RTE Concert Orchestra
The RTÉ Concert Orchestra is one of two symphony orchestras associated with Irish national broadcaster RTÉ (Raidió Teilifís Éireann). The group is generally oriented toward lighter music and introducing general audiences to orchestral music, but it has played a wide range of repertoire.
The RTÉ Concert Orchestra was founded in 1948 as the Radio Éireann Light Orchestra. It was a small studio group, performing what is known as light music in the British Isles (corresponding roughly to the easy listening category in North America), but has grown to 45 players and performs more than 80 live concerts annually in addition to radio and television broadcasts. The RTÉ Concert Orchestra performs a large range of repertory that has sometimes varied according to its principal conductor. Since the early 2000s, the group has performed a classical orchestral series that has often emphasized English music and has even premiered contemporary works and performed operas such as Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking (2007). The RTÉ Concert Orchestra has backed the extravaganzas of vocal stars, including Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, and Kiri te Kanawa. The orchestra has a broad presence in popular music with an orchestral aspect and has performed seven times at the Eurovision Song Contest; it has had recurring appearances on Irish television's The Late Late Show and was featured on Dancing with the Stars, and has backed Irish vocal stars such as Sinead O'Connor. Jazz has had a presence in the orchestra's programming since its early days, and this expanded in the 2000s under frequent conductor John Wilson, who has re-created, performed, and recorded classic Hollywood film music. A 2021 project featured arrangements of the music of Aretha Franklin, arranged and conducted by jazz trumpeter Guy Barker. Light music has continued to have a part in the orchestra's programming; conductor and composer Lalo Schifrin has been a significant collaborator. The RTÉ Concert Orchestra has an educational component, performing 24 Music in the Classroom concerts every year, each to audiences of about a thousand students. The orchestra's present conductor is David Brophy; Proinnsías Ó Duinn, who led the orchestra from 1978 to 2003, holds the title of conductor laureate.
The RTÉ Concert Orchestra has a catalog of some 70 recordings, many made for the Marco Polo and then the Naxos labels. These range from crossover items such as RSVP: Classical Music for Entertaining to numerous film soundtracks to full-scale symphonic productions. In 2020, the orchestra backed violinist Andrew Haveron in a Chandos recording of Erich Korngold's Violin Concerto, and it returned in 2021 with a recording of Patrick Cassidy's The Proclamation, a work about the 1916 Irish Rebellion.
© James Manheim /TiVo
-
Richard III - Theme & Six Diversions - Les Saisons
RTE Concert Orchestra, Andrew Penny
Classical - Released by Marco-Polo on Aug. 22, 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Murray Christmas 2
Christmas Music - Released by RTÉ Radio on Nov. 21, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vaughan Williams: Film Music Classics
Film Soundtracks - Released by Naxos on May 1, 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Remembering Duke Ellington
Classical - Released by Naxos on Dec. 31, 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
WALTON: Henry V
Michael Sheen, Anton Lesser, RTE Concert Orchestra, Andrew Penny
Classical - Released by Naxos on Apr. 27, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
SULLIVAN: Macbeth / King Arthur / Merry Wifes of Windsor
Margaret MacDonald, RTE Chamber Choir, RTE Concert Orchestra, Andrew Penny
Opera - Released by Marco-Polo on Feb. 25, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
British light music
RTE Concert Orchestra, Gavin Sutherland
Classical - Released by Marco-Polo on Nov. 14, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
W.H. Smiths Vol. 16 (British Light Music)
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, RTE Concert Orchestra, Adrian Leaper, Ernest Tomlinson, Gary Carpenter, Andrew Penny
Classical - Released by Naxos on Jan. 28, 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Irish Isles Suite
Ailbhe Mcdonagh, RTE Concert Orchestra, David Brophy
Classical - Released by Ailbhe McDonagh on May 24, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Œuvres orchestrales
William Davies, David Presley, RTE Concert Orchestra, Barry Knight
Classical - Released by Marco-Polo on Feb. 14, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Spéir Rua - Reimagined
Folk - Released by Infinite Records on Sep. 22, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Why Did We Fall In Love? - Reimagined
Jazz - Released by Infinite Records on Nov. 3, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hamlet - As You like
RTE Concert Orchestra, Andrew Penny
Classical - Released by Naxos on Jan. 18, 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
SULLIVAN: Ile Enchantee (L') / Thespis
RTE Concert Orchestra, Andrew Penny
Ballets - Released by Marco-Polo on Oct. 7, 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
SULLIVAN: Merchant of Venice / Henry VIII / Sapphire Necklace
Emmanuel Lawler, RTE Concert Orchestra, Andrew Penny
Classical - Released by Marco-Polo on Oct. 7, 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Winding Way Down to Kells Bay
Emma Langford, RTE Concert Orchestra
Alternative & Indie - Released by Emma Langford on Jul. 1, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo