Sing for Simon, Elton John night, jazz, classical, film and more – RTÉ CO to end January
The RTÉ Concert Orchestra and guests mark 55 years of the Dublin Simon Community with a special fundraising concert (13 December, The Helix), there are nights of film in Dublin and Waterford (13 & 15 November, The Helix & SETU) and a celebration of Elton John (28 November, NCH).
We see in 2025 in jazzy style with Associate Artist Guy Barker and guests (31 December, NCH), with classical and disco on the way in January (25 January, NCH and 30 January, The Helix).
Seasonal events in November and December are already heavily booked or sold out – Sunday Miscellany (5 December, NCH), Messiah (9–11 December, NCH), performances of Swan Lake and a Celine Byrne night (20–24 November and 16 December, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre) and Love Actually (30 November, Convention Centre).
Anna Sułkowska-Migoń and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra present Cinematic Classics
Wednesday 13 November, The Helix, 8pm
Friday 15 November, SETU, Waterford, 7.30pm
The RTÉ Concert Orchestra celebrates both music written for film – by John Williams, John Barry, Ennio Morricone and Hildur Guðnadóttir – and classical music famously used in films, with the Barber Adagio for Strings and excerpts from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet.
On the podium, the RTÉ CO welcomes back the Polish conductor Anna Sułkowska-Migoń, winner of the prestigious La Maestra competition in Paris (2022).
The evening will include Gudnadottir’s ominous Joker soundtrack, filled with dark, droning cello, winner of both a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for Best Original Score, as well as a BAFTA Award for Best Original Music. The breadth of John Williams’ career is showcased with the majestic theme from Jurassic Park (1993) and pieces from Harry Potter.
John Barry’s soundtrack to The Living Daylights brings his signature emotive strings to the beloved Bond theme, creating a menacing and moving suite, while the soundtrack to Dances with Wolves (1990), also a winner of Academy Award for Best Original Score, sweeps through beautiful phrasing, painting landscapes of the prairie.
The evening also features Barber’s haunting Adagio for Strings, as heard in The Elephant Man, Platoon, Amélie and more.
Cinema Paradiso won the 1990 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and Ennio Morricone’s unforgettable soundtrack underscores the magic of falling in love with cinema. Enjoy a performance of the main theme in tribute to the maestro and the movies.
The Helix tickets: €15–€42.50
SETU tickets: €30
Swan Lake
State Ballet of Georgia
RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Levan Jagaev conductor
Bord Gáis Energy Theatre
Wednesday 20 November, 7.30pm • Thursday 21 November, 2.30pm & 7.30pm • Friday 22 November, 7.30pm • Saturday 23 November, 2.30pm & 7.30pm • Sunday 24 November, 1pm
For the first time in its 175-year history, the acclaimed State Ballet of Georgia comes to the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre with a full-length classic production of Swan Lake, with all performances accompanied by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.
Based at the stunning Opera and Ballet State Theatre in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, this company of ‘versatile and accomplished’ dancers (The New York Times) has soared under the bold artistic direction of world-renowned, Georgian-born Nina Ananiashvili.
With a touring company of over 70, sumptuous sets, and magnificent costumes, State Ballet of Georgia’s Swan Lake is set to be spectacular!
Tickets: €50–€119
Presented by Theatre Tours International
The Music of Elton John
Thursday 28 November, 8pm, National Concert Hall
Richard Balcombe conductor
Graham Bickley, Stuart Matthew Price, Patrick Smyth, Abbie Osmon vocalists
George King feature pianist
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was released in 1973 and has since been regarded as Elton John’s magnum opus, with sales of over 20 million worldwide. The RTÉ Concert Orchestra are joined by West End vocalists Graham Bickley, Stuart Matthew Price, Patrick Smyth and Abbie Osmon to pay tribute to the album, and the last fifty years of Elton John’s music, under conductor Richard Balcombe.
Presenting renditions of I’m Still Standing, Circle of Life, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, Candle in the Wind, Rocket Man, Your Song and more, you can tell everybody that this is your song.
I think it’s gonna be a long, long time until you have a night like this again, so get your colourful shades on and your flamboyant feathers out, to join the RTÉ Concert Orchestra celebrating the Rocket Man himself this November.
Tickets: €15–€42.50
Presented by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in association with GRB Concerts
Love Actually
Convention Centre
Saturday 30 November, 7.30pm
RTÉ Concert Orchestra
James Ham conductor
Singular Artists proudly presents the star-studded Christmas favourite Love Actually. The movie will come alive across the UK and Ireland in winter 2023, with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra performing its soundtrack live to screen.
The score for Love Actually was written by Golden Globe®, BAFTA and Emmy-winning Scottish composer Craig Armstrong OBE, known for his work on films such as Me Before You, Moulin Rouge, Far From The Madding Crowd and Elizabeth: The Golden Age. The music for Love Actually is considered some of the most recognisable across the modern romcom genre, featuring covers of Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You and the Troggs’ Love Is all Around.
Written and directed by Richard Curtis, Love Actually follows 10 different, yet interweaving stories of love around the festive period, involving a variety of individuals, many of whom are interlinked as the plot progresses.
The film boasts an all-star cast, featuring Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Bill Nighy, Martine McCutcheon, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley, Rowan Atkinson, Martin Freeman and many more.
Tickets: from €88.25
Presented by Singular Artists
Sunday Miscellany Live at Christmas
Thursday 5 December, 8pm, National Concert Hall
RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Stephen Bell conductor
Sunday Miscellany is a gem in the RTÉ Radio 1 schedule. Since the programme’s first broadcast in 1968, with its evocative blend of new writing accompanied by complementary music, it has built its own magical space for listeners to escape to on Sunday mornings.
