish Composition Summer School 2004 more...

March 2004

World Music Days 2005 National Submission more...
Celebrating Contemporary Music during 'ReJoyce Dublin 2004' more...
Mostly Modern/IMRO and AIC competition winners more...
World Music Days recollections more...
Autumn Series 2003 more...
Funding for 2004 more...
Opportunities more...

August 2003

AIC AGM notice more...
New commissioning rates more...
Reflections on the Irish Composition Summer School more...
Autumn series 2003 more...
The Musicians Union more...
CMC Web site more...
Mostly Modern/IMRO Young Irish Composers' Competition 2004 more...

March 2003

November: Autumn Series report more...
Jan: Artists' Tax Exemption Scheme more...
Current AIC position re funding and therefore plans more...
Opinion piece: history of AIC more...
MoMod 02-03 more...
WMD 03 news more...
WMD 04: national submission decided more...
Subs now due more...
New Members more...

October 2002

AIC Autumn Series 2002 more...
World Music Days 2004, Switzerland more...
Hong Kong latest more...
The Heart-Sleeve Issue more...
Arts Council, update on commissioning 2002 more...
Arts Bill 2002 more...
AGM at Irish Composition Summer School more...
New Member more...
Opportunities more...
Mostly Modern/IMRO Young Irish Composers' Award more...
AIC/Mostly Modern International Composition Competition more...

July 2002

Funding news more...
AGM more...
ISCM World Music Days 2003 national submission more...
Irish success in ISCM WMD 2002, Hong Kong more...
Aosdána - not for composers? Raymond Deane more...
Arts Council Commissions more...
Selection procedures for AIC concerts more...
Recent AIC concerts more...
Forum more...
Opportunities more...


February 2002

SUBS FOR 2002 more...
Mostly Modern/IMRO and AIC competition winners more...
Funding News more...
The ISCM and World Music Days more...
Autumn Series 2001 more...
Commissioning Scheme more...
Denmark News more...
New Members more...


November 2001

Autumn Series more...
Japan World Music Days more...
October 2001: A Journey to Japan more...
New Members more...
Mostly Modern Activities more...
Website success more...
Concorde news more...
Danish Exchange more...

The following are selected articles from past newsletters:

September 2001
April 2001
January 2001
October 2000
June 2000
April 2000
January 2000
September 1999
June 1999
April 1999

AIC AGM notice

Please make a note in your diary: the next AIC AGM will be held in conjunction with the second AIC concert. Date: Friday 25th November. Time: 6pm. Venue: Airfield House (see below for address).

The agenda will include:
Presentation of Annual Report and Accounts
Strategy for 2005
If you have a topic you wish to see discussed please email it or post it, ahead of the meeting, to AIC.

AIC/IMRO/Mostly Modern Competitions Just Announced - November 2005

Click on Opportunities page for full details

Forthcoming Concerts

AIC is pleased to announce two concerts this November:
24th November 2005, Airfield House, Dundrum, 8pm, and
25th November 2005, Airfield House, Dundrum, 8pm

24th November 2005:
A tribute to the late James Wilson: a concert featuring Wilson's music and music by other composers associated with him, his colleagues and pupils.

Darragh Morgan and Mary Dullea, Violin and Piano

Programme

James Wilson: Sonata No V
James Wilson: Colloquy
James Wilson: Breeze and Calm
Anthony Payne: Of Knots and Skeins
Henri Dutilleux: Le Jeu des Contraires
Igor Stravinsky: Elegie
Igor Stravinsky: Ballad from The Fairy's Kiss
John Buckley: new work (dedicated to James Wilson)

25th November 2005:
AIC presents new music for clarinet, violin and electronics
Paul Roe (cl, b.cl) and Leonie Curtin (vn)

Programme

Stephen Gardner: It's the hole that kills you not the bullet for Solo Bass
Clarinet and Tape
Reich Violin: Phase
Poul Ruders: Vox in Rama for Electric Violin and Clarinet
Jane O'Leary: A Piacere for Solo Bass Clarinet
Derek Ball: Duo for Violin and Clarinet
Ronan Guilfoyle: Music for Bass Clarinet
Zack Browning: Sole Injection
Ed Bennett: Monster for Solo Bass Clarinet and Tape
"

World Music Days Festival 2006

AIC has recently sent the following scores, as our National Submission, to the international jury of the World New Music Days Festival 2006, to be hosted in Stuttgart in July 06 by the organisation Musik Der Jahrhundert.

Scott McLaughlin M. Grisey, His Galliard strings
Derek Ball Cuisle na Bóchna string quartet
Grainne Mulvey Scorched Earth symphony orchestra
Fergus Johnston Binn an tSíorsholais symphony orchestra
Ian Wilson …wander, darkling string quartet
Jane O'Leary In the Stillness of Time string quartet

Ireland Represented at 2005 World Music Days

In April Ireland was represented by three composers at the 2005 edition of the ISCM World Music Days festival. On Friday April 22nd the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra performed Frank Corcoran's Quasi un canto and John Buckley's Bassoon Concerto with soloist Žarko Perišic. Earlier in the festival, on Friday the 15th, John McLachlan's Nuance was performed by Austrian pianist Susanna Artzt.

This year the festival combined itself with the Zagreb Biennale, a major new music festival that has run since 1961.

As AIC is the Irish Section of the ISCM we strive every year to ensure Irish scores are performed at the festival. We were rather unlucky in the last edition, Switzerland 2004, that no Irish pieces were performed. It is important therefore that AIC members make an effort to consider themselves for the next festival, which will take place in Stuttgart in July 2005. The details are on the website www.iscm.nl and in a leaflet included with this newsletter for members.

MAY 2005

World Music Days 2005 in Zagreb

In April Ireland was represented by three composers at the 2005 edition of the ISCM World Music Days festival. On Friday April 22nd the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra performed Frank Corcoran's Quasi un canto and John Buckley's Bassoon Concerto with soloist Žarko Perišic. Earlier in the festival, on Friday the 15th, John McLachlan's Nuance was performed by Austrian pianist Susanna Artzt.
This year the festival combined itself with the Zagreb Biennale, a major new music festival that has run since 1961.

As AIC is the Irish Section of the ISCM we strive every year to ensure Irish scores are performed at the festival. We were rather unlucky in the last edition, Switzerland 2004, that no Irish pieces were performed. It is important therefore that AIC members make an effort to consider themselves for the next festival, which will take place in Stuttgart in July 2005. The details are on the website www.iscm.nl and in a leaflet included with this newsletter for members.

Aosdána composers

Congratulations to composers and members Rhona Clarke, Donnacha Dennehy and Ben Dwyer who were selected for Aosdána membership this month. This brings the total number of composers in Aosdána to 22, while overall membership is 210.

Events last December

Here are some pictures from our events last December, when AIC ran a percussion workshop and a piano recital.

Raymond Deane and Simon Mawhinney in the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre Dec 9th ….

Competition winners

Congratulations to young composer Nathan Sherman, who won the IMRO/Mostly Modern Young Irish Composers' Competition with his piece for percussion Moment. Congratulations also go to Japanese composer Yoshikazu Kumagai, who won the AIC/Mostly Modern International Competition with his piece AUN. Both competitions are administrated by AIC, and they attracted good numbers this year. Richard O'Donnell and the RIAM Percussion Ensemble performed the works in their Mostly Modern concert last January.

