RTÉ Concert Orchestra

The RTÉ Concert Orchestra is one of the two full-time professional orchestras in Ireland that are part of RTÉ, the national broadcasting station.

The orchestra performs classical, popular and big band evening and lunchtime concerts, covering a range of music from baroque to contemporary. The period from 2003-2006 saw a particular emphasis on the classical repertoire under the orchestra's then principal conductor Laurent Wagner. In this period the orchestra programmed classical-themed concerts compared to the "lighter" side that dominated under its previous principal conductor Proinnsias O’Duinn from 1978 to 2003.

The orchestra has recorded for the Naxos and Marco Polo labels, and more recently with Universal and Decca.

It has performed many concerts with Irish choirs including the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir, The National Chamber Choir, the Galway Baroque Choir, the Tallaght Choral Society, the Culwick Choral Society, Dun Laoighre Choral Society and has had a tradition of performing Handel's 'Messiah' with Our Lady's Choral Society, including in its first ever performance in the Vatican in 2009.

In addition to regular operatic gala concert performances with noted Irish international artists, the orchestra has also worked with visiting artists including Denis O'Neill, Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras and Dame Kiri te Kanawa. From 1993 to 2008 it played for all Opera Ireland productions where it performed typically four full productions per year over the spring and winter opera seasons. Well known operas by the Italian masters and others were performed along with more modern works such as Dead Man Walking, and Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire. It has recorded Irish composer’s William Vincent Wallace’s ‘Maritana’ for Marco Polo label, and in 2008 performed Balfe’s ‘Falstaff’, another Irish opera not performed since 1838. This historic performance was released later in 2008 on CD as a live recording.

The RTÉ Concert Orchestra has always played an active role in bringing popular music into an orchestral setting. Through the 1970s, 80s and 1990s it performed for the Irish National Song Contest, and played for the Eurovision song contest in 1971, 1981, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1997. As part of the 1994 Eurovision the orchestra performed Riverdance as the interval act, premiering a work that was to go on to make enormous worldwide impact.
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