Kirkos Ensemble

It is an average Saturday evening on Prussia Street. 

A man weeps guttural screams into a microphone in a piece titled “Dating as a Dublin Creative.”

Another man strips naked from his suit with one hand and plays Moonlight Sonata with the other, accompanied by an improvised string trio. Pedestrians stop and gawk at the sight. 

A woman runs out onto the street and collapses in front of a concerned family, as her friend continues to recite a banal monologue about oat milk. 

The outer door slowly shuts us in. We are left in total darkness. The ensemble instructs that, in the event of an emergency, the fire exit is now to the right hand of the performance space. The doors open inwards, so be mindful and approach them from the front and not the sides.  

To end the night, a man lights matches over and over. Facing away from us, all the audience sees is a back-lit silhouette, sporadically illuminated by the flame. We hear the sizzle and crack of the match igniting then falling to the ground. The charred ends left to linger on the checkerboard tiles of Unit 44. Thus concluding my introductory experience to Kirkos. 

Located in an unassuming shopfront between the Park Shopping Centre and a Lidl, Unit 44 is a place I’d walked past many times without noticing. Formerly a hairdressers academy, the space was converted into a performance venue in 2021. Unit 44 serves as a hub for contemporary and experimental art in Dublin and as the current home of Kirkos. The ensemble celebrated their tenth anniversary in late July, with a four-day arts festival consisting of free concerts, installations, and a Fluxus open-mic.

The ensemble originated ten years ago at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Founded by Sebastian Adams and Robert Coleman, two composition students, who enlisted the involvement of their peers studying in the performance course. Sebastian observed that there were loads of composers and performers with an interest in contemporary music at RIAM that did not have an outlet, so he described Kirkos as “filling a need” to cultivate a creative spirit. From there, Kirkos was born. “I was reluctant at first to join because I was so busy with college,” said Yseult Cooper Stockdale, resident cellist, “everyone was doing it as a favour because Rob and Sebastian were so nice.” Yseult eventually ended up finding the ensemble very fulfilling, given its student-led and makeshift nature that allowed her to broaden her musical interests. 

Nowadays, the ensemble is made of Sebastian (director and occasional violist,) Robert (harmonium player and performer of “anything that can get noises out of it”,) Hannah Miller (horn player,) Jane Hackett (violinist,) Yseult (cellist,) and Tom Roseingrave (performer and vocalist.) Though the Kirkos family extends far, including frequent collaborators Paul Scully (composer and general manager of Kirkos and Unit 44) Robbie Blake (composer and Director of choral ensemble Tonnta) Andy Ingamens (composer and performer,) and Jenn Kirby (composer and performer.) All members, besides Tom, met at the academy. Tom, who joined the ensemble later, recalled a memory of returning home from the UK shortly before joining Kirkos, and watching Sebastian perform an improvisational piece by Jen Kirby at the Dun Laoghaire Lexicon, involving a viola and a game track controller. 

Director: Sebastian Adams

Over the years, Kirkos members have made the transition into professional music careers, yet the playful spirit of the group remains. Still, the members were able to name a couple turning points in the past decade. First, the first Fluxfest at the Temple Bar Art Gallery in 2016, where pieces by artists from the Fluxus movement like Nam-June Paik, Yoko Ono, John Cages, as well as Jennifer Walshe were performed. The event involved audience participation, and was the group’s first venture into a new area of experimental art. “Fluxfest was a real change of direction into a much more experimental and collaborative way of working, which is now our main thing. Now, it seems like our trademark.”Fluxfest reshaped the intention of a musical piece, challenging members to view pieces as problems to be solved, rather than as scores or compositions. The Fluxus sessions’ leftfield approach to music came with a total overlap between the role of composer and performer. “All you’re doing is creating work and you’re thinking about the context and how people are going to experience that. It seems natural to link those things together,” said Rob on shifting towards experimental music. 

Another major turning point was the pandemic. While everyone was unable to rehearse in a space together, they found ways to keep the ensemble going. This included “For Private Use,” an anthology of online concerts and DIY pieces commissioned by New Music Dublin. The DIY performances were videos and written instructions that people could follow at home that gave a “way to engage with the idea of performance itself,” as Rob put it. One piece by Yseult and Tom asked performers to brush their teeth whilst reading a selected text aloud– either by James Joyce (specifically Molly Bloom’s soliloquy to Leopold), Leo Varadkar, or Boyzone– which they guaranteed would take the two minutes needed to brush your teeth (as recommended by Dental Care Ireland.) A piece by John Godfrey was a call-and-response video, instructing performers to audibly respond to prompts like “Make a sound that says how you feel,” “Make a sound of Ireland,” and “Make a sound of the air breathed by a person distant from you.” Additionally, the group collectively composed an HSE-approved series of fifteen-second long songs, called “Music to Wash Hands By.” Through their DIY art pieces Kirkos was able to ignite a sense of creativity despite physical limitations, teaching participants to embody the excitement of performing from the concert space into their homes and their selves. 

COVID-19 presented a novel performance and rehearsal space: the Internet. A digital stage unlocked potential for new ventures in music, such as when the ensemble performed an improvised piece together whilst the other players were muted.. “It was special for everyone to realise we could make art and music that could only be presented online,” said Hannah. Moreover, it challenged the group to collaborate in new, interpersonal ways. While rehearsal had commonly been separate spaces, online practices meant that member’s domestic routines ended up seeping into the rehearsal space. Yseult offered her perspective: “Like a lot of classically trained musicians, there is a very harsh line between what I am trained in and the rest of who I am. Because we were talking collaboratively, I could bring all these other elements into my creative work…  It was during that period when I realised that Kirkos could be something a lot more than preparing something and arriving at rehearsals.” 