Competition Winner Nathan Sherman (2nd from left)

Lobbying activities

As readers may be aware there is a lot of media discussion about changes to the Artists' tax exemption. Under review at the moment in the Department of Finance is whether or not to introduce a cap on the exemption. That is to say that high earners may in the next budget find themselves subject to tax, while lower earning artists will still be in a position to avail of the exemption as before. It is not known where this threshold might fall, of course. What makes it look fairly likely that such a cap will be introduced is the fact that the review is part of a larger examination of all the tax exemption schemes. Individual composers would find it hard to defend retaining the current limitless exemption on creative earnings which generally benefits composers such as Bono and the Corrs, and a cap may be seen as not affecting AIC members (so far as I know!). However, a cap, once introduced, may remain at the same level for 20 years or more, when its meaning in terms of real earnings might start to affect more modest artists. For that reason AIC, in consultation with the Sculptors' Society and the Playwright and Screenwriters Guild has been defending the status quo. Our official submission as lodged with the Dept. of Finance at the end of March follows. At the time of preparation of this submission it was not as clear as it is today that the scrapping of the scheme altogether is extremely unlikely.

Submission on Artists' Tax Exemption
From the Association of Irish Composers

Introduction

The Artists' Tax Exemption Scheme was introduced in 1969. The government's stated intention at the time was that the scheme would act as "a further encouragement to the creative artists in our midst and would help create a sympathetic environment in which the arts can flourish".

By enacting this legislation the then government recognised the difficult economic conditions that were specific to artistic production. But by singling out artists for this exemption they also recognised the unusual case of artistic production as a non-economic indicator of a nation's overall state of health. The political layer of society was noticing for the first time that the cultural and economic conditions that prevailed actually suppressed or chased away its major cultural contributors, and that the economic conditions for artists were a factor in that process (one has only to consider Joyce and Beckett, but these were by no means our only exiles). In attempting to do something about this they were expressing at last a concern for the cultural inheritance of future generations of Irish people.

Before removing or changing the artists' tax exemption the government must assess if the scheme was a success, if it continues to be a success, and whether or not conditions have changed so that its work can be considered to have been completed.

We can seek to do this either with proper research into current conditions for creative artists, or with anecdotal evidence. The most recent research, which unfortunately is five years old, shows that general economic conditions for artists have not improved sufficiently to change the case for the scheme. In 2000, the Arts Councils of Ireland and Northern Ireland produced The Creative Imperative, a report which included research on artists' incomes. It found that "artists' income is low and unpredictable. Based on figures for the Republic, the average gross income is around IR£12,000, with art expenses on average IR£5,000."

This is a clear statement itself, but obviously in a rapidly changing economy we need a fresh look at artists' incomes. (The lack of up-to-date research in this area actually shows that focus on individual artists, and support for their representative bodies, remains very weak in terms of funding and recognition. It would be a sad irony if this scheme were to be abandoned purely because of this).

Artists' Incomes

As the report from 2000 indicates, artists are still low earners, as they were at the introduction of the exemption. An important factor that must be considered, but is generally missed by statistical analysis, is that artists typically earn very unevenly over the years. In other words, they usually have many lean years with the occasional 'bumper' year. The system of annual tax returns inherently disfavours and discourages economic activity with larger cycles. It is also largely blind to their existence. But to an individual, who has struggled for years to make ends meet, has one 'hit' and then returns to the previous pattern, the scheme can be a hugely important lifeline. This was a factor deciding the introduction of the scheme and we can be sure it has not changed.

Other statistics exist, provided by Revenue, and appended here. These show that the vast majority of artists availing of the tax exemption scheme are still earning, from their creative work, incomes that are below the average industrial wage (see below). Again it must be borne in mind that any one of the individuals doing well in that year may be experiencing a rare 'moment in the sun'. Success on this table must be seen in the light of a probable absence of pension, of benchmarked earnings, of any incremental entitlement or fiscal recognition of increased experience/ability. The artist's income not only should be seen in this light, but also it should be remembered that artists frequently pay income tax, as they tend to have part-time or even full-time jobs in related cultural areas such as teaching or non-creative artistic endeavours (e.g. organising artistic events etc). Even the very rare few high earners who earn consistently over many years are generating revenue in all their ancillary activities. Areas such as film and rock music (where high earnings are, by the way, still extremely rare overall) have a massive surrounding infrastructure and generate many jobs and commodities, all of which are taxed.

Another important effect of the tax exemption scheme is that it encourages Irish artists not to set up off-shore residencies in more tax-favourable places, and it brings many foreign creative artists into the country. We should be careful, therefore, not to assume that all of the income that appears as untaxed (€38,000,000 for the last available year, 2001) in the statistics would all have existed in this country if the scheme were not also in this country.

Infrastructure and trickle-down

It is difficult to pin down facts on the question of what might happen if the exemption scheme is removed or capped, but these questions should be explored nonetheless.
Again regarding high earners, many of these contribute not only to the present culture and future patrimony of the nation, but also enliven or create an environment that sustains many taxable jobs. One must think of studios, music and theatre venues, and the production facilities in all arts. In some cases the presence of a high earner is similar to the 'anchor tenant' in a shopping centre: chase this away and you may remove the lynchpin. In both film and rock music it is well known how certain individuals have striven far beyond the call of duty to raise production conditions in the country. This has impacted on the local economy and also acted as an encouragement and incentive for the younger generations to follow. It is important to reflect that even a cap on the scheme may have a strong effect in this regard, and that the number who consistently reside in this bracket is itself smaller than the number for any one year.

Artists are different

The patterns of earnings that have been discussed exist because artists do not work to fiscal values. This needs to be stated clearly, and understood, without apology. In other words the artist strives to produce a unique artefact, not a commodity. The primary creative act is not, nor should it be, motivated by profit. This is because the creative act, in its pure form, is an act of communication without any conditions (particularly on the receiver), and not a service. It is not readily comparable even to other communicative professions such as teaching, preaching or politics, although it shares some ground with all of these. It is more solitary and less tangible than those activities. As producers who seldom tailor their product to a consumer, they are a very special case. The value of their product may take an immense amount of time to become apparent to a large number of people, and by then the profitability may have passed out of the artist's hands. Most artists produce continuously without any guarantee of payment. If we believe their unpaid work to be valuable though not yet valued, then we can say the contribution from artists to the cultural worth of the nation is larger than the total contributions from the Arts Council, the Dept of Arts, Aosdána and the tax exemption scheme.

The commodities that can result from art must be understood to be separate: i.e. books, DVDs and CDs (etc) are a proper secondary exploitation, and most of the finances generated therefrom remain taxable. Unfortunately, the separation of the 'pure creative act' and 'the commodity' is not always entirely clear or possible.

Has the scheme been effective and have conditions changed to warrant its removal?

The scheme has meant that artists have tended to remain in the country more than was the case in the years before its introduction, so it has succeeded in that area. It has meant that the artist who experiences a rare 'hit' can use all of that money to pay the debts from the lean years or to subsidise continuance as an artist. It is actually one of the few initiatives brought in to assist artists that has worked exactly as planned, because of its simplicity. It has probably succeeded better than expected since it is the lowest costing tax exemption scheme, and unlike some of the others has had negligible negative social side effects in terms of distribution of wealth. It was perhaps the only tax exemption scheme not introduced for the sake of its effect on society as a whole, but primarily for the sake of the individuals affected. Yet the effects on society have been positive: i.e. there is more artistic activity in the country than would otherwise be the case.

However, general conditions regarding existing as an artist have not improved sufficient to warrant its removal. As long as artists continue to concentrate primarily on the artistic quality (rather than the financial potential) of their work, their income will remain uneven, and in the main, poor. If they concentrate exclusively on the financial potential of their work they will cease to be artists, and may also remain poor!

