DkIT Researcher Dr. Adèle Commins curates centenary festival celebrating the life and music of Sir Charles Villiers Stanford
DkIT researcher Dr Adèle Commins recently curated and organised a festival celebrating the life and music of Irish-born composer Sir Charles Villiers Stanford. The international festival returned to Ireland from 11–13 October 2024 as part of the centenary of the composer’s death and featured a range of talks, performances and exhibitions.
Dr Commins is an internationally recognised scholar who recently received an award from Musicology Australia for her research on Stanford and his contemporary, Percy Grainger. Other recent publications include a chapter in a new book on Joseph Joachim, exploring the relationship between the two musical figures. As part of the festival, Adèle convened a special symposium on Stanford and Music in Ireland. Hosted by the Royal Irish Academy of Music in association with the Society for Musicology in Ireland and the Creative Arts Research Centre at Dundalk Institute of Technology, the symposium on Friday 11 October celebrated the 100th anniversary of Charles Villiers Stanford’s death in 2024.
Adéle also gave a public lecture on Saturday 12 October in St Ann’s Church, Dawson Street, as part of a series examining other aspects of Stanford’s life and music. Professor Jeremy Dibble of Durham University, who has recently published an expanded version of his Stanford biography, delivered the keynote address at the symposium.
Concerts at the festival included performances by DkIT music lecturer Annalisa Monticelli and violin and piano tutor Francesca de Nardi. Christ Church Cathedral and St Patrick’s Cathedral also included the music of Stanford in their services over the weekend.
The weekend attracted a wide audience, giving attendees a huge insight into the work of Stanford, his contemporaries and pupils, and their historical context.
