National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, Ryan McAdams - Donnacha Dennehy: Limina National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, Ryan McAdams

‘Donnacha Dennehy has a soundworld all of his own.’ – The Wire

Nonesuch Records releases Grammy Award-winning composer Donnacha Dennehy’s Limina, which features premiere recordings of two pieces: the piano concerto Limina and Violin Concerto, performed by National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, conductor Ryan McAdams, pianist Eliza McCarthy, and violinist Stephen Waarts. The album was recorded at the National Concert Hall, Dublin.

In an interview between Dennehy and the pianist and composer Timo Andres that appears in the liner notes, Dennehy says of the pieces’ pairing on this album:

“The Violin Concerto came first. And it was supposed to premiere in 2020, but obviously ... we know what happened there. That was actually my first multi-movement concerto. It really took on the idea of the concerto form, because Augustin Hadelich [the violinist for whom the concerto was originally written] was very eager for me to write a multi-movement piece. That’s even why I called it what I called it—because I had written a piece for violin and orchestra called Elastic Harmonic, which is deliberately an anti-concerto. 

“And then Limina was last. I wanted to be more wry with the form, to have a bit of joy. There’s a playfulness to it, especially the outer movements,” he continues. “The cadenzas happen at the ends of the movements and come out of transcending this threshold. And only in the last one does the soloist go back and forth with the chamber orchestra. I felt I was pushing against something.” 

Hailed as “Ireland’s most important living composer” by the New York Times, Donnacha Dennehy’s Grammy Award-winning music has been called “thrilling” (Guardian), “mesmerizing” (New York Times), “arrestingly beautiful,” (New Yorker), and “shockingly original, while also being compulsively listenable” (Boston Globe). Dennehy’s music has been featured in festivals and venues such as Carnegie Hall, Barbican, MusikFest Berlin, Muziekgebouw, Wigmore Hall, Royal Opera House, BAM, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Kennedy Center, ISCM World Music Days, Musica Viva, and the Bang On A Can, Edinburgh International, Tanglewood, Holland, Huddersfield Contemporary Music, Dublin Theatre, Ultima, Saarbrucken, and Schleswig-Holstein Festivals. 

Dennehy’s music has been premiered and commissioned by groups and soloists including Augustin Hadelich, Contact, Crash Ensemble, Dawn Upshaw, Kronos Quartet, Icebreaker, Nadia Sirota, National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, Oregon Symphony, Sō Percussion (Carnegie/Cork Opera House co-commission), St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Third Coast Percussion. Collaborations include pieces with the writers Colm Tóibín (The Dark Places), the director Tom Creed (The Hunger, stage version), and Enda Walsh (a trilogy of operas). Limina is the fourth album of Dennehy’s music on Nonesuch Records, including Grá Agus Bás in 2011 and The Hunger, featuring Alarm Will Sound, in 2019. The 2024 Nonesuch album, The Land of Winter, earned Dennehy and Alarm Will Sound Grammy Awards for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. It also marks a welcome return to recording with National Symphony Orchestra Ireland with whom Dennehy has also recorded Crane (2009), Elastic Harmonic (2005) and The Vandal (2000), commissioned by RTÉ for the orchestra, and O (2002), commissioned by Trinity College Dublin. 

National Symphony Orchestra Ireland (NSOI), formerly the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, has been at the center of Ireland’s cultural life since 1948, when the Raidió Éireann Symphony Orchestra, as it was originally called, was founded. In 2022, the orchestra transferred from RTÉ to the remit of the National Concert Hall, where it has been the resident orchestra since its opening in 1981. Today it is a primary force in Irish musical life through year-long programs of live performances of music ranging from symphonic, choral, and operatic to music of the stage and screen; popular, and traditional music; and new commissions, recordings, and broadcasts on RTÉ and internationally through the European Broadcasting Union. School concerts, family-focused events, initiatives targeting emerging artists and composers, collaborations with partner promoters, and organizations extend the orchestra’s reach.   

Equally at home in the worlds of opera, symphonic repertoire, and contemporary music, American conductor Ryan McAdams has established a strong presence on both sides of the Atlantic. He is Principal Conductor of Crash Ensemble, Ireland’s foremost contemporary music group. McAdams’ 2025-26 season included performances with the Welsh National Opera, Atlanta Opera, Irish National Opera, National Symphony Orchestra, and his debut with the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker. Throughout the season, he also led subscription concerts with multiple Italian orchestras, including a tour with Milan’s I Pomeriggi Musicali and pianist Mikhail Pletnev. 

Eliza McCarthy is a London-based pianist celebrated for her bold performances of new and experimental music. She appears as both soloist and ensemble musician across the UK, Europe, and the United States. Deeply committed to developing close creative relationships with composers, she has commissioned, premiered, and recorded works by many leading figures including John Adams, Thomas Adès, George Crumb, Tansy Davies, Donnacha Dennehy, Kit Downes, Jonny Greenwood, Cassandra Miller, Nico Muhly, Emma O’Halloran and Laurie Spiegel. She collaborates regularly with composer and producer + Mica Levi. Recent highlights include the London premiere of Philip Glass’ North Star at the Royal Festival Hall, a performance of Jonny Greenwood’s eight-hour organ work X Years of Reverb at Big Ears Festival, and a collaboration with photographer Nan Goldin and Soundwalk Collective on Goldin’s film Memory Lost. Alongside her solo work, McCarthy is a member of the James McVinnie Ensemble and Ireland’s leading new music group, Crash Ensemble. She collaborates and works regularly with soprano Juliet Fraser, pianist Siwan Rhys, the London Symphony Orchestra, and Irish National Opera. 

Stephen Waarts’ innate and poetic musical voice has established him as a firm favorite with audiences across the globe. In the 2025-26 season, Waarts made his debut with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and with West Virginia Symphony. He also returned to Wigmore Hall, Festspiele Mecklenberg-Vorpommern, Verbier Festival, and Meininger Hofkapelle performing Ligeti Concerto. A passionate recitalist and chamber musician, Waarts’ regular chamber partners include Sir Andras Schiff, Francesco Piemontesi, Daniel Müller-Schott, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Timothy Ridout, Tabea Zimmermann, and Martin Helmchen. Waarts has appeared at renowned festivals including Aspen, Marlboro, Gstaad, and Rheingau. He has also appeared in recitals at Philharmonie Luxembourg, Philharmonie Haarlem, Fundación Juan March, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Auditorium du Louvre, Boulez Saal, San Francisco Performances, and Vancouver Recital Society.