The 2025 edition of the New Music Dublin Festival returns to the capital for four days this April - and we're recommending a quintet of choice events at Ireland's foremost contemporary music festival.

When & Where: Thursday 3rd April, 7.30pm, National Concert Hall

Jean Cocteau's The Blood of a Poet (Le Sang d'un Poète), one of the greatest surrealist films ever made, is presented with the world premiere of a new live score co-written and performed by Erik Friedlander and Matthew Nolan, joined by Seán Mac Erlaine and Lisa Dowdall. The film, described by Cocteau as "a descent into oneself", explores the blurred line between reality and imagination and features the only on-screen appearance of photographer Lee Miller. Introduced by Dr Alexandra Lukes (Trinity College Dublin), this promises an extraordinary meeting of avant-garde film and live music- watch a preview above.

This Friday, Focus Features is releasing "Thoroughbreds," a psychological thriller directed by Corey Finley. I composed the soundtrack for the film, and am very excited to share that my score - along with a few pop songs featured in the film - will be released digitally on March 9th! This project was so great to work on, and I think that audiences will be surprised by some of the musical directions this film goes into. Sylvie Courvoisier played prepared piano on a few tracks, and Satoshi Takeishi added all kinds of percussion. Look for the soundtrack this Friday, and don't miss "Thoroughbreds," it's a really fantastic film!

I've recently finished up my newest album Artemisia, a project inspired by the murky history of absinthe as a brain bending, revelation inspiring substance. The album is recorded with my new band Throw A Glass, featuring Uri Caine on piano, Mark Helias on bass, Ches Smith on drums and me on cello. The record is already mixed and mastered and I recently previewed some of the material at The Stone. I truly believe that this album is one of the best of my career and I'm so excited for you all to hear it.

The venue for the John Zorn Bagatelles marathon in Paris on July 11th has been changed to the New Morning jazz club. I’ll be performing in a cello duo with Mike Nicholas as part of the marathon. Tickets and info here.

My newest record Artemisia is coming out on April 13th. To celebrate, there will be an album release show on April 11th - 7:30pm at Dixon Place. I'll be playing with my band "Throw a Glass," who's amazing performances are captured on Artemisia. It's gonna be a great show, and don't forget to listen to Artemisia, coming out on April 13th!