QUB Composers Take Over The Ulster Hall!
Professor Piers Hellawell’s new orchestral work Symphonies in Chains was premiered by the Ulster Orchestra on Wednesday 8th January in the Ulster Hall, a BBC Invitation Concert for later Radio 3 broadcast.
The programme also featured works by two other, distinguished QUB composer graduates – Dr Greg Caffrey and Deirdre Gribbin. Professor Hellawell’s work was commissioned by New Horizons Music, with funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Lottery Unit; the work was written during 2019 on a Leverhulme Research Fellowship. Hellawell describes it as “a reflection on the historical symphonic tradition, but also a show-case for the Ulster Orchestra - so perhaps more of a Concerto for Orchestra”.