  The properties of giant and pygmy resonances are calculated starting from
chiral two-and three-nucleon interactions. The aim is to assess the predictive
power of modern Hamiltonians and especially the role of the three-nucleon
force. Methods based on the random-phase approximation (RPA) provide an optimal
description of the modes of interest with minimal computational requirements.
Here we discuss the giant resonances (GRs) of 40,48Ca isotopes and their
low-energy dipole response. A comparison with previous results obtained with a
transformed Argonne V18 two-nucleon potential points to certain improvements.
