Dublin, Ireland
Born 1974, Dublin, Ireland
Composer, Performer
In one story, Fionn Mac Cumhail, legendary hero of Irish mythology, intercedes in a discussion about music. "The finest music," he declares, "is the music of what happens." What happens can be badly-played air guitar, the forced whisper of your neighbors arguing, a violin prepared with card and clothes-pegs, a hurling commentator with a pungent Kerry accent, a brass band playing by the sea during a storm, the soft crunch of eggshells, a drunk howling on the night bus, the inaudible glissandi of feathers floating slowly down. I listen to and watch these sounds. They get soaked up, thought about, processed. Then I write pieces for passive-aggressive choir, procedures for smoothing air, an opera for Barbie dolls, ceremonies to placate dead drum solos, a sci-fi opera where the singers only make animal sounds, string orchestra pieces which behave as if the instruments were icebergs and frozen rain, cello solos which take place in the 1970s, indexes of hundreds of pop songs discharging in a minute, chamber music for water sprays, shoelaces and vitamin tablets.
2002 D.M., Northwestern University, School of Music
1998 M.M., Northwestern University, School of Music
1997 B.A., Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
Chief composition teachers included Amnon Wolman, Michael Pisaro, Kevin Volans and John Maxwell Geddes
Works have been commissioned and performed by Alter Ego, ensemble recherche, Ensemble Resonanz, Apartment House, ensemble Integrales, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, CrashEnsemble, ensemble ascolta, ensemble surplus, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the Bozzini Quartet, Q-02.
Festival appearances include RTE Living Music, Bastad Kammarmusik Festival, Ultraschall, Ars Musica, Wien Modern, Composer's Choice, SoundField the Internationale Ferienkurse fur Neue Musik Darmstadt, Stockholm New Music, BELEF, Traiettorie.
SELECTED WORKS AND PERFORMANCES
2006 22 30" for a singer for voice. Commissioned by the Semper Oper, Dresden. Performed by Jennifer Walshe, premiered at the Kleine Szene, Semper Oper, Dresden, Germany
2006 Motel Abandon, opera. Commissioned by the DAAD Berliner Kunstlerprogramm. Performed by Jennifer Walshe, Stephen Swift and Augustin Maurs, Storkwinkel, Berlin, Germany
2005 (your name here) for voice, violin and video. Commissioned by BELEF. Performed by Jennifer Walshe. Premiered at the BELEF Festival, Botanical Gardens, Belgrade, Serbia
2004 set phasers on KILL!, opera. Commissioned by Novoflot in conjunction with the Hamburgische Staatsoper and Ultraschall, Berlin, Germany
2003 XXX_LIVE_NUDE_GIRLS!!!, opera. Commissioned by Dresdener Tage der zeitgenossischen Musik and Wien Modern. Performed by Apartment House, premiered at the Dresdener Tage der zeitgenossischen Musik in the Festspielhaus Hellerau, Dresden, Germany
SELECTED GRANTS AND RESIDENCIES
2007 Residency, South Dublin County Council, Dublin, Ireland
2006 Bursary, Arts Council of Ireland
2004 Residency, DAAD Berliner Kunstlerprogramm, Berlin, Germany
2003 Residency, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany
