[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-24091206m39sculturefile-pid0-399744_audio.mp3]

When Rodin Met GBS…there was nudity involved. Curator, Logan Sisley on the great French sculptor’s bust of the Irish writer.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-25091207m45sculturefile-pid0-465288_audio.mp3]

One or two things you didn’t know about putting on Wagner, including the importance of the pee-plot, with stage manager, Julia Carson-Sims, of Wide Open Opera’s production of Tristan und Isolde

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-26091206m41sculturefile-pid0-401424_audio.mp3]

How to survive in the Joycean feeding Frenzy, with Michael West, who has co-adapted the just-out-of-copyright short story collection, Dubliners.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-21091206m46sculturefile-pid0-406128_audio.mp3]

Bessie Burgess and Mrs Gogan remember to breathe as they fight over a pram in the final part of Culture File’s very own Abbey (backstage) Trilogy.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-20091207m18sculturefile-pid0-438480_audio.mp3]

Violinist Lara St John on the best motto a young performer can be taught: When All Else Fails, Lower Your Standards.

[soundcloud]https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/60478788[/soundcloud]

Violinist Lara St John is mystified about the ongoing problems musicians have getting their (often extremely expensive) instruments on board aeroplanes.

The full interview with Lara, about her concert debut (aged 4!) her love of polka, and the importance of the motto “If all else fails, lower your standards” is on Culture File, 6.40pm, Thursday, 20th September, 2012, on RTE Lyric FM at 6pm. And on this tumblr ever after.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-19091206m16sculturefile-pid0-376872_audio.mp3]

Prowling the alleys with the ne’er-do-wells and rakes of “Tribes Alive” Paraic Breathnach’s dramatic walking tour of Galway’s old city.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-18091207m18sculturefile-pid0-438264_audio.mp3]

Can a composer possibly be pleased when someone says their music works very well in the background? Possibly, maybe, says Sam Jackson, a composer best known for his work with Druid Theatre Company.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-17091207m13sculturefile-pid0-433656_audio.mp3]

How to turn a 1,500,000-word novel into a 50-minute show, with the creators of Souvenir, an entry-level pass at Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-14091206m7sculturefile-pid0-367032_audio.mp3]

Follow us to Finglas, where we sniff out the National Theatre’s Costume Hire department, where garments from scores of previous productions are cared for; and where we find a rather becoming hat.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-13091207m29sculturefile-pid0-449208_audio.mp3]

As hundreds of green theatrical talents are getting their first tastes of crappy reviews and stagefright at Dublin Fringe Festival, we meet some who are taking a slightly less extreme-sport route to stagecraft, via community theatre.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-12091207m08sculturefile-pid0-428280_audio.mp3]

Ken Thompson, sculptor and master-baker, on career options and carving.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-11091207m30sculturefile-pid0-450528_audio.mp3]

Simon Reynold’s Skypes in for an attempt to explain the rise and rise of Electronic Dance Music (EDM) in the United States.

Made this list a little while back in response to an RTE Guide request for Culture File’s favourite tunes. Surely it’s time to put it up here

1   Don Rendell & Ian Carr Quintet – Blue Mosque - Shades of Blue

Rather than wondering what my favourite tunes were, I looked them up on last.fm, which is a great service for telling you what you really like, ie, keeping track of which songs you actually play the most. And apparently, best of all I like this piece of 1960s British jazz, originally crate-crawled by Giles Peterson.

2   Iron & Wine – Sunset Soon Forgotten - Our Endless Numbered Days

What these songs mostly have in common is that they are slow and easy enough to be on my random go-to-sleep playlist. Actually that playlist often turns up some possibly unsetting tunes, like this one, which seems to be about death and grief. But is lovely for all that.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-15081207m32sculturefile-pid0-452568_audio.mp3]

Van Morrison did it, and so have Pixies. Latest to commit to performing an album in its entirety is Kíla singer and songwriter, Rónán Ó Snodaigh, who is set to perform all of five of his solo albums in a series of concerts in Dublin’s Whelan’s.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-10091207m37sculturefile-pid0-457488_audio.mp3]

Have you seen Billy? Run into Gorm? We join audience members as they assemble (forgive us!) for the first night of Flatpack, an opera with a libretto composed entirely of Ikea product names.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-07091207m17sculturefile-pid0-437112_audio.mp3]