Appendix: statistics on artists' relief (supplied by Revenue)

A breakdown of the number of claimants by reference to ranges of the income which was tax exempted is set out in the table below. A married couple who has elected or has been deemed to have elected for joint assessment is counted as one tax unit.
Numbers of persons claiming the artists exemption and the income subject to the exemption in the short tax year 2001:

AIC notes that:
1150 are below €50,000
173 are above
1323 = total no of claimants therefore 13% are above €50,000 and 87% are below
* this figure divided by 456 shows the average amount in this range to be c€21,000

Opportunities

Grenzenlos - World Music Days 2006

Composers who receive this newsletter also will receive the full brochure for the call for scores with all the conditions. The text of this is also available on line at www.iscm.nl

Concerning this call for scores please note that there are two deadlines to consider:

1. if you wish to be considered for entry to the National Submission, please
send scores and all other materials (read conditions carefully!) to AIC by
May 23rd
2. if you wish to make an individual submission send directly to the
organisers by June 10th. In that case there is a €50 fee.
In order to be considered for national submission you should be a fully paid
up AIC member.
If you are sending for consideration for national submission, but you don't
get selected for that, we can send it on for you as an individual submission
provided you include €50, which goes with all individual submissions.

ISCM-VICC Composer in residence program

AIC members can, through their connection to the ISCM, apply for a residency at the Visby International Composers Centre on Gotland, in Sweden.
The VICC, as an Associate Member of the ISCM, offers 6 special residencies in their centre, including free use of the studios and facilities and free housing in Visby; thus the applicants only have to take care of their international travel and food. Applications should be made by members of ISCM (i.e. AIC), and sent to the ISCM secretariat.
Please email AIC for downloadable forms. Also you can check out this centre on its web site www.centreforcomposers.org, and the forms are available there if you click on ISCM.

October 2004

AIC AGM notice

Please make a note in your diary: the next AIC AGM will be held in CMC, 19 Fishamble St, Temple Bar, Dublin on Wed Dec 8th at 3pm.
The agenda will include:
Presentation of Annual Report and Accounts
Strategy for 2005
If you have a topic you wish to see discussed please email it or post it, ahead of the meeting, to AIC.

Members' Subscriptions

Please make sure you have paid your AIC member's subscription for 2004! The current annual subscription is €40/ student rate €20. AIC needs your support more than ever. Please contact AIC by email for our account details if you wish to pay by direct debit or bank transfer. Also, if you are not receiving occasional emails from AIC informing you of opportunities then this indicates that we do not have your current email address. Please keep us up to date for contact purposes, you may be missing out!

Dates for your diary

Please note the following cluster of AIC activities in December and try to support them with your attendance. Details for these events are on the following pages.

Dec 5th RIAM: workshops (morning) and concert (2.30pm)
Dec 8th AGM at CMC: 3pm
Dec 9th Simon Mawhinney: lunchtime concert, BoI Arts Centre

Winter activities 2004

Since 1998 AIC has been in the happy position of being able to provide an annual concert series, the Autumn Series. Through the six years up to 2003 it has consisted annually of four or often more concerts, mostly held in the Hugh Lane Gallery. Many international performers and composers have been featured alongside a huge range of Irish composers. For 2004, however, we can no longer produce a 'series' as such. This is a result of the fall in our regular funding over the last three years, as IMRO has disengaged itself from much of the support it used to provide to the contemporary music sector. Meanwhile the Hugh Lane Gallery has closed for the Autumn for major refurbishments.
We are, nonetheless, excited to be able to announce two events this December: a piano solo recital by Simon Mawhinney at the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre, Foster Place, and a young composers' workshop at the RIAM featuring the RIAM Percussion Ensemble under Richard O'Donnell.
Simon, who is also a composer with a growing profile (his music featured in our Autumn Series 2001), will perform an exciting programme on Thursday December 9th at 1.15pm.

Here's the full programme:

Boulez: Notations
Scott McLaughlin: The Veil Nebula
Mawhinney: Sulaymaniyyih
Ligeti: Musica Ricercata

For details on the workshop see 'opportunities', but also note that a public concert will form part of this event and you are all welcome to attend the concert, the workshop or both, on Sunday Dec 5th at the Katherine Brennan Hall, RIAM, Westland Row, Dublin 2.

Gavin O'Sullivan moves on

Anyone who has worked in concert promotion (particularly, but not exclusively in contemporary music) in Dublin in the last ten years will notice the gap that the departure from the scene of Gavin O'Sullivan will leave. Gavin is heading off to Poland for a few years, where no doubt his unparalleled energy and efficient, softly-spoken style will come into play in exciting music projects. His absence from the NCH and particularly the Hugh Lane Gallery will, I am sure, be felt in new music circles.
As Jane O'Leary puts it:

"The Hugh Lane Concert Series has been a real home for new music, quietly and efficiently managed by Gavin. His support for adventurous programmes has ensured a rewarding experience for both listeners and performers--no small achievement! We are all grateful."

I would add that I have benefited greatly from working with Gavin, in general terms of learning how much is possible where the will exists, and in specific practical terms-he has been extraordinarily generous with his time.

Lobbying

Concert promotion and composer opportunities form the more noticeable side of what AIC is about, but our core reason for existence often requires a quieter vigil. We exist to protect composers' material interests, and much of that work has to go on without publicity. Apart from our participation in the Forum for Music in Ireland, we have, over the last two years, formed an informal alliance with the Irish Playwright and Screenwriters' Guild and the Sculptors Society of Ireland. Regular meetings have resulted in a focus on areas of common interest such as Artists Tax Exemption (where each year as budget day approaches we lobby the Revenue Department). In June and August we met executives of the Arts Council to discuss ways of ensuring that Arts Council funded companies/organisations should treat artists on a professional basis; e.g., to resist the temptation to offer poor rates or to allow creative work to go ahead before funding is in place. Various practical suggestions have been made, but the question of whether the Arts Council will see fit to implement such procedures has to wait, since the Arts Council is (coincidentally) calling for submissions on the development of its role. It will create new policy documents (to replace the abandoned Arts Plan) in early 2005. There are also composer-specific concerns that AIC wishes to bring to the Arts Council, this will be done on a separate basis.

Also, over the summer AIC has been in dialogue with Northern Irish composer members and ACNI (the Arts Council of Northern Ireland) over the current plans that affect, or may soon affect, their representation by CMC.

Meanwhile, if you have problems with institutions regarding payments for creative work, or more general worries that concern all composers, it is essential that you let AIC know so that we can act on it.

ReJoyce RePort

While AIC's regular funding situation has been causing concern, our profile of events in 2004 was substantially buoyed by the fact that last December we, in partnership with CMC and Temple Bar Properties, attracted €15,000 on a once-off basis for from the ReJoyce Festival Committee. The activities this funded were: two concerts, the commissioning and recording of five new pieces (connected in some way with Ulysses) and commissioning three video artists to provide accompanying visuals for the commissioned pieces. The idea for marrying serious visual artists to serious music, with a three-minute time limit, is obviously borrowed from rock music. The results were screened at Temple Bar's outdoor cinema as short films before main features, and as we hoped, one of the pieces also made it on to TV; a difficult place for today's composers to penetrate. The pieces also had a live outdoor concert presentation on June 20th. The other concert was a recital in the Hugh Lane by Judith Mok, of songs related to Ulysses. The commissioned composers in the audio-visual project were Michael Holohan, Vincent Kennedy, Rob Canning, Ben Dwyer and Trevor Knight. The video artists were: Del 9 (an animation company), Katie Lincoln and Eamon O'Kane. The outdoor concert, conducted ably by Fergus Johnston, also included pieces by Fergus, Frank Corcoran and John Wolf Brennan.

