Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble | Silence and Sound Waves

Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble are playing at the Sonic Arts Research Centre in Queen's University Belfast on Saturday 24 October, as part of the Belfast International Arts Festival. The concert is titled Silence and Sound Waves, and the whole evening is a celebration of composer Jane O'Leary's 80th birthday.

Hard Rain is a contemporary music ensemble based right here in Belfast. It was founded in 2013 by composer Greg Caffrey, whose orchestral works Environments came out on Divine Art in 2024. They've spent the last decade and a bit focusing on modern and contemporary music, and they've taken that work well beyond the city — they've played across the UK, Europe and China, including the Beijing Modern Music Festival. They also run 'Ink Still Wet', the PRS Foundation's commissioning scheme, which they do with support from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

The night is built around Jane O'Leary, who's lived in Ireland since 1972. She's a founding member of Aosdána and the Concorde ensemble, and her music has been heard at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. This concert marks her 80th year, so it's a bit of a milestone for her.

The whole thing sits within the Belfast International Arts Festival, one of Northern Ireland's cornerstone arts festivals, now in its 64th year and led by Artistic Director and CEO Chris McCreery. It starts at 7.30pm at the Sonic Arts Research Centre, Queen's University Belfast.