Irish Premiere: The Broken Contract at Dublin New Music Festival

On April 3rd at 1:30 PM, composer Iván Enrique Rodríguez’ The Broken Contract for harp and recording will receive it’s Irish Premiere at The Studio at the National Concert Hall, as part of clarinetist Berginald Rash’s curated concert Berginald Presents: Bombast at the Dublin New Music Festival. This electrifying program, which features a world premiere alongside multiple national premieres, brings together some of the most critically acclaimed and boundary-pushing composers working today.

The Broken Contract is a poignant and uncompromising reflection on racial injustice in the United States. Using archival recordings—including James Baldwin’s iconic 1968 interview on The Dick Cavett Show and the impassioned words of activist Kimberly Jones—Rodríguez crafts a sound world where language, memory, and music collide. The harp, an instrument so often associated with angelic purity, becomes a stark counterpoint to the piercing voices of those who have spoken truth to power. Through this striking juxtaposition, Rodríguez lays bare the chasm between the nation’s idealistic rhetoric and its lived realities, confronting listeners with the urgent necessity of introspection, faith, and courage.

As part of this high-profile program, Rodríguez’s work contributes to a larger conversation about the evolving nature of contemporary music—where boundaries blur, traditions are reimagined, and sound itself becomes a force for urgent expression.

Don’t miss this landmark performance.

For full details, visit: New Music Dublin.

Program:

— Joy Guidry – Just because I have a dick doesn’t mean I’m a Man (Irish Premiere)

— Carlos Simon – Loop for string trio (Irish Premiere)

— Quinn Mason – In Memory for solo horn (Irish Premiere)

— Ivan Enrique Rodríguez – The Broken Contract for harp and recording (Irish Premiere)

— Nkeiru Okoye – Breaking Bread for solo viola (Irish Premiere)

— Jessie Montgomery – Peace for clarinet and harp (Irish Premiere)

— Allison Loggins-Hull – Stolen for solo cello (Irish Premiere)

— Gabriela Ortiz – Atlas-Pumas for violin and marimba (Irish Premiere)

— Shawn Okpebholo – There is Always Light for clarinet, bassoon, and marimba (Irish Premiere)

— Jeff Scott – The Idle Mind for solo horn (Irish Premiere)

— Joseph Hallman – Concerto for B-flat/E-flat clarinet, violin, viola, cello, bassoon, horn, harp & percussion (World Premiere)