In recent years, Sunday Miscellany and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra have come together to bring this magic to audiences in live Christmas concerts, creating a new, beloved seasonal tradition in Dublin.
Each year an eclectic range of great musical artists and speakers join the RTÉ Concert Orchestra for an evening of music and creative writing at its best. This year’s line-up will include Paul Howard, Joseph O’Connor, Maggie Armstrong, Joe Kearney, Rachael Hegarty, John Toal and Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe. Presented by Sunday Miscellany producer Sarah Binchy.
Returns only
Presented by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and RTÉ Radio 1
Handel’s Messiah
Monday 9, Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 December, 8pm, National Concert Hall
Our Lady’s Choral Society
Ailish Tynan soprano • Leanne Fitzgerald alto • Patrick Hyland tenor • Tómas Tómasson bass
RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Proinnsías Ó Duinn conductor
Our Lady’s Choral Society and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Proinnsías Ó Duinn and world-class soloists present Handel’s Messiah at the National Concert Hall, heralding the introduction of OLCS choir’s 80th anniversary (2025).
Christmas starts here… to avoid disappointment early booking is advisable for these sell-out performances.
Tickets: €25–€37
Presented by Our Lady’s Choral Society
Sing for Simon with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Friday 13 December, 8pm, The Helix
RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Gavin Maloney conductor
With special guests Mary Black, Mary Coughlan, Angeline Ball, Shobsy and Stephen James Smith
Join the Dublin Simon Community to mark 55 years of service and launch their nationwide ‘Sing For Simon’ campaign.
Enjoy a magical night of heartfelt music and festive cheer with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra alongside an array of special guest artists, all under the direction of RTÉ CO Associate Principal Conductor Gavin Maloney.
This special fundraising event honours the vital services provided by Dublin Simon Community, which has been working tirelessly to prevent homelessness over the past 55 years. Your support helps sustain these essential services and highlights the ongoing need to aid Dublin Simon’s efforts.
Tickets: €10.50–€37.50
Presented by Dublin Simon Community with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra as guests
Celine Byrne’s Christmas Celebration
Monday 16 December, 7.30pm, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre
Celine Byrne soprano
RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Gavin Maloney conductor
After phenomenal performances in 2023 at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre with Irish National Opera’s La Bohème and Der Rosenkavalier and a sellout Christmas spectacular in 2022, we are delighted to again join Celine Byrne for her Christmas Celebration.
Packed full of captivating Christmas carols and festive orchestrations, with favourites from films, musicals and opera, including O Holy Night, Nella Fantasia, Edelweiss, Sleigh Ride, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Silent Night, and much more.
Tickets: from €35.45
Presented by CMS Marketing
Swing into ’25 with the Jive
Tuesday 31 December, 10pm, National Concert Hall
RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Guy Barker conductor
Giacomo Smith clarinet/saxophone
Vanessa Haynes, Joe Stilgoe, Tommy Blaize vocalists
Following on from last year’s successful dive into the ’20s with “Gatsby and Beyond”, this New Year’s Eve celebration with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Guy Barker’s Big Band will move into the ’30s and ’40s – the swing era.
Swing, Swing, Swing in the new year with the music of the King of Swing Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Lionel Hampton, Cab Calloway, Tommy Dorsey and more!
With a nod to the musical explosion that happened in the mid ’40s – bebop – we’ll celebrate the music of Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Thelonius Monk, plus new arrangements by jazz genius Guy Barker, Associate Artist with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.
Jive into ’25 as you mean to go on, as the RTÉCO and Barker welcome back vocalists Vanessa Haynes, Joe Stilgoe, Strictly Come Dancing’s Tommy Blaize and clarinet virtuoso Giacomo Smith.
Tickets: from €31.50
Presented by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra
This concert will be broadcast live on RTÉ lyric fm
Tchaikovsky & Bruch
Saturday 25 January, 8pm, National Concert Hall
RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Teresa Riveiro Böhm conductor
Brahms Tragic Overture
Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 ‘Pathétique’
Join the RTÉ Concert Orchestra for an evening of Romantic masterpieces under Austrian-Spanish conductor Teresa Riveiro Böhm. Winner of the 2019 Neeme-Järvi Prize at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Böhm has held prestigious positions with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Welsh National Opera and the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra.
The concert begins with Brahms’ powerful and dramatic Tragic Overture. A special guest soloist will join the RTÉ CO for Bruch’s beloved Violin Concerto No. 1, one of the most popular of them all. And to end the evening, one of the most profoundly emotional symphonies, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, the ‘Pathétique’.
Tickets: €15–€42.50
Presented by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Disco Inferno with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Thursday 30 January, 8pm, The Helix
RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Stephen Bell conductor
Capital Voices: Lance Ellington, Hazel Fernandes, Annie Skates, Steve Trowell vocalists
Join the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and vocalists Capital Voices, under RTÉ CO Principal Guest Conductor Stephen Bell, for an evening of dazzling disco favourites.
Put on your sequins and step into the light of the dance floor with funky beats, orchestral arrangements and some of the most beloved disco anthems. Let your young hearts run free, as groove, glamour and glorious music will have you dancing all night long, from Stayin’ Alive to I Will Survive.
Get under the glitterball for favourites like We Are Family, That’s the Way I Like It and Love is In The Air.
Don’t blame it on the RTÉ CO, blame it on the boogie.
Tickets: €15–€42.50
Presented by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Angela Rohan, PR Executive | RTÉ