Attempting to breathe some life into medieval ghosts.

22 New Ghostly Ester

Brian was born in Belfast. His huge body of work reflects an obsessive love of music creation in all its forms. It includes operas, orchestral works, large-scale community oratorios, film and dance scores as well as numerous ensemble, solo, chamber pieces. 

His music has been performed all over the world and commissioned by many international artists and organisations including: Welsh National Opera, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, RTE National Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Wexford Festival Opera, Northern Sinfonia, BBC Radio 3, BBC Concert Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Scottish Ballet, Opera Theatre Company, Bath International Music Festival, Glasgow International Music  Festival, Lyric Youth Opera, Music Network, London 2012 Olympics Festival, Roald Dahl Foundation, 4-mality percussion ensemble, Belfast Festival at Queens, Edinburgh Jazz Festival, Live Music Now, Sonorities Festival of New Music, Homecoming Music Festival (Moscow).
Together with his own 12 -piece ensemble (BBC Radio 3 music award winners) he has toured extensively throughout USA, Russia, France, Portugal, Germany, Scotland, Malta, Cyrus, Poland, Scotland, Ireland, England, Belgium, and the Netherlands and has appeared at some of the world’s leading international music festivals/venues including several appearances at the Bath International Music Festival (UK), Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank (London,UK), Gulbenkian Institute (Portugal) , Washington National Library of Congress (USA), Ouest Nord Ouest Festival, (France), Glasgow International Festival (UK), Kościół Św. Jana, Gdańsk (Poland), Festival d'été de Valence (France), Novgorod Municipal Theatre (Russia), Festival Sous les Pommiers, (France) Homecoming Festival (Russia), Dublin Festival (Ireland), Moving on Music Festival (UK), Sonorities Festival of New Music (UK) and The International House of Music (Moscow, Russia).

For the last four years he has been the Associate Composer with the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast and is currently Visiting Professor of Creative Arts at the University of Ulster. 
Brian has also collaborated with and written for some of the worlds most internationally established artists across many different genres including Seamus Heaney (poet), 4-mality percussion ensemble, Joanna MacGregor (piano), Billy Jenkins (guitar), Keith Tippet (piano), Paul Dunmall (saxophone/reeds), Roman Mints (violin), Matthew Bourne (piano), David Holmes, Snow Patrol, Duke Special, Keiji Haino (guitar), Joe Morris (guitar), LAU (BBC Folk award winners) as well as film makers, sculptors and animators including Eduard Bersudsky, Jari Neimenin, Joel Simon, John McCluskey and John Mcilduff.
He has won a number of awards for his work including a British Composers Award for Opera, BBC Radio 3 Jazz award for best new work, Major Individual Artist Award (Arts Council of Northern Ireland), First Trust/University of Ulster Distinquished Graduate Award, the MCPS Joyce Dixey Award for Composition and the Bass Ireland Award. Recently his opera Shelter Me form the Rain won the 2011 Irish Allianz Arts and Business Award for “best use of creativity in the community” and his large scale children’s oratorio Rain Falling Up was shortlisted for a 2011 British Composers Awards.  The junk opera Postcards from Dumbworld was also shortlisted for a 2011 Irish Times Theatre Award. 
Last year together with writer/director John Mcilduff he was awarded the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad Artist Taking the Lead award for the enormous sonic installation Nest. Brian also recently completed the score to John McIlduff’s debut feature film Behold the Lamb as well as the short film opera: To Do List. 
His recent orchestral works have included:
Strange Attractors (40’) for orchestra and LAU commissioned by the Sage Gateshaed/ PRS foundation; My cow’s not pretty, but it’s pretty to me - recorded for BBC Radio 3 Hear and Now performed by the Ulster Orchestra and Praise aloud the trees for double orchestra and choir, a collaboration with Nobel laureate poet Seamus Heaney commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and premiered by the Ulster Orchestra/RTE Concert Orchestras and Horizon voices in Belfast 4 March 2012
He is currently working on Nest (60’): a multi media installation for symphony orchestra, chorus, sonic processing, 5000 objects and film (commissioned by London 2012 Festival); an opera with writer Owen McCafferty (commissioned by  Northern Ireland Opera) and a violin concerto for violinist Darragh Morgan (commissioned by the RTE National Symphony Orchestra). 

His latest 8 - piece ensemble Melonhead makes its debut appearance at the Moving on Music festival in March 2012.




22 New Ghostly Ester

Daniel Weaver 10