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Keeping it Contemporary at the Contemporary Music Centre

Did you know that there is a building in Temple Bar dedicated to archiving and promoting music by Irish composers? It’s the Contemporary Music Centre and it is currently celebrating its recent move to new premises in Fishamble Street, part of the final ‘Old City’ phase of the Temple Bar redevelopment.

What Do We Do?
The Centre has been up and running since 1985 supporting the work of classical composers throughout the Republic and Northern Ireland. ‘Over the last 15 years there has been a dramatic increase in the level of composition in Ireland. It is currently greater than at any time in the past and embraces a healthy variety of styles from classical and jazz to electro-acoustic and mixed media’, director Eve O’Kelly tells IMRO. ‘It is our job to serve the needs of all those interested in these kinds of music.’

The Contemporary Music Centre is used nationally and internationally by performers, composers, promoters and members of the public. Its library and sound archive contain 3000 scores and 5000 recordings of music by Irish composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. It is open to the public from Monday to Friday and all queries are welcome. For those unable to visit in person there is a comprehensive website at www.cmc.ie . As well as serving the needs of clients who call in and use the music collection on a day-to-day basis, CMC engages in an on-going programme of activities to promote contemporary Irish music at home and abroad. The Centre is funded by the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and IMRO. It is the Irish member of the International Association of Music Information Centres and operates as part of a network of similar organisations in more than thirty countries worldwide.

A Focus For New Music
The Centre’s new home, the former premises of Kennan’s engineering works, is a restored Georgian house located beside the site of the first performance of Handel’s Messiah on 13 April 1742. ‘It’s very appropriate to our work on behalf of composers that the new Centre is on a street so closely associated with the premiere of a work like that’, says O’Kelly. ‘It’s a strange feeling to think of Handel walking up Fishamble Street 250 years ago to rehearse in Neals’ Music Hall, and the audience pouring in later to hear Messiah for the first time, leaving their hoops and swords behind as we are always told, to accommodate the crowd.’

This new home provides a real focus for contemporary music and a facility that does justice to the creativity of Irish composers. Enhanced public facilities offer much greater access to the extensive collection of music. The reception area on the ground floor includes a sales area for CDs and publications, as well as listening facilities. The first floor library is spacious and welcoming, providing integrated access to scores, recordings and information materials as well as the Centre’s computer databases. The offices are on the second and third floors with archival storage in the basement.

The Restoration Project
The Contemporary Music Centre and Temple Bar Properties carried out the restoration project as a joint venture in consultation with the Dublin Civic Trust. The site and the building were contributed by Temple Bar Properties, and the Centre financed the project with the assistance of major capital funding provided by the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon. While preserving the layout and character of an early 19th century house, CMC has taken the opportunity to install sophisticated computer and information systems, making it one of the most advanced among the international music information centres. President Mary McAleese will officially open the new building on 9 April 2001. This occasion will also mark the launch of the Centre’s latest CD, Contemporary Music from Ireland Volume Three, a collection of recent works by leading Irish composers, which will be distributed nationally and internationally. See our exclusive reader offer for your own free copy!

IMRO Support
The production and distribution of CDs featuring the best of Irish contemporary music is just one of a number of activities the Contemporary Music Centre engages in. Funding from IMRO has supported many of the Centre’s promotional projects over the last ten years. In particular, IMRO funding enabled CMC to initiate a very productive radio campaign, which has now been running successfully for two years. Under this scheme, commercial CDs are purchased and distributed free of charge to selected programmers in radio stations around the world. ‘The IMRO/CMC radio project has been enormously successful’, says Eve O’Kelly. ‘We send information on the composers and useful background material along with the CDs, so many stations have put together whole series on Irish music and included interviews with the composers as well. There is a great interest in music from Ireland, but we need to bring it to the programmers, not wait for them to find it. We’ll keep the scheme running as long as we can, because it’s also a very good way to develop contacts for live performances abroad.’

IMRO funding has also covered the costs of producing an Information Pack for visitors, media, promoters, etc, and the commissioning of a series of publicity photos of composers. Another essential form of support is the CMC/IMRO Copying Fund administered by CMC, which provides financial assistance in copying instrumental parts of new works - a very important resource if you have written a big piece for anything from ten to one hundred players! ‘Support from IMRO is hugely important to us’, says Eve O’Kelly. ‘We really couldn’t carry on our international promotion without it.’

Future Plans
The Contemporary Music Centre, now firmly established in its own building and with the security of three-year funding from the Arts Council, has many plans for the further development of its facilities and services. Top on the list of priorities are education, collaboration and international promotion. The Centre aims to make full use of its new facilities with an active education programme for music students. Excited by the new location, O’Kelly looks forward to future collaborations. ‘We are close to the other cultural institutions in Temple Bar as well as Christ Church and St Patrick’s Cathedrals and the Hugh Lane Gallery, all of which have strong music programmes so there is an opportunity for a cross-fertilisation of ideas to benefit all of us.’ On an international front, CMC plans to develop further opportunities for composers at festivals and through workshops, talks and commissions.

If you would like further information on the Centre or would like to be added to its mailing list for the publication, New Music News, please contact The Contemporary Music Centre, 19 Fishamble Street, Dublin 2, tel. 01-673 1922, fax 01-648 9100 or email info@cmc.ie.