Kirkos Ensemble premiere 8 new works by ICC members at ICC TAKEOVER on 13th November 2015 in No. 45 Merrion Sq, the Irish Architectural Archive. 

ICC TAKEOVER – Kirkos Ensemble

winter strongs w/ Jane Hackett and Yseult Cooper Stockdale took place on 20th December 2015 in Lutheran Hall. Jane Hackett and Yseult Cooper Stockdale premiered 6 new works by ICC members and also performed the second movement (très vif) of Ravel's Sonata for Cello and Violin.

winter strings w/ Jane Hackett and Yseult Cooper Stockdale

In Dialogue w/ Gamelan Nua

The Fidelio Trio performed 5 new works for piano trio by ICC composers Seán O’Dalaigh, Martin Devek, Hugh Martin Boyle, Martin Keary, Santiago Kodela, and Paul Scully on Saturday 20 July 2019 as part of the Irish Composers Collectives’ 2019 series. The Irish Composers’ Collective is a non-profit collective of young and/or emerging Irish composers. ICC’s main aim is to further the professional development of composers by producing regular concerts of new music by its members.

The ‘virtuosic Fidelio Trio’ (Sunday Times) were shortlisted for the 2016 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards and are enthusiastic champions of the piano trio genre, performing a wide range of repertoire on concert stages across the world. They are broadcast regularly on BBC Radio 3, RTÉ Lyric FM, WNYC, NPR; have featured on Sky Arts documentaries; and have an impressive list of commissions and first performances from leading composers and a large discography of acclaimed recordings.

Since their debut at London’s Southbank Centre, they have appeared at the Wigmore Hall and Kings Place, at festivals from Brighton and Cheltenham to St. Magnus, and from Gregynog to Huddersfield. They regularly perform in Ireland at the National Concert Hall, Kilkenny Festival and the Belfast Festival at Queens as well as overseas in Shanghai, Porto, Paris, Venice, Florence, Johannesburg, New York, Princeton, San Francisco and Boston. Their extensive discography includes Ravel and Saint-Saëns for Resonus Classics; Philip Glass Head On; Korngold and Schoenberg for Naxos; multiple releases on NMC, Delphian Records including portrait CDs for composers Luke Bedford and Michael Zev Gordon. Their recent release of French Piano Trios for Resonus was a Gramophone Magazine Critic’s Choice.

Keen to ensure the future development of the piano trio, they work closely with composition and performance students at institutions across the UK and all over the world including the Peabody Conservatory, Curtis Institute, NYU, NAFA Singapore, and Stellenbosch Conservatorium South Africa. They have been artists-in-residence at St. Patrick’s College Dublin City University, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and the State University of New York. They are constantly commissioning new works, giving first performances, and importantly, further performances to introduce them into the repertory. They are Artistic Directors of their annual Winter Chamber Music Festival at Belvedere House, Dublin City University and have worked closely with composers Toshio Hosokawa, Charles Wuorinen, Johannes Maria Staud, Michael Nyman, Gerald Barry, Donnacha Dennehy, Joe Cutler, Evan Ziporyn, Simon Bainbridge, Judith Weir… to name but a few.

2017/18 saw tours of USA, Africa, Asia, and many festival appearances including Kilkenny Arts Festival; new commissions from Kevin Volans and Alexander Goehr and a world premiere recording of two works by Philip Glass. They continued their residency at the National Concert Hall; recorded Gerald Barry’s Chamber Music for Mode Records and a second set of French Piano Trios for Resonus Classics. 2018/19 season sees multiple performances of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto including with RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, a further USA tour, a BBC broadcast recital and multiple CD releases. 

The Fidelio Trio were joined by cellist Deirdre Cooper for this performance.

Recorded and mixed/mastered by Michael Riordan.

Fidelio Trio

Anna Murray – Rndr

Anita Vedres (violin), Robin Panter (viola), Kate Ellis (cello) and Malachy Robinson (doublebass)

Matthew Whiteside - Quartet for violin, viola, cello and double bass

Jane Deasy - Everything Fell Out

Donal MacErlaine - folk and classical guitar

Kian Geiselbrechtinger – Arrgh

Partick Connolly – To One Dead

Irish Composers' Collective present WIND
14/05/2014 National Concert Hall, Dublin

"The piece was originally conceived as a set of four very short bagatelles each exploring just one idea. After working on them for some time I became dissatisfied and decided to scrap the idea and just write one piece. The title refers to the process trying to make one piece out of material conceived to make four and trying to navigate it in a way to find new relationships, contrasts, beginnings, endings, and so on... I was surprised by how much of my original intentions for the material were lost in the process of trying to find connections, and also how much was gained by trying to push together parts never intended to fit." – Daniel Reid

Daniel Reid - Got Lost

Interview with composer Daniel McDermott in Trinity College Dublin 27/07/2014

Daniel's new choral work Obsessive Choral Disorder will be premiered by New Dublin Voices in St Ann's Church on July 12th. 

