Composition and Membership
The DPO is an International Orchestra drawing its orchestral players from throughout Ireland and the other 26 member states of the European Union and beyond. The musicians pursue parallel careers as international soloists, members of eminent chamber groups, and as tutors and professors of music. Its Founder, Music Director and Conductor is Derek Gleeson.
In May 2011, a New York Times article reported that the ensemble touring the United States under the name of the "Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra" comprised only two Irish players and was largely Bulgarian, inconsistent with the roster Columbia Artists Management Inc. submitted before the tour to the American Federation of Musicians. The Sunday Times in the May 29th 2011 Irish edition acknowledged that it was "Badly out of tune with truth of orchestra tour" and published a letter from Music Director & Conductor Derek Gleeson addressing the inaccuracies and errors of omission in its article regarding the personnel composition of the 2009 Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra tour. DPO arrangements were recorded in Bulgaria with composer Michael Fleming. Music director Derek Gleeson has acknowledged that despite the orchestra's name, it has played only a half-dozen or so concerts in Ireland since its founding in 1997. The Columbia Artists Management defended the orchestra saying that international players were normal in orchestras.
The Ireland U.S. Council, as a sponsor of the 2009 tour issued a press release addressing the composition and membership of the tour.
Chamber music instrumentalists of the Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra also perform as the "Irish Chamber Ensemble" under DPO's associate conductor Malcolm Yuen. Irish Conductor Colman Pearce is the orchestra's principal guest conductor.
Read more about this topic: Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra
Famous quotes containing the words composition and/or membership:
“The naive notion that a mother naturally acquires the complex skills of childrearing simply because she has given birth now seems as absurd to me as enrolling in a nine-month class in composition and imagining that at the end of the course you are now prepared to begin writing War and Peace.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don’t acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (b. 1922)