The Goo 1
Words:Cliodhna Ryan OCT '25 CLASSICAL If you’ve b
een looking for an excuse to ditch the usual routine and dive into something a little different, Dublin’s music scene this October is ready to oblige. From experimental loops and electroacoustic drones in Whelan’s to sweeping Romantic quartets and vibrant folk-infused chamber works, the coming weeks offer a dizzying array of live music. Let’s kick off at 8 pm on Wednesday, 1 October at Whelan’s, where UK-based Plus-Minus Ensemble make their long-awaited Dublin debut. Known for championing experimental, conceptual, and electroacoustic music, the group presents a bold programme featuring Seán Clancy’s meditative Where the Paths End, Bernhard Lang’s looping homage to monster-movie icon Boris Karloff, and Jessie Marino’s Seahorses. Opening for them is Ultan O’Brien, a fiddle player who blurs the line between folk and experimental soundscapes. Let’s head south next where, from 2 - 5 October, Music in Monkstown returns with a richly varied programme. Things begin with ConTempo Quartet and clarinettist John Finucane performing Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet on Thursday evening. Friday sees Finghín Collins and Gwendolyn Masin join forces for violin sonatas by Debussy and Poulenc, works steeped in the colours of Impressionism. The weekend offers a full day on Saturday, featuring an afternoon set by vocal ensemble 4 in a Bar, which explores everything from Renaissance polyphony to contemporary music, followed by a chamber trio performance by Collins, Masin, and Finucane, who will play works by Ravel, Bartók, Elaine Agnew, and Rhona Clarke. Sunday offers family-friendly and more serious fare, with a morning Classical Kids event and a 3:30 pm recital from rising star pianist Defne Gultoprak, who takes on Bach, Liszt, and Ginastera. The festival closes with Mia Cooper, Martin Johnson, John Finucane and Fergal Caulfield performing Linda Buckley’s Voix Enchantée and Messiaen’s transcendent Quartet for the End of Time. Full details are available on their website. The following week, the National Concert Hall hosts some standout concerts. On Tuesday 7 October, Sir Stephen Hough is joined by the Viano Quartet for the Irish premiere of his Piano Quintet, Les noces rouges, inspired by Willa Cather’s 1918 novel My Ántonia. The concert begins at 8 pm with Mozart’s “Hunt Quartet” and closes with Dvořák’s Piano Quintet, placing Hough’s contemporary voice alongside two landmarks of the chamber repertoire. Opera fans will want to mark Friday 10 October in their calendars, when Bizet’s Carmen gets the concert performance treatment at NCH. Natalia Kutateladze stars in the title role, with a strong cast including Noah Stewart as Don José and Sarah Brady as Micaëla. The NSO and chorus are under the baton of Jessica Cottis, promising a dynamic account of one of opera’s most enduring and provocative scores. Its melodic sweep is as irresistible as the title character herself, a force of nature who has become a defining female cultural figure. Carmen was a scandal at its premiere in 1875, denounced in the press for its immorality, yet it quickly gained a devoted following. Nearly 150 years later, it remains one of the most frequently performed operas in the world. The concert starts at 7.30 pm. On Thursday 16 October at 1:20 pm, Ailbhe McDonagh and Arunesh Nadgir present a lunchtime programme at St Ann’s Church on Dawson Street, moving from Debussy’s shimmering sound world to Barber’s lyrical intensity, and on to McDonagh’s own Skellig, a work rooted in the wild landscape of the Atlantic edge. That same evening, at 7.30 pm, the Irish Chamber Orchestra appears at the Whyte Recital Hall with Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud. Their programme brings together works by Bacewicz, Atterberg, and Grieg, tracing a line through Nordic and Eastern European musical traditions. Closing out the month, the Banat al-Quds Choir, or Daughters of Jerusalem, presented by Irish Artists for Palestine, perform at the Pavilion in Dún Laoghaire on 26 October as part of their Irish tour. This all-female choir of Palestinian women blends classical Arab music with new works which explore themes of identity, struggle, and hope. The concert, led by composer Suhail Khoury, highlights cultural preservation and resistance through music. Irish Artists for Palestine encourage people to come out, support the event and stand in solidarity through the universal language of music. They are doing two concerts on the day, the first at 2.30 pm and the second at 8 pm. With all this on offer, Dublin in October is a city humming with possibility. Whether your taste runs to the edges of experimental sound or the beauty of Brahms and Mozart, there’s something to pull you in, shake you up, or quietly move you. The only challenge is choosing where to start. 31