Trinity Orchestra plays Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ at Electric Picnic (01.09.12)

Posted on October 16, 2012 by admin

On Saturday, September 1st 2012 at 12.30pm, Trinity Orchestra took to the sunny Electric Picnic mainstage for the second year in a row. As the crowd began to sprawl across the grass, the orchestra began to play their way through Pink Floyd’s incredible 1973 album, Dark Side of the Moon, for one last time.

Joining a line-up of world-famous artists like The Cure, The Killers, The XX, Sigur Ros and Elbow on the mainstage over the weekend, we were delighted to see such an enormous crowd gathering before and during our set, swaying and singing along to huge Pink Floyd hits such as Time, Money and Great Gig in the Sky. By the time the second half of our Pink Floyd set at last drew to an unwelcome close with the immensely popular Comfortably Numb, the crowd were not ready for it to end just yet. We quickly switched conductors, and launched into a contrasting encore set of Stevie Wonder, which was a roaring success, with the audience not missing a beat until the very end when Trinity Orchestra reluctantly left the stage. We could not have asked for a better Electric Picnic experience.

Trinity Orchestra would like to extend thanks to festival co-ordinators POD, to John Kearns and all of our great sound tech crew, to all of orchestral players, singers and band, and our two great photographers Sophie Murphy and Tara Thomas. Huge thanks also go our to our fantastic conductors Matt Rafter and Peter Joyce, arranger of Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ for Trinity Orchestra, James O’Leary, without whom this gig certainly could not have gone ahead, and finally to Peter Joyce and Alex Ryan, who arranged Stevie Wonder for Trinity Orchestra.

Photograph by Tara Thomas

“The orchestra bend and twist those Floyd tunes, infusing them with great drama and playful experimental psych frills, while the vocalists help to weave things even further and wider. At the end of the set, they add a flurry of Stevie Wonder covers. The sun’s out and the Orchestra finish to a sea of wide smiles. Hit.” - Irish Times

Trinity Orchestra plays Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ for 10 Days in Dublin Festival 08.07.2012

Posted on July 24, 2012 by admin

The ceilings of Christ Church Cathedral were lit to impress as the audience took their seats before Trinity Orchestra entered on stage. The performance of Pink Floyd’s complete eighth studio album, ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’, as part of the 10 Days in Dublin Festival was launched with the familiar anthem Shine on You Crazy Diamond. In the next hour, with jingling samples from Money echoing around church columns and Brain Damage‘s celebrated lyrics “I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon” swelling with orchestral harmonies, the atmosphere was certainly one to be appreciated.

Many thanks to the staff at 10 Days in Dublin and festival co-ordinators for the huge amount of work put into the organisational aspect of this performance. Also, thanks to the the staff at Christ Church Cathedral, players, band members, technical volunteers, sound and visuals crews, arranger James O’Leary and conductor Eamonn Bell. A special thanks to Tom Speers, Callum Swift and DU Film Society for filming the event, and photographers Andrew Nuding and Tara Thomas. We’re sure that all their work contributed towards making this such a successful concert.

Photography by Tara Thomas

Trinity Orchestra plays Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ at Forbidden Fruit Festival 04.06.2012

Posted on July 21, 2012 by admin

Following an afternoon of torrential rain, mud-soaked socks and a rescheduled Pink Floyd performance, Trinity Orchestra returned to sunny Forbidden Fruit Festival grounds on Monday, taking to the Lighthouse Stage at 7pm.

Playing as part of a line-up including Wilco, Beirut, James Vincent McMorrow and Chromatics, we were delighted to see Speak To Me and Breathe drawing festival goers from afar, Time and Breathe (Reprise) successfully packing the tent before Karen Cowley’s soaring vocals on Great Gig in the Sky brought the album’s first half to a close. With the second half coming in fast and enthusiasm growing further, the final chords of our Comfortably Numb encore failed to satisfy the crowd’s appetite for more and we faced that infamous chant for one more tune. With some luck we managed to pull together a second encore of fully orchestrated Stevie Wonder arrangements by Peter Joyce to which the players and audience danced away the next 20 minutes before finally bringing our 2012 Forbidden Fruit Festival experience to an end.

Many thanks to festival co-ordinators POD (especially for being so accommodating with the rescheduling troubles), John Kearns and the sound tech crew, players, singers and band. We’d also like to extend a huge thanks to conductor Matt Rafter and last but by no means least, arranger of Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ for Trinity Orchestra, James O’Leary.

Photograph taken from www.facebook.com/forbiddenfruitfestival

Trinity Orchestra plays Radiohead’s ‘OK Computer’ for Block T LINK Culturefest 26.05.2012

Posted on July 19, 2012 by admin

This May the Trinity Orchestra Chamber Ensemble made it’s debut, performing as part of the very first LINK Culturefest by Dublin-based arts organisation Block T. Stripped-down arrangements of Radiohead’s complete third album, ‘OK Computer’, were played by a 30-piece orchestral group with strings, acoustic band and singers. St. Michan’s Church, a specially atmospheric venue and one of Dublin’s oldest Medieval churches, housed our wonderfully enthusiastic audience and contributed towards making this intimate concert all the more enjoyable.

Special thanks go to the amazingly talented OKO, who provided a great opening set on the night. With impovised beats and melodies drawing from influences such as krautrock, vintage TV shows, free jazz, noise, dub, drum ‘n’ bass, dubstep, musak, metal and more, the band’s compositions filled the church with waves of original synth-infused sounds, setting a high standard of musicianship for the evening.

Following this Trinity Orchestra Chamber Ensemble took centre-stage, showcasing our take on Radiohead’s alternative rock. From Airbag‘s attention-grabbing guitar opening and Paranoid Android‘s shifting moods and melodies to The Tourist‘s last lilting phrases, the arrangements by Éna Brennan, Brian Denvir, Rob Farhat, Rob Kearns and James O’Leary were received with escalating appreciation by a crowd of hundreds.