Irish Composition Summer School 2004

The 22nd edition of the Composition Summer School, known for many years as the Ennis Composition Summer School, took place last August in Maynooth University's Music Department. Course Directors Martin O'Leary, Ian Brabazon and Kevin O'Connell were joined by Victor Lazzarini, Gráinne Mulvey and Michael Finnissy as Guest Lecturers. This line-up ensured that a stimulating and diverse scope of compositional approaches was discussed, while electro-acoustic and instrumental music received a good balance. Guest performers were David Adams and Elaine Clark. Both performers had to work very hard, as this year there was a particularly productive crop of talented young composers. David and Elaine realised 14 scores, for violin and piano, and solos for violin, piano, organ and harpsichord. Electro-acoustic items included pieces for tape, piano and tape, and harpsichord and tape. The students departed with a CD recording of all the works.

The ICSS is funded by IMRO and The Arts Council.

World Music Days 2005 National Submission

The National submission to WMD 2005, to be held in Zagreb, Croatia, is as follows:

John Buckley Bassoon concerto orchestra
Raymond Deane Equali string quartet
Ian Wilson Involute chamber
Jerome de Bromhead Beauty and the Beast recorder and tape
Rhona Clarke Pied Piper flute and tape
Vincent Kennedy Awakening chamber

Celebrating Contemporary Music during 'ReJoyce Dublin 2004'

The Association of Irish Composers, the Contemporary Music Centre and Temple Bar Outdoors are very pleased to announce a programme of contemporary music events that will take place during May/June 2004 as part of the ReJoyce Dublin 2004 - Celebrating Bloomsday 100 Festival. The programme of events includes an indoor concert in the Hugh Lane Gallery, an outdoor concert in Meeting House Square as part of Diversions Temple Bar 2004, a seminar in the Contemporary Music Centre and five short commissions of new music.

Each of the five new pieces of music will be pre-recorded and accompanied by visuals, functioning as a 'short' before a main feature, in the Diversions film series next June. The screenings take place in Meeting House Square, as part of Diversions Temple Bar 2004.

After an open call for submissions and consideration by a selection panel the following composers have each been awarded one of these commissions: Rob Canning, Ben Dwyer, Vincent Kennedy, Trevor Knight and Michael Holohan.

The Association of Irish Composers, the Contemporary Music Centre and Temple Bar Properties are very excited about this series of events, which aims to explore the influence of James Joyce on Irish composers throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. The aim is to expose new audiences to contemporary music and to the influence of Joyce on Irish composers.

Further details including dates and times will be posted here and on www.cmc.ie, www.templebar.ie and www.rejoycedublin2004.com in coming months.

These events are grant aided by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism via the ReJoyce Dublin 2004 - Celebrating Bloomsday 100 Festival.

Mostly Modern/IMRO and AIC competition winners

Congratulations to young composer Scott McLaughlin, who won the IMRO/Mostly Modern Young Irish Composers' Competition with his piece for flute and tape "Excused from the Laws of Gravity." Congratulations also go to Spanish composer Arild Suarez, who won the AIC/Mostly Modern International Competition with his piece Solo No 3 "Dolmance". Both competitions are administrated by AIC, and they attracted good numbers this year. Susan Doyle performed both pieces on January 22nd last in the Mostly Modern Series.

World Music Days recollections

Gerard Power writes on his experiences of the last two festivals

I strongly recommend the submission of works to the ISCM World Music Days following my own happy experience of having Cyclopsleep for orchestra and Wind Quintet selected for performance at the World Music Days in Hong Kong in 2002, and Slovenia in 2003, respectively. Cyclopsleep received its premiere in Hong Kong and I am grateful to the CMC/IMRO copying fund for the copying of parts and to AIC for its financial contribution to my attendance.

The Hong Kong Sinfonietta under conductor Tsung Yeh had rehearsed my work very thoroughly in several sessions before I arrived, and I had the opportunity to make a worthwhile contribution in the remaining days before the performance. Each morning after breakfast, I enjoyed the 20 cent routine of taking the little ferry journey to rehearsals from my hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui to the City Concert Hall on Hong Kong Island, awestruck the first morning by the skyscrapers of the harbour looming ahead to welcome me. The grandeur of buildings such as the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, I.M. Pei's Bank of China Tower and Norman Foster's Hong Kong Shanghai Bank was complemented at night by the 78-storey Central Plaza that illuminated the Wan Chai waterfront with its eye-catching lighting giving the time by changing colour with each quarter of an hour.

During rehearsals, the technical proficiency of conductor and orchestra brought Cyclopsleep to life in unexpected ways and the most difficult sections were rendered fluently unobtrusive. The flourishing realisation of the piece arrived at a peak in quality on the night of the performance. My pre-performance nerves had already been helped a great deal by the hypnotic ferry crossing where I succumbed willingly to the soothing medication of lapping water against the side of the boat.

An interesting aspect of the festival in Hong Kong was the designation of 'signature' concerts. Designated composers were involved in choosing the works to make up the programmes for concerts, which also included one of their own works. The signature composer on the evening of Cyclopsleep's premiere was Kaija Saariaho, whose Graal Théâtre was played by violinist, Mari Kimura. I also attended an electronic and multi-media night 'signed' by Michael Nyman where Kimura performed Zoo caprices. Doming Lam was the signature composer for a concert given by the virtuoso Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra in Hong Kong City Hall Concert hall. This orchestra of traditional Chinese instruments generated a sonic boom of visceral energy.

Among the other riches on the waterfront, I enjoyed the Hong Kong Art Museum with its vast collection of Chinese antiquities, including ceramics, jade, and lacquerware as well as the gallery of old paintings depicting Hong Kong through the ages and its changing exhibition of contemporary Hong Kong art - all against the dramatic backdrop of Hong Kong's harbour outside its windows.

In 2003, eighty years of the ISCM World Music Days was celebrated in Slovenia. The Cultural Relations Committee of the Department of Arts gave me a generous contribution to allow me to travel to the festival. The event was excellently organised by the Slovene ISCM Section and the Society of Slovene Composers. Ljubljana, the capital, was used as the focus but other venues - Predjama castle, the famous Postojna cave, Piran, Kostanjevica na Krki and Bled - situated within easy reach of the capital, were included in the programme.

During my two-day visit I enjoyed several concerts including one given by the Slovenian Philharmonic in Ljublana's Gallus Hall at Cankarjev Dom. Peter Bruun's Moon Water (2001) - a sensitively coloured work, beautifully proportioned in its structural and textural shadings, was followed by the voluptuously full sonorities of Organophony (1982) by Primoz Ramovs, and John Zorn's violin concerto, context de fees (1999).

On the following night the wonderful Slovenian Wind Quintet, Slowind - drawn from the first chairs of the Slovenian Philharmonic, performed my Wind Quintet in the convent cloister of St. Francis in the town of Piran, the birthplace of Giuseppe Tartini.

The coach-journey from Ljublana to Piran was broken at the magnificent caves of Postojna, which reverberated with sound installations by Hugh Davies, Hans van Koolwijk and a performance by the Zagreb Saxophone quartet. Travelling through Slovenia on that sunny September day typified the most obvious and positive aspects of the ISCM World Music Days where one has the chance to meet other composers from all over the world, and the chance to visit and experience the cultural life of the host country. Then there is the variety of perspectives evinced in the interactions of other practitioners, including the various permutations of roles made up of performing musicians, composers, musicologists, administrators, promoters, visual artists, journalists, record and radio producers and publishers. I am sure that many of these elements led to that heady mix which I associate with the World Music Days, intoxicating in its liveliness and intensity. These contacts have been a great source of creative and personal support and inspiration and the spirit of my work has been inflected with these meetings and has been stimulated by the increase in the range of possibilities to which I was exposed.

