Performance

When • Tuesday, 22 January 2019
Where • National Concert Hall, Main Stage
Presented by • Waltons New School of Music

See the concert poster.

This concert was recorded for broadcast by RTÉ lyric fm.

Performers

Tigran Hamasyan • Piano, Electronics
Arve Henrikson • Trumpets, Electronics
Dublin Chamber Choir

Support

Brona McVittie • Vocals, Harp, Electronics
Anne Garner • Flute, Vocals
Myles Cochran • Slide and Bass Guitars

Tigran

‘He plays piano like a raga – the next Keith Jarrett’
– Trilok Gurtu

‘This was a virtuosic tour de force, the wealth of ideas
matched by genuine craft in his songwriting.’
–The Irish Times

Arve

 ‘absolutely sublime’
– The Independent

 ‘Henriksen’s solo concert was a thing of beauty, akin to a spiritual experience’
– The Irish Times

Brona

‘Heavenly debut…Simply gorgeous’
– Uncut

‘an exquisite listen from this post-folk electronic chanteuse’
– BBC Music

Tigran Hamasyan

Tigran Hamasyan is one of the most remarkable musicians of his generation – trained as a classical and jazz pianist but drawing on a wide range of influences, including the Armenian folk tradition, rock, electronica, poetry and more. The Waltons World Masters Series has brought Tigran to Ireland on four previous occasions.

Tigran first came to Ireland in 2012, at the age of 24, to perform a solo concert presented by Waltons World Masters and Mintaka Music. The concert, in the National Concert Hall’s John Field Room, was based on his album A Fable (Verve), and showcased his astonishing range and depth.

Returning here for a second World Masters Series concert in 2014, Tigran and his trio performed music from his second album, Shadow Theater (Universal) in the Button Factory and explored new avenues – both sonic and electronic – drawing on sources as diverse as Madlib, Sigur Rós and Steve Reich.

Tigran’s third visit here was in 2015 for a performance in Christ Church Cathedral commemorating the centenary of the Armenian Genocide and presented by Waltons World Masters in association with the Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Armenia in Ireland. Tigran and the superb Yerevan State Chamber Choir performed music from Luys i Luso (‘Light from Light’, ECM), a breathtaking re-imagining of Armenian sacred music from the 5th to 20th centuries, Tigran’s sublime improvisations woven into the musical texture.

In 2017 we were delighted to bring Tigran back for his fourth World Masters Series concert – also in association with the Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Armenia in Ireland, and also in the beautiful surroundings of Christ Church Cathedral – in which he returned to his musical roots as a solo pianist to showcase music from his new album An Ancient Observer (Nonesuch). Conceptually, this poignant album is all about the art of observing. ‘It’s something that humans have been practising for ages, sometimes even subliminally’, he says. ‘It’s the feeling of the ancient eternal and permanent versus the present day ephemeral and impermanent. The intertwining of this ancient with the modern world creates an existential feeling. This album is presenting an observation of the world we live in now and the weight of our history we carry on our shoulders, which is influencing us even if we don’t realise it. This album is the observation of influences and experiences I had.’

‘the hottest pianist in jazz’
– The Guardian

‘Tigran, you are my teacher’
– Herbie Hancock

‘a haunting fusion of piano improvisation and sacred music’
– Cormac Larkin, The Irish Times

‘This was a virtuosic tour de force, the wealth of ideas matched by genuine craft in his songwriting.’
– Laurence Mackin, The Irish Times

‘Hamasyan’s distinctive musicality blends jazz, European classical music and an array of influences like progressive-rock and DJ mixing. Yet the common thread is the inventive way the music balances ethnicity with a modernist verve.’
– All About Jazz

Arve Henrikson

The extraordinary Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen is widely considered one of the world’s greatest jazz musicians. His reinvention of the instrument has produced sounds that range from an Australian didgeridoo to a Japanese shakuhachi flute to early Miles Davis at his most lyrical. Much of Arve’s inspiration comes from his physical surroundings, and his sounds are more like a musical ‘mirroring’ of the changing weather conditions than jazz. As a leader and in collaboration with renowned musicians working in a range of different genres, Arve has amassed an extraordinary body of work.

Although this is this is their first performance together in Ireland, Tigran and Arve have collaborated on several occasions, including (with guitarist Evind Aarseton and electronics/sampling maestro Jan Bang) the acclaimed ECM album, Atmosphères (2016), which was recorded in a single day.

‘absolutely sublime’
– The Independent

‘Henriksen’s solo concert was a thing of beauty, akin to a spiritual experience’
– Cormac Larkin, The Irish Times

‘[Henriksen’s] concert will rank amongst the very best I’ve heard.’
– Jazz Journal

‘[O]ne of my go-to musicians across the last half-decade. He seems incapable of letting me down.’
– Off the Tracks

‘His sound is unmistakable: breathy, impassioned and alternately earthy and ethereal…. Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Don Cherry and Jon Hassell redefined the sound of the trumpet. It may be possible to see Henriksen joining this lineage.’
– BBC Music

Brona McVittie

A captivating singer-songwriting and harpist, Brona McVittie has graced stages at Glastonbury, Celtic Connections and the Cambridge Folk Festival. She released her debut album We Are the Wildlife earlier this year, which was lauded by The Guardian, The Independent, Mojo and Uncut. A deep reflection on the interconnectedness of things natural and man-made, the album is one of duality and dichotomy shaped as much by natural sonic patterning as by human patterns of behaviour.

‘a rare, and rarified, beauty’
– The Independent

‘Nature reverberates wonderfully in an alchemy of traditional and contemporary instrumentation, making for an exquisite listen from this post-folk electronic chanteuse.’
– BBC Music

‘Blending the stringently traditional with a contemporary sonic ‘folktronica’, We Are the Wildlife [is] an excellent and adventurous release.’
– Celtic Sounds

‘McVittie takes her inspiration from W.B. Yeats’s idea of a kind of Celtic phantasmagoria, which can be felt but remains essentially ineffable, and has recorded a timeless mix of traditional and original material.’
– Mojo