Breandáin O'Shea

Breandáin O'Shea

By Breandáin O'SheaArts
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Breandáin O'Shea episodes

  • Two Requiems for a Divided Europe
    Berlin, the last night of Musikfest. The festival opened with an opera about the end of the world and closed with two masses for the dead: Alfred Schnittke’s fractured, defiant Requiem, scored for drums and electric guitar, and Maurice Duruflé’s gentle, consoling one. Written in Moscow in the mid-1970s and in Paris just after the Second World War, they come from opposite sides of the Iron Curtain. In a Europe once again at war, what can a mass for the dead still say to the living? Singers, players and the festival director tell the story of a concert where both were heard as one.
    With conductor Justin Doyle, RIAS Kammerchor Berlin singers Jessica Gillingwater and Andrew Redmond, Musikfest Berlin director Winrich Hopp, and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin percussionist Sergey Mikhaylenko.
    A feature by Breandáin O’Shea for DW Inside Europe.
    Music credits (placeholder): Alfred Schnittke, Requiem; Maurice Duruflé, Requiem. Performed by the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, conducted by Justin Doyle.
    16 min
  • BERLIN'S MIRROR- 75 YEARS OF THE BERLINER FESTSPIELE
    The end of the world, but nobody's really listening. Conductor Nicholas Collon and Musikfest artistic director Winrich Hopp on opening a 75th anniversary festival with Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre, an "anti-anti-opera" with a Kubrick thread running through it. For Inside Europe. (EP Kate Laycock and Laura Kabelk)
    #Musikfest #Ligeti #LeGrandMacabre #InsideEurope #ClassicalMusic #Opera #Berlin
    9 min
  • Small Country, Large Voice
    How does a country of just over a million people turn music into a tool of survival? Reported from the Pärnu Music Festival in Estonia, with Paavo Järvi, Neeme Järvi, Mikk Murdvee, Kristjan Hallik, Viola Asoskova and Minister of Culture Heidy Purga. A DW Inside Europe feature.
    14 min
  • Far from Home, Close to Music
    Three young Australian violinists. One city that changed everything. In this special episode of Tall Poppies, host Brendan O'Shea sits down with Leanne McGowan, Josephine Chung and Harry Ward — three remarkable musicians who left Australia and found a new creative home in Berlin. From Curtis Institute to the Karajan Academy, from the Mahler Chamber Orchestra to a seat in the Berlin Philharmonic itself, each tells a story of ambition, culture shock, and the particular gravity that draws Australian artists to this city. Along the way, the conversation turns to harder questions too — about arts funding at home, the 2023 referendum, and what it really means to carry an Australian identity from a distance. Honest, warm, and full of insight for anyone who's ever wondered what it takes to build a life in music far from home.
    Featuring music performed by the guests, with pianists Yuki Morikawa and Sarah Watkins.
    Tall Poppies is produced and presented by Breandáin O'Shea from Berlin, Germany. The podcast relies entirely on listener support. To find out more, visit tall-poppies.com or find us on Patreon.
    54 min
  • Trailer - Far From Home, Close to Music
    A special episode is dropping on June 21st.
    - Far from Home, Close to Music - featuring Josephine Chung, Harry Ward and Leanne McGowan - three exceptional young Australian violinists, all living here in Berlin.
    3 min
  • Teddy at 40: Four Decades of Queer Cinema and Courage
    Forty years of the Teddy Award – four decades of queer cinema, courage, celebration, and change. In this feature, we look back at how a small sidebar prize at the Berlin International Film Festival grew into one of the world’s most important honours for LGBTQ+ filmmaking.
    With reflections on its origins, its cultural impact, and some of the films and voices that shaped it, Teddy Award at 40 is both tribute and timely reminder: representation matters – on screen, and beyond it.
    11 min
  • Daughters of Donbas - Songs of Stolen Children
    Stolen children. Silenced stories. Unforgettable music.
    Daughters of Donbas: Songs of Stolen Children blends Ukrainian folk, chamber music and poetry to bear witness to children abducted from occupied territories. As Breandáin O’Shea reports, this is music as testimony — demanding the world listen, remember, and act.
    15 min
  • Listening to the Unheard: Musica Secreta’s Renaissance Revelations
    Hidden for centuries, the music of women composers from the Renaissance has largely remained unheard. Musica Secreta is an ensemble committed to uncovering and performing these forgotten works, blending rigorous historical research with a uniquely expressive, all-female sound. And as Breandáin O’Shea discovered, their work reconnects audiences with a vibrant, secretive musical world that has been waiting to be heard for generations.
    15 min
  • Arvo Pärt at 90
    Few composers have shaped the soundscape of our time quite like Arvo Pärt.
    Often described as the sound of silence, his music emerged from censorship, inner exile, and spiritual resistance under Soviet rule.
    Now 90, and the most widely performed living composer, Pärt’s works speak with renewed urgency as Europe once again faces war on its borders.
    In this feature, Paavo Järvi—who quite literally grew up at the Pärt family table—shares personal memories that reveal not only the composer, but the Estonia that shaped his voice: music of faith, fragility, and quiet defiance.
    16 min
  • Matthew McDonald: Between the Bass and the Page
    Matthew McDonald: Between the Bass and the Page
    Matthew McDonald is widely recognised as one of the world’s leading double bass players — a musician whose warm tone, agility and expressive clarity have shaped the sound of the Berliner Philharmoniker since he became Principal Double Bass in 2009. But behind the orchestral spotlight, another creative voice has quietly been gathering strength: his poetry.
    Born in Canberra and raised on jazz and rock, McDonald’s journey from Australia to Berlin took him through the Karajan Academy and into the heart of one of the world’s great orchestras. Alongside this remarkable musical life, he completed a Master’s in Creative Writing and founded berlin lit, a digital poetry journal showcasing writers from across the globe.
    Now, in January 2025, McDonald publishes his first book of poetry — a new chapter in the artistic life of a musician who continues to surprise, expand and explore.
    13 min

About Breandáin O'Shea

From the publisher's feed

Breandáin O’Shea is an Australian musician, pedagogue, and arts journalist who has called Germany home since the early 90s. With a career spanning more than three decades, O'Shea has made a profound impact on the arts scene, both locally and globally. For over 20 years, O’Shea curated and hosted two award-winning weekly arts programs for Deutsche Welle, showcasing appreciation for diverse artistic forms. His expertise has also been shared as a guest lecturer at Berlin’s University of the Arts, the Goethe Institute, and Norway's Stavanger University. O'Shea's impressive list of interviewees reads like a who's who of the arts world, including luminaries such as Daniel Barenboim, Roddy Doyle, Sting, Christo, and Jessye Norman. His insightful conversations have resonated with audiences worldwide, cementing his reputation as a leading voice in the arts community. Based in Berlin, O’Shea continues to foster cultural discourse through various mediums, from producing podcasts to crafting radio documentaries, collaborating with renowned media outlets such as the ABC and DW.