Autumn Series 2003

Last November saw four AIC concerts in our annual series, held as usual in the Hugh Lane Gallery. Irish and Irish-resident composers featured were: Jennifer Walshe, David Stalling, Victor Lazzarini, Brian Carty, Fergal Dowling, Linda Buckley, Keith O'Brien, John McLachlan, Eric Sweeney and Raymond Deane. Several world premieres were among their works, while among the non-Irish composers featured were Rihm, Dallapiccola, Birtwistle, Stockhausen, Takemitsu, Finnissy, Luke Stoneham, Richard Emsley and Luca Vanneschi. This was one of the best years for variety and quality, and the audiences responded enthusiastically. High points (for this writer) were the EAR (Electro Acoustic Revue) concert, organised by composers associated with Maynooth University's Music Technology Lab, and Ian Pace's solo piano recital.
Four of the Irish composers also gave pre-concert talks with the assistance of CMC's meet the composer! Scheme.

Funding for 2004

Besides the good funding news from the ReJoyce festival, there is the much less welcome news that for the second year running IMRO has decided not to fund AIC at all. There seems to be a general shrinkage of funding from IMRO for organisations connected to contemporary classical music, which is to be regretted. John McLachlan made a very strong case for a renewal of funding to AIC at the last IMRO AGM, and there was reassurance from the board of IMRO for a re-examination of the question. The case is still a strong one: that at every IMRO AGM for the last five years the board has stated that they would lend practical support to a songwriter's representative body, should such a body come into being. Given this, it seems perverse that IMRO should have chosen to cease funding AIC in 2002, since we are the only composers' union for any genre in the country, with a history going back to 1973.

The Arts Council has, for 2004, granted AIC €14,000. This welcome funding will enable us to continue our representative work for composers, and to manage some direct promotional work.

However, this is the same sum as was granted in 2003, 2002 and 2001. And it is not far from our 1998 funding of £10,000 (€1270). Many others small bodies working to promote contemporary music share this experience of 'continuity funding'. Notwithstanding the usual wisdom of not biting the hand that feeds, after six years many in AIC must be wondering has the Arts Council heard about such things as inflation and index linking?

Opportunities

À Capella Mass settings

Fishamble Voices are a professional vocal ensemble whose repertoire ranges from the Renaissance to the present day.

Fishamble Voices and AIC are calling for expressions of interest in a project involving settings of the mass. The selected composer will write a new mass setting of around 20-30 minutes approximately. He/she will also select one other major mass setting from the existing repertoire from the last 1000 years. Fishamble Voices will perform the new work, alongside the selected work, in AIC's November Series 2004, in the Hugh Lane Gallery. As yet no funding has been secured, though it is hoped that a suitable commission fee can be sourced.

Fishamble Voices hope to make this part of a series of such projects, and so may seek further collaborations in the 2005 season. The first event of this kind, which can be taken as a model for the others, will take place in the Hugh Lane Gallery on April 25th 2004 when a mass setting by Italian composer Alessandro Timossi will be premiered alongside Josquin Des Pres' L'homme Armée mass.

Simply contact AIC before March 10th to express an interest. All works programmed and composed must be à capella, and preference will be given to composers whose work stretches the boundaries in choral writing.

August 2003

AIC AGM notice

Please make a note in your diary: the next AIC AGM will be held in CMC, 19 Fishamble St, Temple Bar, Dublin on Wed Oct 15th at 3pm.
The agenda will include:
AIC's relationship with the Musician's Union
Presentation of Annual Report and Accounts
Strategy for 2004
If you have a topic you wish to see discussed please email it or post it, ahead of the meeting, to AIC.

New commissioning rates

The AIC and CMC have updated the commissioning rates for 2003-4, it may be useful to keep this edition of the newsletter as a guide to any forthcoming negotiations readers may be enjoying(!) For 2004-5 simply adjust upwards by whatever the inflation rate is (probably around 4%)
The fees and categories given below should be regarded as a useful indicator rather than a prescribed structure. The lower end of each band is intended for less established composers; senior composers will command a higher fee and, in such cases, the upper figure should be taken as a median rather than a maximum.

There are other important guidelines concerning the terms under which commissions should be agreed and it is advisable to read these closely when a commission is coming up. They can be found on the AIC and CMC web sites.

Reflections on the Irish Composition Summer School

This July saw the 21st Irish Composition Summer School take place in the Irish World Music Centre and Centre for Informatics and Electronics, University of Limerick. I attended the school three years running ('00-'02) and at risk of preaching to the converted, would like to extol its virtues.

The School always attracts a small but diverse group of composers, ranging from secondary school pupils and postgrads to those returning to composition after many years. In recent years the number of younger composers attending has been increasing and this can only be a good thing.

The original attraction to the School for me was the chance to be immersed in composition for a fortnight. Of course as Feldman observed, composition cannot really be taught, but it can be demonstrated; and the Summer School functions in just this way. The taught element focuses on general questions of aesthetics and practicalities of notation and presentation, while alongside this there is an attempt to introduce students to elements they may not have had the opportunity to study before, such as acoustics and electronics. The classes are broad yet concise overviews, but the real learning for me is in the apprenticeship element, where students have the chance to take their work to a variety of tutors. This is the element most encouraged by the directors. Take full advantage of the lecturers and guest composers and revel in the conflicting opinions and solutions you will reap, because no-one will have the same answer to your questions-I'd go as far as to suggest that the more there is composerly consensus on an issue, the less it is interesting! But these questions always need to be asked, and personally speaking I prefer to have a variety of opinions to play with before generating my own.

Besides the professionals, the other source of knowledge and wisdom is a little more insidious, but ultimately easier to assimilate: some of the best arguments and moments of clarity were the conversations with other students in the café or pub, sometimes just lying on the grass ranting about old Karlheinz. Don't be fooled by that idyllic picture though; moments such as those were snatched from hours spent wrestling with the eraser; although students are advised to have their piece well begun before commencing the course, few do, and two weeks is a tight deadline on top of lectures. Do as I say, not as I did.

Students quickly become comfortable with the lecturers and no one is left feeling that silly questions will be shot down. The learning curve can be steep but only as steep as the student wants and there's always a helping hand. The performers are generally the source of greatest anxiety for students as there is generally little opportunity for young composers to interact with professional players: this is the other gap that the Summer School bridges. Each year the course focuses on a small vocal/instrumental group (occasionally a single performer). The performers in the first week give invaluable masterclasses on writing for their instrument-typically a Q&A session with plenty of interaction-in the second they return for the performance/recording of the pieces. The hardest and best lessons are learned in this last part, where the pieces first come under the eye of the performers; notation that made perfect sense to the composer is shown up for all its ambiguities and double meanings. But mistakes are the best teachers, and this is the place where they can be safely made: there is too much in modern musical culture that demonises mistakes to the point where some would rather not attempt than risk erring-by this is born an inwardly spiralling conservatism. The recording sessions also give valuable insight into the working practices of the performers, who are always quick with advice on how to write more practically while not sacrificing the original idea.

I was drawn back to the Summer School each year because I believed it still had something to teach me. In many cases it was to have the chance of working with a particular performer or composer, but underscoring that is that the Summer School is fun-good stress-and a place to meet other composers in a country where concert intervals form our only socialising nexus. The music I wrote on these occasions has been of variable quality; and although that seemed important at the time, the positive changes to my writing in the wake of each course are the true end-products.

