SEASON 25/26
Events
11th/12th February 2026
Studio Ulster, Belfast
RENDR Festival
Inclusive Creativity Concert and Symposium
Future Screens NI, Ulster University, Studio Ulster and CoSTAR in association with the RENDR Festival are excited to present a concert and symposium in Studio Ulster focused on the interface of inclusive arts practice and technology, featuring musicians from Acoustronic, Elefantora and the Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble and a range of international speakers and artists.
27th February - 6th March 2026
Limerick, Galway, Dublin, Maynooth, Derry
Peaceline Perspectives TOUR
Peaceline Perspectives features highly evocative pieces from the North of Ireland. The music is interwoven with voices and soundscapes inspired around Belfast’s Peaceline, which separates the nationalist and loyalist communities. This performance showcases the work of multiple composers whose musical voices are shaped by their shared Northern Irish heritage. Greg Caffrey’s Tout (a slang term meaning informer) reflects on the horror, danger and mistrust prevalent during Northern Ireland’s Troubles. Elaine Agnew’s I Want to tell you consists of instrumental duos accompanying a voice track of victims, survivors and displaced families affected by conflict, while Úna Monaghan uses the sounds of helicopters, drone noises and animal hunting whistles to depict the nature of people being quite literally Hunted. There are moments of tranquility too. Áine Mallon’s Cállan and Ryan Molloy’s Gortnagarn offer meditative reflections on the beauty of our shared landscape, and its meaning in our lives. Eduard Zatriqi’s War Games was composed as a musical commentary on the conflicts evident around the world in early 2016. Reading news articles concerning the rise of populism, nationalism, and violence perpetrated in the name of religion, he was struck by humanity's apparent inability or unwillingness to learn from past errors. Ten years on from that, it seems we are very much in the same situation, if not worse, and so this impassioned work brings the programme to a dramatic conclusion.
7th March 2026, 2.30pm/4pm
Belfast, Clonard Monastery
Aesop’s Fables
Belfast Children’s Festival
Hard Rain collaborate with Ulster Touring Opera, and their ongoing work with Ulster Youth Opera, to present performances of Aesop’s Fables by three emerging composers from Northern Ireland. This project, supported by PRSf Talent Development Network, builds on UTO’s experience of presenting work written for young voices by living composers. PROGRAMME The North Wind and the Sun (2025) - Anita Mawhinney (1974) The Boy Who Cried Wolf (2025) - Anselm McDonnell (1994) The Tortoise and the Hare (2025) - Áine Mallon (1994)
8th March 2026, 4pm
Belfast, Harty Room, Queen's University
Young Artists Recital / International Women's Day
Hard Rain are proud to present this recital in partnership with Ulster Youth Orchestra. Here our 25/26 Featured Young Artist Charlie Shortt will perform both as a soloist and within the ensemble. Charlie, from Portadown, began studying percussion at the age of eight. He is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London as an ABRSM Scholar. Charlie has performed with many ensembles across the UK and has held leadership roles as Section Leader of the Ulster Youth Orchestra and Joint Principal Percussionist of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. In addition to his orchestral work, he was runner-up in the Northern Ireland Young Musician of the Year 2025 and was shortlisted for BBC Young Musician 2024. Charlie is delighted to be performing with Hard Rain Ensemble, collaborating with inspiring musicians to explore exciting new music. Our second half represents our annual celebration of International Women’s Day and features some of our closest collaborators. With composers from the North, South and West of Ireland, and born some 50 years apart, this programme presents multiple premieres while spanning generations and the geography of our island. PROGRAMME Rhythm Song (1991) - Paul Smadbeck (1955) Frogs (1958) - Keiko Abe (1937) Motion (1986) - Lynn Glassock (1946) Now I lay me down (2003) - Joe Locke (1959) Calligraphy (2002) - Elaine Agnew (1967) Silence, and the sound of the waves (2022) World premiere - Jane O’Leary (1946) And Then There Was One* (2025) World premiere - Bianca Gannon (1987) Three Girls in an August Garden (2025) World premiere - Amelia Clarkson (1995) Ghost Memories** (2024) - Deirdre Gribben (1967)
4th April 2026, 3pm
Belfast, 2 Royal Avenue
Breaking Barriers
with UYO / UYJO
Combining the forces of Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble, jazz drummer Steve Davis and bringing together talented young musicians from Ulster Youth Orchestra and Ulster Youth Jazz Orchestra, this is a genre-defying discovery of new music. This concert will showcase local composers Ed Bennett and Elaine Agnew alongside the prolific experimental composer Anthony Braxton in an exploration of his unique musical language. This workshop is designed to encourage all musicians to reach beyond their comfort zone, try new performance techniques and extend their knowledge of current contemporary music, both local and international. Classically trained players will have the opportunity to explore improvisation and experimental music, whilst jazz-trained musicians will develop score-reading and the preparation and performance of defined musical scores.
