Fáilte chroíúil romhaibh go léir chuig New Music Dublin 2026!

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This, somewhat astonishingly, is my ninth time at the helm of New Music Dublin, and - despite the wild and highly-pressured wintertime race that my wonderful Festival team always endure to get the programme finalised and tickets on sale - I find myself quietly delighted once again that NMD is a festival that takes place in springtime.

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Just as with springtime, the making of something new - whether music or anything else - is fundamentally an act of hopefulness. Right now, for what reason other than hope would anyone create anything new and send it out in to the world, given these uncertain, difficult and destructive times? Making new music now is more than ever a brave and bold thing to do, an act that is to be celebrated and treasured - and I am once again both emboldened and reassured that NMD is accompanied by nature alongside us doing what nature does, namely the hope-filled springtime making and presenting of new things, year upon year. 

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Amongst all of the celebrating and treasuring in this year’s diverse and multi-faceted programme, we are delighted in particular to be able to mark the 100th Anniversary of the founding of RTÉ, whose support for, and championing of, new music in all its forms has played such a fundamental role in nurturing the astonishing musical creativity to be found across Ireland. With this, and many other delights, we look forward enormously to welcoming you to Dublin once again this April for this annual celebration of new ideas in musical form from across the whole island of Ireland and around the world.

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Ádh mór oraibh uilig,

John Harris,
Festival Director