Scott McLaughlin

The ICSS is funded by IMRO and The Arts Council. The next summer school will take place in Maynooth University in August 2004.

Autumn series 2003

This year AIC's Autumn Series will feature among its attractions the major new music specialists Ian Pace and Alistair Bamford. Also creating excitement will be the new music collective EAR (that is, Electro Acoustic Revue), and a trio consisting of three very established soloists: Ríona O Duinnín, Geraldine O'Doherty and Nancy Johnson. A great line-up, but what of the composers and the pieces? Well, here's a list of highlights (each programme contains additional items):

Alistair Bamford (baritone), Nora Mulder (pf)

2nd Nov

Harrison Birtwistle - Prologue to Punch and Judy
Wolfgang Rihm - Apokryph
Luigi Dallapiccola - Rencesvals
Jennifer Walshe - Moving in/Love song/City front garden with old men

EAR

9th Nov.

Interactive live and tape music from Victor Lazzarini (world premiere), Brian Carty (world premiere), David Stalling (world premiere) and Fergal Dowling, among others.

Ríona O Duinnín (fl), Geraldine O'Doherty (hp), Nancy Johnson (va)

16th Nov.

Toru Takemitsu - And then I knew 'twas Wind
Eric Sweeney - Walk/Don't Walk (a.o.)

Ian Pace (solo pf)

November 23rd

Raymond Deane - Rahu's Rounds
Michael Finnissy - Alkan/Paganini
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Klavierstuck XII (a.o.)

The Musicians Union

It is inevitable that AIC must have some kind of alliance with the fledgling Musicians Union of Ireland. Recently John McLachlan met Greg Boland, president of the Union, and a possible way of creating a useful working alliance was decided (more details at the AGM). Meanwhile, members of AIC can decide for themselves if and when they want to become ordinary members of the MUI. The contact for that is John Swift, Musicians Union of Ireland, SIPTU, Liberty Hall, 8586404 or email musicians@siptu.ie

CMC Web site

While it is hardly 'breaking news', it is worth reminding composers of the re-launch of CMC's web site which took place last April. It is now hugely improved, with an array of new features to showcase Irish contemporary music. By upgrading the facilities and the interactivity of the site, it demonstrates to Irish web browsers and the world that Irish artists excel not just in rock and pop! The major areas of improvement are:

· Greatly improved searching of the score collection
· News updates/calendar of events
· Video and audio interviews clips
· Faster updates of composer info
· Secure shopping facilities for online purchase of CDs / publications.
· An 'Education and Outreach' section for school use

The site is worth regular revisits and exploration, for content ranging from opinion to news to information, and must surely rank as one of the best Music Information Centre sites in the world, if not the best. At the time of writing, the opportunities page contains details of two very generous 'per cent for art' schemes in Sligo and Mayo.

Opportunities

Please note that two competitions follow with many similar details, therefore please mark clearly which competition you are entering.

Mostly Modern/IMRO Young Irish Composers' Competition 2004

Prize
€400
Deadline
Scores to be sent to the Association of Irish Composers not later than December 5th 2003
Age limit
The composer must be Irish born or resident, and under 30 by the deadline date

Conditions

Instrumentation
Flute (may double piccolo/alto fl) and tape
Duration
Not more than five minutes
Entry fee
€10, payable to the Association of Irish Composers
Other conditions
The piece must be previously unperformed and unrecorded. Scores to be under pseudonym, with a sealed envelope containing the composer's real name, address and date of birth. Year of composition must be marked on the score. Midi realisations of scores may be included with materials. Scores and other materials will not be returned.
Other details
The winning work will receive a performance by Susan Doyle in the Mostly Modern Series on Thursday January 22nd, at the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre, Dublin. The judges reserve the right to make no award if the entries are deemed to be of insufficient standard.

AIC/Mostly Modern International Composition Competition 2004

Prize
€650
Deadline
Scores to be sent to the Association of Irish Composers not later than December 5th 2003

Conditions for entry

Instrumentation
Flute (may double piccolo/alto fl) with or without tape
Duration
Not more than six minutes
Entry fee
€10, payable to the Association of Irish Composers
Age limit
No age or nationality restrictions
Other conditions and details
see young Irish composers' competition
Address for entries/information
Association of Irish Composers, C/O IMRO, Copyright House, Pembroke Row, Dublin 2, Ireland. E-mail info@composers.ie Web www.composers.ie

Other competitions

2004 edition of the Luxembourg Sinfonietta composition competition:
Deadline 15 Jan 2004
10-15 minute piece for 14-20 piece ensemble
for details see
www.luxembourg-sinfonietta.lu

International Wind Ensemble/Concert Band
Composition Contest- Harelbeke - Belgium 2004
Details on http://www.ccharelbeke.com,

Studio for new music (NY) composition competition
Details on www.studiofornewmusic.com/EcardOffer.htm

SUBS For 2003 now due

Please note that unless you have AIC on direct debit, or have paid an extra year ahead, your annual subscription to AIC is now due, and should be paid before our account year end, March 31st. Please note that we are slightly raising the fee, from €38 to €40 (€19 to €20 for students/unwaged). Our fund are under pressure more than ever (see headline p. 4) so please don't let your subscription lapse.

ISCM World Music Days 2004 national submission

Here is the national submission for World Music Days 2004 to be held in Switzerland:
Each of these pieces will go forward to the international jury for WMD 2004 and the final selections for the festival will appear around April 2004. Good luck to all the composers involved.

John Buckley A Thin Halo of Blue choir, speaker, tape and orchestra
Gerry Murphy Tá Ann Percussion ensemble
Frank Corcoran Symphony no. 3 Orchestra
Ian Wilson Eat, Sleep, Empire fl, cl, pf, vn, vc
Gerard Power Top Quark wind ensemble
Fergal Dowling pResent Sound installation

Irish success in ISCM WMD 2003, Slovenia

This year's ISCM World Music Days festival takes place this September in Slovenia, and congratulations to the two Irish composers selected. Gerard Power's Wind Quintet and John McLachlan's Here Be Dragons (for solo organ) will be performed. For full details of the programme, visit www.wmd2003.s5.net. Once more Ireland has done well to have more than one piece in the programme. Last year at this time we announced two Irish pieces, but later a third was added. Therefore don't take this report as final, it is conceivable that more Irish work will appear on the programme, so keep an eye on the website.

Mostly Modern/IMRO and AIC competition winners

Congratulations to emerging composer Eoin Mulvany, who won the IMRO/Mostly Modern Young Irish Composers' Competition with his solo piano piece 'Poynt: After Monet'. The AIC/Mostly Modern International Competition, which was won by Spanish composer Ramon Humet, with his piece The Voice of the Devil. Both competitions are administrated by AIC, and they attracted greater numbers than ever. Marta Erdei performed the Irish work last November, while Ben Dwyer and Susan Doyle performed the International one in February.

AIC: a beginner's guide

The following is based on a text I recently wrote for IMRO news. I thought it would be of interest to some younger and more recent members of AIC.

The Association of Irish composers began in the early seventies as AYIC, with young Irish composers such as Raymond Deane, Brian Beckett, Derek Ball and Gerald Barry organising subscription concerts, and having regular meetings to discuss the composer's general situation. This all grew towards a more formalised trade union, which by the eighties had a proper constitution and an address in Liberty Hall. The aims then were all encompassing, with policies on promotion of contemporary music in education, commercial recording, publication, broadcasting and so forth. Finding the means for all that in the economic climate of the day (plus ça change) was another thing, but an agenda was set that played out slowly over the years, and continues to. For example, the aims of proper resourcing for a library and archive of Irish composers' work were carried through by AIC's directors, Bernard Harrison and Bernard Harris, the latter overseeing the setting up of the Contemporary Music Centre in Baggot Street.