16th April 2026, 11pm Booking Required
Belfast, Harty Room, Queen's University
Night Spells
Sonorities Festival
This late-night solo piano programme is a reflection on the works and influences of Morton Feldman. Daniel Browell performs works spanning Feldman’s career, including those inspired by visual patterns and artists of the time. During the performance Belfast-based artist Helena Hamilton will create visual reflections on the music, negotiating a relationship between the sonic and visual. “I took a militant attitude towards sounds. I wanted sounds to be a metaphor, that they could be as free as a human being might be free. That was my idea about sound. It still is, that they should breathe ... not to be used for the vested interest of an idea. I feel that music should have no vested interests, that you shouldn't know how it's made, that you shouldn't know if there's a system, that you shouldn't know anything about it ... except that it's some kind of life force that to some degree really changes your life ...if you're into it.” - Morton Feldman
17th April 2026
Dublin, National Concert Hall
Ghost Trance Music
New Music Dublin
New Music Dublin is Ireland’s foremost contemporary music festival. This concert and tribute to Anthony Braxton features graphic scores, also including those by Sarah Watts and Ioana Petcu Colan, based on new artwork to be displayed during the performance. Joining Hard Rain for this performance are Matt Wright (electronics) and Belfast-based drummer Stephen Davis. Primarily an improvisor, Stephen is the drummer in Anthony Braxton group 'The New Standard’. “ There's a lot of creative music happening in the underground, which is a very hopeful kind of sign .... And it's all over the planet; you go and look in the alleys and under the doorways, in the coal mines--they're there, lurking in the shadows; a significant amount of people in different parts of the planet who are genuinely creative. And I associate and attach myself to that. Usually when I go to any new place I try to find out from the musicians--they'll usually say 'this guy can't play,' or 'he's crazy,' 'he's not doing anything,' 'he's a sick, warped, demented fool'--and immediately I try to find him. He's probably one of us.” - Anthony Braxton Multiphonic Miniatures (2023) Sarah Watts (1978) - bass clarinet New Work (2026) Ioana Petcu-Colan (1978) - flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello Ghost Trance Music (1995-2006) Anthony Braxton (1945) - flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello, piano, drums, live electronics
18th April 2026, 1pm Booking Required
Belfast, SARC, Queen's University
Ghost Trance Music
Sonorities Festival
This concert and tribute to Anthony Braxton features graphic scores, also including those by Sarah Watts and Ioana Petcu Colan, based on new artwork to be displayed during the performance. Joining Hard Rain for this performance are Matt Wright (electronics) and Belfast-based drummer Stephen Davis. Primarily an improvisor, Stephen is the drummer in Anthony Braxton group 'The New Standard’. “ There's a lot of creative music happening in the underground, which is a very hopeful kind of sign .... And it's all over the planet; you go and look in the alleys and under the doorways, in the coal mines--they're there, lurking in the shadows; a significant amount of people in different parts of the planet who are genuinely creative. And I associate and attach myself to that. Usually when I go to any new place I try to find out from the musicians--they'll usually say 'this guy can't play,' or 'he's crazy,' 'he's not doing anything,' 'he's a sick, warped, demented fool'--and immediately I try to find him. He's probably one of us.” - Anthony Braxton Multiphonic Miniatures (2023) Sarah Watts (1978) - bass clarinet New Work (2026) Ioana Petcu-Colan (1978) - flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello Ghost Trance Music (1995-2006) Anthony Braxton (1945) - flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello, piano, drums, live electronics
30th May 2026, 7.30pm
Belfast, Harty Room, Queen's University
Beijing to Belfast
Connections through Culture -British Council
Beijing to Belfast is supported by the British Council's Connections through Culture programme and aims to highlight cross-cultural exchange between Hard Rain and Beijing Modern Music Festival. Following our performance at BMMF, we have furthered our collaboration in 2026, through new works composed for Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble by eminent Chinese composers. These works are presented here in a specially curated concert and we are delighted to host BMMF Artistic Director Xiaogang Ye and Executive Director Guo Haiou.
19th June 2026, 7.30pm
Belfast, Harty Room, Queen's University
Hellawell at Harty
In a long and distinguished career, Piers Hellawell has produced a body of work characterised by boundless invention, genuine discovery and deep integrity. In celebration of his 70th birthday, this portrait concert reflects upon his outstanding solo and chamber music and his enduring creative partnerships. Hard Rain are privileged to have enjoyed a long-standing collaboration with Piers, both through his compositions and as one of the UK’s most distinguished educators: Professor of Composition at Queen’s University of Belfast 1981–2024, and Honorary Professor of Composition at the University of St Andrews. Here we present works spanning the past 40 years in the venue that has been home to so many important moments in Hellawell’s career.