But what’s Mrs Clitheroe wearing? Creating the audio descriptions for The Abbey’s production of an O’Casey classic.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-06091207m51sculturefile-pid0-471240_audio.mp3]

'Shut up And Play The Hits' is a concert documentary of a now famous night when the ultimate cool kids band, the LCD Soundsytem, played their farewell gig at Madison Square Garden, New York City. We relive the night of the greatest gig ever…

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-05091204m49sculturefile-pid0-279960_audio.mp3]

Additional material from Luke’s conversation with mathematics’s author, Dana Mackenzie in which they talk about the work of Irish maths giant, William Hamilton. (Part 4 of 3. Ha-ha!)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-05091207m33sculturefile-pid0-453504_audio.mp3]

They move in mysterious ways. Dana Mackenzie explains how financial derivatives resemble gas molecules, and the mistake at the heart of the financial world’s most important formula. (Part 3 of 3)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-04091208m03sculturefile-pid0-483264_audio.mp3]

How whale geometry scooped Einstein by several millennia, and a short history of the apparently uncontroversial equation: 1 + 1 = 2, with author, Dana Mackenzie. (Part 2 of 3)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pod-v-03091207m55sculturefile-pid0-475440_audio.mp3]

In our Back to School special, Dana Mackenzie, author of The Universe in Zero Words, explores where — and why — maths and culture meet. (Part 1 of 3)

[vimeo 48389720 w=500 h=375]

Cork French Film Festival’s Paul Callanan edited some images to go with our episode on The Passion of Joan of Arc. Wonder who’ll take up the challenge… 

(Source: http://player.vimeo.com/)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/pod-v-16081208m02sculturefile-pid0-482448_audio.mp3]

What do you do with other hand? Ivan Ilic, who has followed a tiny elite of pianists who have recorded Leopold Godowsky’s Chopin studies for left-handed piano, talks about that eccentric, yet persistent genre. (part 1 of 2)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/pod-v-17081207m53sculturefile-pid0-473784_audio.mp3]

Pianist, Ivan Ilic, best known for his acclaimed recording of Godowsky’s left handed Chopin studies, tells how he fell under the spell of 20th century master, Morton Feldman. (part 2 of 2)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/pod-v-13081207m14sculturefile-pid0-434880_audio.mp3]

Rebooting a night at the opera, with Ergodos composer-director, Benedict Schlepper-Connolly.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/pod-v-14081206m15sculturefile-pid0-375888_audio.mp3]

I say: “street art!” You say: “vandalism!” A new walking tour of Dublin’s, ahem, unauthorised graphic interventions helps us with our little debate.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/pod-v-10081208m12sculturefile-pid0-492720_audio.mp3]

It’s never simple to sort out the proportions of serious v comic content in the work of Belfast artist, John Byrne; and it doesn’t get any easier in his latest, an art church service — with art hymns — for Cavan Cathedral.

In this report, Elaine Agnew is mentioned in connection with the music. Her part was in scoring the music for John Byrne, who wrote both music and lyrics for the art hymns.

[soundcloud]https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/55842865[/soundcloud]

The art of going to church: Artists, Alanna O’Kelly and John Byrne (soloists) with the Palestrina Choir, under conductor, Blanaid Murphy, in rehearsals for ‘Good Works’ Art Mass, singing Enlightenment, with words by Byrne and music by Elaine Agnew.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/pod-v-09081207m36sculturefile-pid0-457038_audio.mp3]

Do you do “The Slosh”? Incorrigible dancers, Joan and Christie McCarthy, on the perennial appeal of the tea dance and the dance craze that has the nation’s over-55s in its thrall.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/pod-v-08081206m54sculturefile-pid0-414912_audio.mp3]

What’s this? A Celtic supergroup that doesn’t feature Martin Hayes or Caoimhin O Raghallaigh? Scottish Mouth music specialist, Alyth McCormack on her part as one of the 14 musicians in a new collective, Dán.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/pod-v-07081207m50sculturefile-pid0-470352_audio.mp3]

Music with all the unpredictability of weather is one of the goals of Irish composer and incurable warranty-voider, Jonathan Nangle.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/pod-v-03081207m01sculturefile-pid0-421680_audio.mp3]

Has performance art come of age again? Curator, Catherine Wood, shows us around The Tanks, Tate Modern’s brand new underground haven for live art. (3 of 3)

This gif is from a fantastic tumblr filled with Studio Ghibli minimations…so, oodles of nice Totoros, Chihiro etc. Hours of wonder.