In the early nineties, AIC organised two large-scale festivals of new music, Accents. This was the top priority of the day for AIC because all through the seventies RTE had sponsored a biennial contemporary music festival, but axed it in the eighties, when RTE management was cutting back all round. Accents was an artistic success, a great celebration of Irish and international art-music, and well attended, but something of a disaster for AIC when the books failed spectacularly to balance at the end. However, highlights such as Michael Seaver's performance of Stockhausen's Harlequin, a theatre-dance-clarinet solo, live on in the collective memory.
In the following financial depression, other strands of AIC's activities kept going, chief among them being its role as the Irish Section of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM). Through this, Irish Composers were being heard abroad at the annual ISCM World Music Days festival.

With the careful stewardship of Maura Eaton in the 1990s, AIC slowly recovered its credibility with funding bodies, and in particular, IMRO kept faith with AIC when no-one else wanted to know. AIC then focused its attentions on lobbying activities, for example drawing up a very strong submission to the newly created Minister for Arts (then Michael D. Higgins) on the problems facing composers.

By the late nineties AIC was able to attract Arts Council funding for concert promotion. This allowed the setting up in 1998 of our annual Autumn Series, a micro-festival of new Irish and international chamber music. This takes place mainly at the Hugh Lane Gallery, Parnell Square, in Dublin. Apart from this, two other types of concert happen on an occasional basis: portrait concerts, allowing a single composer to show different sides of his/her output, and international exchange concerts, where foreign ensembles come to promote the music of their country. These are then reciprocated by Irish ensembles and/or composers travelling to the partner country.
In the 2000s, relationships with our funders have changed again: the Arts Council now defines AIC as a resource organisation (though we have always survived with minuscule resources) rather than a concert promoter, while IMRO is not funding us for 2003 (It is greatly hoped that this situation can be changed for 2004).
We continue to work for composers in three main strands: active lobbying and representation, members' services and concert promotion.

In the last few years the members' services and representation side has come back to the fore. Our broad policy aims haven't really changed, and can be defined thus:

§ To seek a greater share of concert and broadcast time for living composers
§ To monitor and try to influence the decisions that affect composers' incomes
§ To maximise opportunities of all kinds for composers
§ To assist in securing for composers the recognition that is due for their contribution to the cultural health of the nation

In 2003, AIC will accent the lobbying side even more strongly. We want to become a unique entity for contemporary music: a voice seeking to harness the energies of other organisations; organisations whose activities affect composers but whose main brief is much wider. They include broadcasters, concert promoters, performing groups, collection societies, government departments and so on.
An example of current work is the coalition we have formed with the Writers' Union, the Sculptors' Society and the Playwright and Screenwriters' Guild. Its aim at present is to resist the government's plans to scrap or cap the Artists' Tax Exemption Scheme. Other co-operations may grow out of this, there are plenty of shared concerns. Of course, it is a pity that we have to spend such a proportion of our time not furthering creative artists' material well-being, but fighting a rearguard action against its erosion by a largely philistine background culture…!
As the Executive Director of AIC since late 1998, I have seen ups and downs in the environment affecting composers, and sometimes there can be a sense of weariness as history repeats itself. Hard-won improvements can be rolled back very quickly, either by government bodies, public bodies (both of whom should know better, but who operate often with scant expertise) or private companies. There is most often a sense of a lack of joined-up thinking: an addiction for mistaking reinventing the wheel for progress, and of course we are going through a rough patch right now. But what enthuses me and inspires me to keep going is what I hear at the coalface, in contemporary music concerts and recordings: Irish composition has never been healthier. Audience numbers have never been better, young composers (and the number of these keeps growing) are finding exciting new angles of expression all the time, while our more established names keep producing fantastic work.
John McLachlan

Autumn Series 2002

Last November saw five AIC concerts in our annual series. Four were held as usual in the Hugh Lane Gallery, while another was in Airfield House, Dundrum, with assistance from Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. Irish composers featured were: Paul Hayes (with a selection of his works in a portrait concert), John Kinsella, Vincent Kennedy (with a world premiere of his Suite for Oboe, Harp and Cello), Martin O'Leary, Frank Lyons, Paul Newland and Siobhán Cleary.

Funding for 2003

AIC was very relieved to receive from the Arts Council €14000 towards its activities for 2003. This is the same as was granted the year before. Certainly in the context of widespread cuts getting this much was a minor achievement. However with IMRO withdrawing all funding for 2003, we are now considerably worse off financially than we have been in five years (so send on those subscriptions please!). As a result, we are concentrating on our networking and representative work this year, though some concerts will continue (see main feature above).

Arts Bill 2002/3

Readers may remember that in the last newsletter all members were encouraged to make representations to their public representatives to protest at a potentially damaging aspect concerning the setting up of an Arts Council 'standing committee' on the Traditional Arts. Thanks to whatever pressure he received (and AIC was among the lobbyists), Minister O'Donoghue is preparing amendments to the Bill to remove references to all permanent standing committees, including this problematic one. The Council will therefore have the freedom to set up subcommittees on various things from time to time, without allowing them the power to fund directly.

New Members

Two new members have just joined AIC. Dr Frank Lyons and David Flynn are very welcome to the Association. One of Frank's works featured in AIC's series last November, in the HUUJ Ensemble's concert. David is completing studied under Dr Gráinne Mulvey at DIT. Coincidentally, both composers are also accomplished guitarists, and David is the founder of the Dublin Guitar Quartet.

Opportunities

21st Irish Composition Summer School: July 14th-25th 2003
Irish World Music Centre and Centre for Informatics and Electronics, University of Limerick

o Tutorials and presentations with leading composers o Workshops on extended instrumental/vocal techniques o Recordings of works o Music technology courses

Composers: Ian Wilson, Nicola LeFanu, Martin O'Leary, Ian Brabazon, Jennifer Walshe Simon Mawhinney

Intermediate and advanced courses in composition for clarinet, cello and soprano and electro-acoustic forces.

For more detail and/or brochure, contact Helen Haughey: 11 Belgrave Road, Rathmines, Dublin 6, ph./fax 01-4961484. Email helenhaughey@eircom.net
________________________________

Tutti, the Artists' Website opportunities

TUTTI is a growing web directory of artists' information.
Have your up-to-date professional information always available to every promoter, performer etc, even when you are not! - Latest photos, reviews, sound clips, biogs etc.

See www.tutti.ie for details. Email: info@tutti.ie
Tutti is organised by Brian Farrell: (ph 8216620).
_____________________________________
Other Websites of current interest: competitions etc

Haifa 2nd International Competition for Composers
September 25th - October 25th, 2003.
www.haifamusic.co.il/composers/rNr.html

electro-acoustic: www.lyricfm.ie/diffusion.html

composition course: www.royaumont.com

AIC Autumn Series 2002

Look out for a feast of music from AIC this coming November! Please note the dates in your diaries and try to attend!

