5 must-see events at New Music Dublin 2025

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.