Because of the physical and social isolation, communication became an even more integral part of the rehearsal process. “After the pandemic, there was an intense connection between us that we didn’t have before. It was so much about talking and trust, offering our thoughts on what we think about art and life... We’ve come close together and it’s totally changing the way we made music together,” said Seb. Experimental and improvisational music creates a bond between the members, as communication takes on various forms. While technique and virtuosity are important, the dialogue behind the piece is crucial as well. The conceptual nature of the pieces means that they are often discussed firsthand. When the pieces are enacted, there is a palpable sense of physical, musical, and visual communication in the room. “We’re bringing ourselves to the piece,” said Tom. The ensemble manages to convey themselves without speaking. Watching them perform is at once mechanical and fluid– melding of wayward parts and intersecting paths into a pristine piece. 

Space also plays a key role with the ensemble, wherein the surrounding environment is integrated into the piece itself. While the ensemble primarily performs in Unit 44, previous venues include Phoenix Park, Blackrock beach, Grand Canal Dockyard, and a Dublin City Council Incubation Space on James Joyce St. “As a group, we were cut out from places like the National Concert Hall. At the same time there was nowhere else we could easily perform ourselves… Something we all thought was important was to make sure there were no barriers to our music,” said Sebastian. In this sense, the location Kirkos occupies is usually a response to the lack of inclusivity in most classical spaces. While Kirkos has played at the National Concert Hall and other traditional classical music venues, they do not want to limit their creativity to the particular experiences concert halls provide, thus the push for outdoor, public, and online performances. 

Still, space often seeps into the performance itself. To illustrate, the ensemble recounted their performance of Sebastian’s piece, “Tide Quartet” on Blackrock beach. A string quartet stood at the edge of the beach, playing as the tide rose and the sun set into the horizon and they were submerged in water and darkness. Yseult described the waves coming into the beach, and feeling her own instrument become buoyant.While the piece was taking place, two men nearby were drinking cans and listening to music on a speaker. During a quiet lull in the piece, one of the men received a call and began recounting what he saw, “I’m down here on Blackrock beach and i don’t know what the fuck is going on.” The men’s commentary could be seen as a part of the piece, and would not have happened if it had not been for the concert being public. Open spaces expands the potential for experiencing a performance, inviting the surrounding people, objects, and phenomena to interact with the music in unpredictable, yet often delightful, ways. 

There is an inherently political aspect to Unit 44’s existence, given that it is one of the few venues in Dublin that is independent and free to use. The ensemble hopes to connect to a broader audience. With its accessible entrance, Unit 44 is an excellent spot to attract all walks of life. Even at the final Sunday concert, a group of kids from the neighbourhood ended up sitting in for the show, creating a livelier atmosphere to the venue while also introducing the children to art, we might assume that they wouldn’t ordinarily experience. “When people learn more about art, it can enrich their lives and provide them perspectives they hadn't been exposed to before. That culture and exposure to various perspectives in art is important for society,” said Rob. There is a responsibility as an artist to bring something new to people, and introduce new people to the scene in order to cultivate adaptable ecosystems that enrich the people’s lives. The ensemble wanted to make it clear that anyone is welcome to join a Kirkos event, and that anyone is able to book Unit 44 for free.

Kirkos’ tenth anniversary marked a major milestone for the ensemble. Already, the group has new projects in the works. Future collaborations include a collaborative commission at Unit 44 with the Irish Composers Collective, a string trio concert in the Hugh Lane.  Of course, with the new space, one must wonder how Unit 44 will affect Kirkos. “The conversations you have by virtue of being in space and the connections you make will have a massive effect on the direction of Kirkos and the people we engage with,” said Tom. 

To conclude, I asked each member to tell me about an impactful moment from the past ten years. Yseult noted that it was hard to pick just one, “different things affect you in different ways.” Though if she had to pick one, it would be “Tide Quartet.” Hannah recounted an early performance from the group’s days at the academy, a piece by Sebastian called “Harry Patch,” which was performed in total darkness, as heavy rain flooded against the hall’s ceiling. Jane settled on “Tape Piece” at the National Concert Hall, where two participants were wrapped together in sellotape and had to arduously pull each other apart, it was “so tense…. so horrible.” The piece, though gruelling, was sonically and visually fascinating as the sound and display of the pair being pulled apart took on dramatic proportions. Tom’s pick was “The Wasistas of Thereswhere” by Jennifer Walsh, performed for the Biosphere series. Tom dressed in drag for the piece, taking on the alias “Dowager Marchylove,” reciting sound poetry and blowing a tin whistle and moving to the sound of a drone in front of the Hellfire Club as horses galloped in the background. Next up, Sebastian’s pick was a playful mishap with a button incorporated into one of their pieces, “early on in the concert, [it was] just me and Robbie. An audience member walked in and saw this big red button standing there– very tempting– and they just pressed it 90 times.” The experience was “a real nice example of how people always do the thing you don’t expect people to do.” 

Finally, Rob ended with the “Monument Piece”, composed by Andy Ingamells (“Team Ingamells” said Rob) written for the tenth anniversary. For the piece, Tom stood atop a ladder as a video of a piano harp being hit projected over his face, like a mask. The sounds of dogs barking and birds tweeting in the background of the video, as well as the quietude of the piece allowing for the coughs and shuffles of the audience to be amplified. As the projection continued, the members of the ensemble entered the room with their instruments, giving them to audience members as they proceeded to write on the ladder. I later found out that they were writing their fondest memories of the ensemble. There were “no words for it. Just a visceral feeling that remain[ed] after it,” said Rob. 

After a week of festivities, the ladder was left for audience members and participants to peruse. In that sense, the musical composition was not only a monument in itself, but actively erecting a monument in the form of the graffitied ladder– a testament to the ensemble's decade of creativity and perseverance.