There will also be composer talks at the Hugh Lane concerts (11.30am). The dates and venues (all concerts at Hugh Lane except first concert) are as follows:

Nov 1st: 8pm, Airfield House, Peter Veale, Maria Cleary, Annette Cleary (ob, hp, vc) in a programme including Yun, Lou Harrison, Vincent Kennedy, Pasculli, Holliger, Hosakawa, Siobhan Cleary and Oscar Piazzolla.
Nov 3rd, noon, Hugh Lane Gallery: Veale/Cleary trio in a shorter programme.
Nov 10th: Pianist Lance Coburn, winner of 2002's Cologne Piano Competition with music from Carl Vine and John Kinsella.
Nov 17th: A Composer Portrait concert of Paul Hayes' music: including Jamboree Dawn, Lost in Baha and the Sea of the Unknowing. Performers include Ken Edge, Mike Nielsen and Martin O'Leary.
Nov 24th: The HUUJ Ensemble brings us music from Maderna, Frank Lyons, Paul Newland and Peter Rosser.

World Music Days 2004, Switzerland

Unbelievably, now is the time to start thinking about getting entries in for World Music Days 2004! Last March we sent six Irish scores as the national submission for 2003, Slovenia, but the Swiss, with characteristic promptness, are setting a deadline in January. That means that to give our national jury time to select scores we have to ask you all to regard December 31st as the deadline for getting scores and other materials to us.
Please, please, please read the leaflet long before that date and think about which piece to choose and how you can connect it to the festival theme. As well as the usual accompanying documents, you have to include a written explanation of this connection.
Allow time to gather scores from CMC and factor in their Christmas holidays too!
Having said all that, please remember that it's always worth going in for WMD, as you don't have to write anything new for it, and the statistical chance of an international performance is better than in most other calls for scores.

Hong Kong latest

The June issue of this newsletter mentioned that two Irish composers were to be performed in Hong Kong 2002 World Music Days this October. However, during the summer, the Hong Kong organisers made a few small changes, and suddenly a third Irish piece appeared on the official website! (That's www.iscmhongkong.com.) So now in addition to Gerard Power's orchestral Cyclopsleep and Raymond Deane's Pentacle, pAt by Donnacha Dennehy will feature. It is very positive for us that two out of six from the national submission made it into the festival, while a third got in by request from the organisers. At the time of writing John McLachlan and all three featured composers hope to travel to participate in the festival.

The Heart-Sleeve Issue

Very recently I was re-reading an exhibition catalogue from a multi-media collaborative work I took part in a few years ago, and in the catalogue the artist I worked with is quoted talking about her own work in general, which was at that time providing her with "a way out of the whimsical idea of self-expression, personal biography and social 'relevance'."

When I read this statement again I found myself reacting quite personally, as if it was somehow my desire for self-expression that was being criticised. I remember the (now ex-) girlfriend of a composer I know saying that she thought the work of all composers (and by extension, all artists) was basically saying "love me". I certainly don't agree, but that idea of trying to share something about oneself and one's experiences through one's work, far from being "whimsical", is a powerful way to communicate. In music, the communication is usually in the form of emotional contours that are recognisable by an audience perhaps in only the most vague way if trying to actually describe them in words, and yet they are sometimes too specific for words-we know as listeners when we have recognised a shared reaction, a shared experience.

When I was asked to write this article, I was told it was to be an "opinion piece". I am rarely short of material, but it struck me how often people's opinions are presented as incontestable certainties, and these can hang like an albatross around the neck. A certain British composer will always be more memorable to me for his (at best, contentious) remark that you can't be a good composer and write quickly, than for his music. Stravinsky's notorious comment about music being unable to express anything other than itself has passed into folklore simply because it was Stravinsky who said it, not because it is absolute truth. Without believing that my opinion is the only right one, I am merely proffering the idea that it is all right to want to express yourself-it doesn't have to be bad, or retro, or poor taste, and it can be worth fighting for in the midst of so many opinions about, and approaches to, writing music.

My music has been occasionally described as neo-Romantic, and this can be taken as a pejorative term if one is in the right mood. I am not afraid of owning up to believing the idea of Romanticism, in the 19th-century sense, is still a valid one, insofar as it is to do with self-discovery and self-expression, but the term can also, erroneously, imply that the compositional language accompanying the philosophy is a rather dated one, littered with nostalgia and backward glances. This does not have to be the case at all, and I personally believe that it is possible to combine the Romantic notion with modernist thinking-on more than one occasion that has been my intention.
Two composers whose music is very dear to me are Shostakovitch and Morton Feldman, poles apart in their approach to composing. From the former's music one can glean something of his life, his environment and circumstances, his fights and endeavours. From the latter's all we can glean is certain aspects of character-fastidiousness, remarkable taste and finesse. Perhaps I like this contrast, being able to glimpse a bit of emotional biography here, a bit of personality there. It's all communication, and even the staunchest opponents of self-expression can't help revealing something about themselves in what they do. Ultimately, music appeals to me at the most human level, and that's the level I aspire to communicate on, too. As evinced above, I firmly believe one shouldn't place the quotes of others on too high a pedestal, yet I can't help recalling Schoenberg's dictum that the highest achievement of any artist is to express themselves.

Ian Wilson, September 2002

Arts Council, update on commissioning 2002

Last July, a meeting took place between the Arts Council and AIC to discuss the situation of the Commissioning Scheme in 2002. In attendance were Artform Director, Dermot McLaughlin, Artists Support Executive Tara Byrne, Fergus Johnston and John McLachlan. While no promises were made, assurances were given that the schemes affecting composers-commissioning, bursaries and projects-would be a lot better financed in 2003 than in 2002. However whether they could actually rise to or surpass the levels of 2001 depends on the overall budget situation. The Arts Council is expecting to be applying across-the-board cuts on the 2003 budget.

Arts Bill 2002

Before the end of the year the Government will pass a new Arts Bill. This deals exclusively with restructuring the Arts Council and its relationship with the Department of Arts. The main changes it will bring, if passed in its current form, are (1) the Minister for Arts will henceforth appoint the council. (2) The council membership will fall from 17 to 9. (3) Three permanent standing committees (5 members on each) will also be introduced, dealing with (a) Irish traditional Arts (b) Arts Activity by Local Authorities and (c) New Art and Innovation. The first of these will have the power to fund directly.
Many in the music sector, including a majority of traditional music organisations, are expressing unease at this restructuring. The Forum for Music in Ireland has expressed deep concern also. There are indications that this Bill was brought about by sympathy from the last minister (Síle de Valera) to intense lobbying from Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann and that it does not reflect artistic realities. We will probably be stuck with whatever pours forth from it for 25 to 30 years, the lifetimes of the previous bills.
It is also quite remarkable that despite wishing to increase its control of the Council, the Government appears to have no published policy on the Arts other than its relation to the Council, and has not addressed any broad policy aims except implicitly through the proposed standing committees.
It is still not too late for individuals to inform themselves and make their feelings known to their public representatives or the Minister.

AGM at Irish Composition Summer School

Last August the AIC AGM was held in Maynooth University Music Department, coinciding with the Irish Composition Summer School (formerly the Ennis Summer School). The AGM discussed the current funding crisis and the generally parlous future for composers in the current economic climate. There was also a small reception afterwards, giving the composers of the future the opportunity to meet some of our established figures.
The School itself was a great success, allowing young composers to create a new piece and have a professional performance and recording at the end, giving them a chance to really stand back and assess their work. As well as receiving focused guidance from the course directors Martin O'Leary, Ian Brabazon and Kevin O'Connell, the students were assisted by guest composers Frank Corcoran and Christopher Fox. The performers were Susan Doyle, Deirdre O'Leary and Síle Daly (the Prey trio).

New Member

AIC welcomes new member Farid Allawerdi. Originally from Iraq, Farid studied in Moscow and France and now resides in Dublin.

Opportunities

Two opportunities AIC runs in co-operation with Mostly Modern and IMRO

1. Mostly Modern/IMRO Young Irish Composers' Award
A once-off award to be given