The Goo 1
Glasshouse JAN '25 Glasshouse perform Ryuichi Sak
amoto Following multiple sold-out dates at Pavilion Theatre, acclaimed Dublin ensemble Glasshouse arrive at the National Concert Hall to perform their new arrangement of the work of renowned composer and music pioneer Ryuichi Sakamoto. From his formative years with the Yellow Magic Orchestra, acting in Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence with David Bowie in 1983, and scoring The Last Emperor in 1987 - which won him an Oscar, a Grammy and a Golden Globe - Sakamoto continually pushed musical boundaries with elegance and grace during his lifetime. We talked to Naoise Dack, Glasshouse artistic director and arranger/musical supervisor Aran O’Grady about taking on the Sakamoto songbook. How did you obtain a blessing from the Sakamoto team and was that important? I have always been a huge fan of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s music. His albums 1996 and async have always been a great influence and have helped cultivate our sound. We had, for a number of years, often included a Sakamoto track in our sets here and there and it had always been a goal to re-imagine a large amount of his music for the ensemble. When he passed last year, it seemed like the right time to honour his incredible musical output and begin talking about re-imagining a selection of his music. With the support of the Pavilion and alongside our resident arranger, Aran O’Grady, I began curating the project. As with all of our projects, I reached out to the Sakamoto team, the managers of his estate. They were super into the project and were delighted to give us their blessing to proceed! When you are re-interpreting electronic music such as Sakamoto’s, where do you start and where do you stop? I should start by saying that we mostly have stuck to his more instrumental and cinematic offerings for the first portion of the set, as these translate so well to the our (Glasshouse) model and arguably his most widely known works. Thankfully for us, Sakamoto sets the precedent for reinterpretations of his electronic music because PAGE 39