This September and October, the National Concert Hall will launch a series of both in-venue and livestream concerts. The concerts promise to offer Irish and international audiences some of the best of the diverse world of Irish music both in person and online.

The chamber concerts will include Lir Quartet, Banbha Quartet, Camerata Kilkenny with Claire Duff, Marja Gaynor and Malcolm Proud, Fiachra Garvey, Hugh Tinney and Academy Chamber Ensemble, and the Vanbrugh Quartet.

The NCH is also delighted to announce the first four concerts in a new livestream series called ‘Imagining Ireland’, showcasing the most exciting creative artists at work today. Those performances will range from hip-hop to traditional music and contemporary composition to roots music.

The line-up includes contemporary composer and musician Jennifer Walshe in 'Ireland: A Dataset' a boisterous radiophonic play made for the NCH; a celebration of the thriving Irish hip-hop scene with Denise Chaila, MuRli and God Knows presented with narolane records, fiddler and hardanger d'amore player of The Gloaming fame Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh with West-Kerry based concertina player Cormac Begley, and Grammy nominee Rhiannon Giddens with multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turissi.

'Imagining Ireland' will continue through the Autumn. It is supported by Davy as Innovation Partner and is a partnership collaboration between NCH, Culture Ireland and Serious, supported by The Irish Times and Newstalk as media partners.

"In line with the country's reopening, we are delighted to announce a new series of livestream concerts designed to appeal to a wide variety of musical interests and to welcome back a live audience to the NCH for this trial series of socially distanced chamber music concerts," said NCH CEO Simon Taylor.

"Given the current capacity restrictions for indoor gatherings the socially distanced chamber music concerts will see a limited audience in attendance giving us an opportunity to not only welcome back audiences to live music but also to give artists the opportunity to perform to an audience once more in a way that is enjoyable, practical and safe for all. This is an important step forward to restoring the unique magic of live performance and in supporting the livelihoods of musicians, which have been so severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We want to reassure the public that the NCH will be following all public health guidelines in respect of Covid-19 ensuring the utmost safety of our audiences, musicians, and staff and we will have stringent measures in place to do so. I would like to acknowledge Minister Catherine Martin in particular, and the Department of Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht for their support during this very challenging time".

Tickets for the in-venue, socially distanced chamber music concerts are €10 and are available to purchase from Monday 14th September 10am online only at the NCH website. There is a limited capacity for each concert, and so tickets are restricted to two per person. All concerts 60 minutes or less. Tickets for 'Imagining Ireland' concerts are €7 and €10, and are only available to purchase and view on Dice. Tickets are on sale now.