Bill Whelan’s 75th birthday to be celebrated by The National Symphony Orchestra at the National Concert Hall in November

The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) proudly celebrates composer Bill Whelan’s 75th birthday with a concert at the National Concert Hall on 21 November. The programme for the concert will feature some of Whelan's most popular works, including the world premiere of a new work commissioned from the Grammy Award-winning composer by the NSO and, in the year which marks the 30th anniversary of Riverdance, a performance of the Riverdance Symphonic Suite. Gavin Maloney conducts.

"2025 is not only my 75th year on the planet,” Bill Whelan says, "but it also marks the 30th year in the life of the most noted of my compositions, Riverdance. I am honoured that the National Symphony Orchestra is not only presenting this concert to mark these occasions, but that it has also commissioned a new piece from me to add to the repertoire. Events such as these provide opportunities to reflect on the arc of one’s work, and so the programme will include music from my earliest large scale orchestral composition, right up to the present."

Also in this birthday celebration are the title music from the film of Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa, and ‘Caraçena’ from The Seville Suite, featuring Whelan’s signature use of traditional musicians in an orchestral context, with uilleann piper Tara Howley and accordion player Damien Mullane performing as soloists.

Séamus Ó Flatharta, voice, Irish harp and whistle, and Zoë Conway, fiddle, join to perform ‘An Chistin’ from The Connemara Suite, Whelan’s exhilarating and playful interaction between fiddles, feet and orchestra. The thrilling Riverdance Symphonic Suite, featuring all of the now-familiar melodies from Whelan’s hit score, sets aside the stage show’s traditional instruments and songs to release the majestic sweep of a full symphony orchestra for a fitting conclusion to this joyful celebration.

"It is a particular pleasure that Séamus Ó Flatharta, Zoë Conway and Damien Mullane, musicians with whom I frequently collaborate, will join as soloists,” Whelan adds. "My work in film music will be recalled with the Main Title from the 1998 film Dancing at Lughnasa, which starred Meryl Streep and Michael Gambon.

“The concert will feature a piece written for Expo ’92, ‘Caracena’ from The Seville Suite, the older sibling to Riverdance. It will also include some of the later chamber pieces, notably ‘An Chistin’ from The Connemara Suite, which received its US premiere performance in Carnegie Hall in 2005."

There is a great sense of anticipation around the new work specially commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra for this unique event.

"The NSO is thrilled to commission a new work for the full forces of a symphony orchestra from Bill,” Joe Csibi, Head of Orchestra and Chorus at the National Concert Hall says. “We’re really looking forward to its world premiere on the occasion of this 75th birthday celebration at the National Concert Hall.”

Bill Whelan offers a flavour of what to expect.

"The occasion of writing a new work is always significant,” he observes. "In acknowledgement of my relationship with, and affection for, the National Symphony Orchestra, the new work will focus on each section of the orchestra, highlighting individual solo instruments as well as ensemble passages and ending with a full orchestral finale."

And then, of course, there is Riverdance.

"The second half of the evening,” Whelan explains, "will feature the Riverdance Symphonic Suite, which incorporates the airs, songs and dance tunes from the show, re-orchestrated in 2012 to become a symphonic setting of the Eurovision original.”

Joe Csibi is full of enthusiasm about the concert.

“Bill’s creativity is unique, natural and groundbreaking in its varied incorporation of styles and influences from many music genres and traditions,” Csibi says. "His beautifully written melodic phrases and hypnotic rhythmic patterns captivate, the influences of Central and Eastern traditional music blend seamlessly with that which is intrinsic to the Irish tradition and orchestral writing."

• 'NSOI: Bill Whelan at 75' takes place at the National Concert Hall, Dublin on November 21