A man who served his musical apprenticeship in the creative environment of Ireland will be guest conductor for the Darwin Symphony Orchestra’s (DSO) 15 September concert in Darwin.
Captain Liam Daly, now Officer Commanding/Music Director of the Australian Army Band in Darwin, has a long history studying, playing and directing music in his native Ireland.
Having studied the French horn under Victor Malirish at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, Capt Daly went on to become a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland, the Irish Youth Wind Ensemble and the National Youth Choir.
During his time in the Irish Defence Forces, Capt Daly performed with Irish military bands in England, France, Germany and the Lebanon. He also has worked extensively with youth bands and wind ensembles in Ireland and has been musical director to a host of bands and musical societies in that country.
Capt Daly will conduct the DSO’s 15 September concert entitled Classical DSO for the music lover at the Darwin Entertainment Centre.
The performance will open with William Wallace’s Maritana Overture, from his triumphant opera of the same name which premiered at London’s Drury Lane Theatre in 1845. Wallace was one of the foremost composers in the early decades of the Romantic English opera period that spanned the mid-1830s to the outbreak of World War I.
This work will be followed by Michael Haydn’s Double Horn Concerto in E flat, performed by two internationally renowned horn players, Robert Johnson, Principal Horn with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and Brian Daly, a freelance French horn player based in Dublin.
Robert Johnson, who studied in Australia, the United States and Europe, has performed as soloist with the Sydney Symphony in concertos by Mozart, Richard Strauss, Britten and Ross Edwards. His teaching experience includes Head of Brass at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and artist-in-residence at music schools in Melbourne, Perth, Hobart, Brisbane and Hong Kong.
Brian Daly is the Assistant Director of the performance course at Liberties College VEC, Dublin, where he is also the musical director for the college musicals. He was founder and director of the Tallaght School of Music and was the Musical Director of the Tallaght Festival Band for seven years. He also has been the Musical Director for 23 musicals, variety shows and pantomimes.
The final piece of the concert will be Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8, a masterwork of the 20th Century. The Eighth Symphony, composed in 1889, is among Dvorak’s happiest and most carefree works. The finale is a celebration of life, culminating in a coda of irrepressible vitality.
Classical DSO for the music lover is the second last concert by the DSO for the year. Bookings can be made through the Darwin Entertainment Centre.