The Goo 1
Words: Cliodhna Ryan CLASSICAL December in Dublin
tends to draw us indoors, where we gather together with friends and family. In spaces across the city, we get warm and cosy, staying out of the cold winter air while listening to music that offers solace, inspiration and motivation. There’s something for everyone in this month’s column, which spans the historic and the contemporary. The first major event of the month arrives on 5 December at 7.30 pm, when pianist Gergely Bogányi appears at the Whyte Recital Hall in the RIAM with his strikingly unconventional Bogányi piano. This instrument, all sweeping curves and carbon-composite architecture, is one of the most ambitious reimaginings of the modern piano in decades. Bogányi himself is a performer of formidable pedigree. His programme pairs Liszt and Field, before a second half in which the audience may choose from more than ninety works by Chopin, all of which Bogányi performs from memory. Just across town on the same night, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland will be onstage at the National Concert Hall under the baton of Anja Bihlmaier, and joined by pianist Boris Giltburg. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 15 sparkles with operatic poise and instrumental interplay. Giltburg’s refined playing makes him an ideal match for its graceful athleticism. After the interval comes Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9, his final, unfinished masterpiece, which is sometimes compared to a “cathedral in sound”. It is a work that must be heard live, and promises to be an awe-inspiring and majestic experience. The next evening, 6 December at 7.45 pm, brings the Irish Baroque 36 Orchestra’s much-loved Handel’s Messiah to St Patrick’s Cathedral. This performance, steeped in the city’s own history with the piece, uses period instruments and worldclass singers, all under the direction of Peter Whelan. Dubliners encountered Messiah for the first time in 1742, and the IBO’s historically informed approach honours that legacy. On 7 December at 1 pm, Crash Ensemble takes to the Hugh Lane’s Sunday Concert Series with Strings in the Air, a thoughtful programme that drifts between memory, landscape, and transformation. A world premiere by Raymond Deane sits alongside Irish work by composers Jane O’Leary, Dave Flynn, Cashel Day Lewis, Caterina Schembri, Rohan Harron and Judith Ring. This is contemporary music at its most reflective, offering listeners a way to hear the season’s quiet turn. These concerts are taking place just a few doors down from the Hugh Lane, at the Abbey Presbyterian Church, while the gallery is being renovated. I can assure you it’s a warm and cosy space, with beautiful acoustics and lots of seating, so reserve a free ticket and pop along for this Sunday treat. A different kind of stillness arrives on 9 December at 7.30 pm at the NCH, where the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, led by Tõnu Kaljuste, honours the 90th birthday of Arvo Pärt. Few composers command such an aura of distilled spirituality. The programme draws from the luminous Berliner Messe, the austere ritual of Kanon Pokajanen, and serene miniatures including Magnificat and Summa. There is a local connection too, through Pärt’s haunting work The Deer’s Cry, a setting of St. Patrick’s Breastplate. On 12 December at 7.30 pm, the IBO returns to St Patrick’s Cathedral for a complete performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio BWV 248 — all six cantatas, as originally intended across the Christmas feast days of 1734. Delivered with period forces and a distinguished cast of soloists, it promises three hours of radiant counterpoint, pastoral interludes and choral exultation. This performance also forms part of the orchestra’s multi-year Bach Cycle, an ambitious undertaking that signals a deep commitment to the composer’s sacred works. The month rounds off in festive style on 22 December at 3 pm, when the NSO partners with conductor Francesco Cilluffo and soprano Sinéad Campbell Wallace. This is a gala of high-gloss operatic favourites — Puccini, Catalani, Lehár — entwined with seasonal classics from The Nutcracker to O Holy Night. Finally, on New Year’s Eve at 10.00 pm, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra ushers Dublin into 2026 with a celebration of a century’s worth of song, swing and soul. Under the charismatic direction of Guy Barker, and joined by vocalists Vanessa Haynes, Tommy Blaize and Joe Stilgoe, this late-night concert gathers music from Ella Fitzgerald to Aretha Franklin and Fats Domino — a spirited, sparkling close to the year. As the month unfolds, these concerts serve as a reminder of how vibrant musical life is in Dublin. Whether it’s a reimagined piano, a Baroque masterwork returned to its birthplace, or the quiet radiance of contemporary voices, each concert brings its own kind of light to the season. For those seeking refuge, reflection, or simple delight, December’s musical offerings provide all three in generous measure.