Milo McCarthy
Sí an Bhrú [2025]

Performed by the Solas Quartet
Abbey Presbyterian Church, Dublin, 12th April 2026

Score and parts available for download here

The subtitle of this quartet, “Sí an Bhrú”, is the Irish name for Newgrange - a neolithic passage tomb in County Meath which was meticulously constructed to precisely align with the winter solstice each year. On that day, for a duration no longer than a few minutes, the rising sun bursts through the entrance and floods the inner chamber with radiant, golden light. The sound world that inspired this quartet is that of Irish prehistory, of epic poetry and folklore, of high kings and witches and vast fields of gold.

This work should be performed with a folk-like attitude - with the lightness of Irish traditional or even Baroque music. The idea is to juxtapose contemporary musical features as well as the rustic and pastoral sound palette borrowed from Irish traditional music, against a quite conservative and classical approach to form. The work’s single movement, around 15 minutes in length, consists of sections reflecting the structure of a four movement symphony while also itself adhering mostly to typical sonata form. As such, the piece opens with an Allegro in which the themes are introduced, after which the themes are developed upon in both a symphonic scherzo-like section and a cantabile slow movement-like section. The recapitulation then also resembles a symphonic finale, especially the trad-infused cadenza section.

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Milo McCarthy is a composer and conductor in the final year of his BMus at the Cork School of Music. He has had over 20 works commissioned and performed by a number of prominent Irish ensembles such as Madrigal 75, the Solas Quartet, MusiCorum, and the Yershovy Sisters. He has also won various composition awards, such as the Eric de Courcy Cup for 1st place in Feis Ceoil for chamber music composition. He is a conducting student of Dr Geoffrey Spratt and Thomas Doyle and is the conductor and co-founder of Cork-based chamber orchestra Laoi Sinfonia. He is also the conductor of the Musgraves Workplace Choir and the IMP Choir and served as the 2025–2026 student conductor of Glór Choral Society.