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The Dublin City Public Library and Archive has recently acquired the Orchestra of St Cecilia Collection, deposited by manager/artistic director Lindsay Armstrong after his retirement and the dissolution of the company at the end of 2014. The collection comprises Armstrong’s comprehensive administrative records.  It documents the detailed practicalities of managing an orchestra and putting on independent concerts. The collection includes concert programmes, posters, flyers, correspondence, programme notes, recordings, soloists and conductor’ biographies and  administrative documents. Access to the collection provides unparalleled insight into the processes involved in professional orchestra and event management from the turn of the twenty-first century through recession times in Dublin. Find out more and view some items from the Orchestra of St Cecilia Collection...Dublin City Library & Archive formally accepted the donation with a reception on Tuesday 22 November 2016.About the Orchestra of St CeciliaThe Orchestra of St Cecilia was a Dublin-based chamber orchestra operating from 1995 to 2014.   The orchestra’s core activities have centred on complete cycles of Mozart’s piano concertos with Hugh Tinney (1996-8), Beethoven’s symphonies conducted by Barry Douglas (2002) The Orchestra achieved the remarkable feat of completing the cycle of Bach church cantatas, performed at St Ann’s Church, Dawson Street over 10 years (2001-10). Co-founder, manager and artistic director Lindsay Armstrong was former manager of the New Irish Chamber Orchestra (NICO), and former director of the Royal Irish Academy of Music.Photo above: Orchestra of St Cecilia performing at Newman University Church, 2013Listen to the Orchestra of St CeciliaHighlights from the Orchestra of St Cecilia performing Bach Church Cantatas. Hear more Bach Church Cantatas...Videos of the final concert in the Bach Church Cantatas series, including pre-concert lecture by Dr Christoph Wolff and end of series speeches (2010)Highlights from Orchestra of St Cecilia performing Haydn's Symphonies (First Series) Hear more Haydn's Symphonies...Further ReadingDavid Brophy, ‘Lindsay Armstrong’, The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland, ed. Harry White and Barra Boydell (Dublin: UCD Press, 2013), p.30David Brophy, ‘Orchestra of Saint Cecilia’, The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland, ed. Harry White and Barra Boydell (Dublin: UCD Press, 2013), p.792.Lindsay Armstrong, ‘Orchestra of St. Cecilia – An Elegy’, Sound Post: Newsletter of the MUI: Musicians’ Union of Ireland (Spring 2015), pp. 6-7Orchestra of St Cecilia (website): www.orchestrastcecilia.ieDr Catherine Ferris is a Researcher at the Research Foundation for Music in Ireland. Her work focuses on the contextual history of everyday musical life in Ireland and the use of archival materials for research. As a librarian and music cataloguer, she has worked on collections in the National Library of Ireland, the Royal Irish Academy of Music, The Abbey Theatre and the Dublin Institute of Technology.

A very important and fascinating book was published this year, "Where Were You? Dublin Youth Culture & Street Style 1950-2000" by Garry O'Neil and Niall McCormack.The book is a compilation of photographs documenting social and fashion scenes in Dublin. What sets this book apart is that there are no staged fashion shoots or celebrities, just amazing photographs of everyday people wearing what was in style and ordinary people with extraordinary style.It's a very intimate account of street culture in Dublin. This feeling of intimacy is directly linked to the way in which the material was sourced. Posters were hung up in cafes, bars and shops around the city asking people to send in photos, rather then all the material being collected in newspaper archives.O'Neil travelled around Dublin meeting people to look through their albums and hear about the scenes that were happening at the time. He also received material from different parts of the globe offered by people who had emigrated. The chapters are organised by decades starting with the 50s and 60s.Each chapter has a very readable preface setting the scene for that era by mentioning clubs,dances, streets and shops that were frequented by young people. They also include quotes from people who were interviewed, here is a very good one from the 50s and 60s "You dressed like your folks or you look like you were dressed by your folks". The pages of photographs also have ticket stubs from gigs, posters and flyers for clubs and really cute adverts from the time.It also documents the violence that sometimes surrounded street culture for example the Boot Boys and Skinheads in the seventies. So from suave suits in the sixties to break dancing, skateboarding and raving in the nineties I would highly recommend buying this book. If you've been stuck out in the suburbs for a while borrow or buy this book and you will remember just how colourful Dublin can be.Another interesting layer to this book is O'Neil's collaborator Niall McCormick who is a great graphic artist based in Dublin. Has designed book covers for O'Brien and Lilliput press. After you have enjoyed "Where Were You?" feast your eyes on Niall's website.