[soundcloud]https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/55061646[/soundcloud]

Bumped into Guardian art critic, Adrian Searle, on the ramp at Turbine Hall and we had a little chat about Tino Sehgal that wouldn’t squeeze into our report. So here it is… (2 of 3)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/pod-v-02081208m01sculturefile-pid0-481152_audio.mp3]

Are you ready to merge? Tino Sehgal on why swarms are good, and his latest work at Tate Modern’s epic Turbine Hall, These Associations. (1of 3)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/pod-v-01081206m35sculturefile-pid0-395448_audio.mp3]

Improbable Frequency and Alice in Funderland did it big’n’bold. But the renaissance in Irish musical also includes pocket-sized delights, like Kostick & Clohessy’s 45-minute, Pocket Music.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK4LtWyqFS4?wmode=transparent&autohide=1&egm=0&hd=1&iv_load_policy=3&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&showsearch=0&w=500&h=375]

Drone-shot video from Loitering Theatre* by Caroline Campbell and Nina McGowan.

*The work is named after a ‘next generation’ drone which has the wherewithal to ‘loiter’ in ‘theatre’ carrying out missions for five years without needing to take on fuel. And we’re not talking about The Abbey here. 

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/pod-v-31071207m58sculturefile-pid0-478224_audio.mp3]

Drone Art: A whole new meaning for the phrase “Hidden Ireland” as Caroline Campbell & Nina McGowan bring their hovercopter work, Loitering Theatre, to Dublin’s Science Gallery.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/pod-v-30081207m52sculturefile-pid0-472512_audio.mp3]

Giving Joan of Arc a voice, or at least a soundtrack: Paul Callanan and Irene Buckley on a new score for Dryer’s silent masterpiece.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/pod-v-27071207m54sculturefile-pid0-474096_audio.mp3]

WOMAD is having a 30 birthday party this year in a field in Wiltshire. And once more, the event has been programmed by Paula Henderson, the woman whose job is to scour the planet all year long to fill the festival’s program of music and culture from around the world.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/pod-v-26081207m23sculturefile-pid0-443208_audio.mp3]

Tenderness, sleep and ecstasy, the frugality of needs and the pleasure of the senses are the prescription for “After The Future”. Italian critic and activist, Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi on life on a dying planet.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/pod-v-25071207m03sculturefile-pid0-423600_audio.mp3]

Does it matter if the workshop window looks out on rolling hills or a car park, or even the main road from Limerick to Tralee? These and other questions answered in a new exhibition of Irish craft, My Place, in Liverpool.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/pod-v-24071206m37sculturefile-pid0-397896_audio.mp3]

The first time Hauschka visited Iceland it was along with violinist, Hilary Hahn and on a mission: to start improvising and see what happened…spoiler alert: what happened was the CD, Silfra

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/pod-v-2307126m14sculturefile-pid0-374448_audio.mp3]

Everyone is welcome at the Dublin Comic Jam, where each month a brand new comic story is drawn collaboratively.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/pod-v-20071207m08sculturefile-pid0-428016_audio.mp3]

Which would you rather be in an ideal free market, a goat or a human? Julian Gough’s neoliberal satire, The Great Goat Bubble, at Galway Arts Festival will possibly not help with your decision. But it could make you laugh.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/pod-v-19071207m51sculturefile-pid0-471096_audio.mp3]

As the supernatural riff on folk song, The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart gets to entertaining the Galway Arts Festival, we talk again to Prudencia herself, Madeleine Worrall.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/pod-v-pod18071207m55sculturefile-pid0-475152_audio.mp3]

After a hiatus in which Rufus Wainwright wrote his first opera and performed a Judy Garland tribute show at Carnegie Hall, the Canadian singer, songwriter composer — and Garland impersonator — is back in pop game.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/pod-v-17071206m51sculturefile-pid0-411096_audio.mp3]

For this year’s Galway Arts Festival, Crash Ensemble have commissioned dimmerswitch, a new work from one-time Virgin Prune, Daniel Figgis.

[audio http://culturefilepod.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/pod-v-16071206m47sculturefile-pid0-407328_audio.mp3]

They haven’t gone away you know…the WAGs. And to prove it, a new play on that very subject opens in Dublin called…W.A.G.