See who else is going here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1429994390599537/

- - -

0'00 Extract 1 - Grit 
Listen to full track at http://goo.gl/mQcjiE

0'32 Interview begins

1'45 Extract 2 - The Lullaby Wars
Listen to full track at http://goo.gl/krzEJ3

5'05 Extract 3 - In This Skin 
Listen to full track at http://goo.gl/HGqlrj

- - -

Listen to more from Daniel at soundcloud.com/danielmcdermott

Transcript of interview available on our Conversations blog here: http://www.irishcomposerscollective.org/conversations-blog-4-daniel-mcdermott/

Daniel McDermott Interview

Premiere of Richard Gill's The Wave, performed by New Dublin Voices in St Ann's Church on July 12th as part of Conversations II.

Programme Note:

Wave is a setting of words by songwriter Stephen Coyle. I wanted to explore how the words would work in different settings and textures with soloists and ensemble singing exchanging lines as if the melody is shifting around the choir. Certain sections allow the performers to choose their own rhythm and melodic patterns in order to create a freer mood and to contrast with the stricter rhythmic sections.

Hear more from Richard at @richard-liam-gill

Richard Gill - The Wave

Strung Series w/Róisín Walters
January 21st 2015 
Octagonal Room, Irish Georgian Society

Tripartita by Daniel Barkley

"Tripartita gets its name from the three-way struggle central to the piece, between a high (usually artificial harmonics) repeated-note figure, a ricochet (often glissando) figure, and annoying pizzicato that tries to get in the way of things. These three elements try to converse, argue, and fight. At the same time the narrative is being pushed along by another conflict: between measured and unmeasured music. The result is inconclusive, and so the performer has to decide how the piece ends." — Daniel Barkley

Daniel Barkley is an enthusiastic, young(ish) PhD candidate, studying under Piers Hellawell at Queen’s University, Belfast. Current research interests include the non-traditional structuring of narratives, and exploration of the miniature. His works have been performed in Ireland, the UK, and occasionally further afield.

www.danielbarkleymusic.com
www.irishcomposerscollective.com/daniel-j-barkley

Tripartita — Daniel Barkley

Strung Series w/Róisín Walters
January 21st 2015 
Octagonal Room, Irish Georgian Society

Breathing Notes by Maria Minguella

"The act of breathing is soft but complex and deep. This is what I explored in this piece through the use of a loop pedal, a metal mute and the breath and voice of the violin player." — Maria Minguella

Maria Minguella’s music compositions stem from a strong belief in human rights, equality, social justice and also spirituality. Maria has a Masters Degree in Music Composition at Universtiy College Cork (2010). Maria was the winner of the University College Cork Fuaim New String Quartet composition Award 2013-2014. Her music has been performed in Cork and Dublin.

www.mariaminguella.bandcamp.com
www.irishcomposerscollective.com/maria-minguella

Breathing Notes — Maria Minguella

valves w/Cormac O hAodáin 
28th October 2014
Kevin Barry Room, NCH

"This piece belongs to an ongoing series of miniatures for solo instruments, most of which have been performed at previous ICC concerts, including Mosaic (Six Miniatures for Solo Piano) performed by David Bremner, Vortices (Four Little Pieces for Solo Harp) performed by Anne-Marie O'Farrell, and Phrase, performed by Madeleine Staunton. The working title that I used for this work was Broken Buildings, Brown and Blue. I often base my formal design on an imagined architectural landscape and 'Broken Buildings' refers to the approach I adopt when writing miniatures. Rather than creating miniatures that consist of condensed, perfectly formed movements that could function independently, I focus on creating short abstract movements that are fragments from a larger idea and juxtaposing these contrasting fragments to create the overall landscape of the work. 'Brown and Blue' refers to my attempt to explore colour in this work. I attempted to achieve this by exploring different areas of the horns range as well as the use of extended techniques. For example, in the third miniatures I specified the use of different fingering for individual notes in order to explore the timbral and microtonal differences that this would create." - Hugh Martin Boyle

Dr Hugh Martin Boyle is a graduate of Queen's University Belfast, the University of Ulster, and the Dublin Institute of Technology and has studied composition with Professor Piers Hellawell, Professor Frank Lyons, and Dr. David Morris.

Read more at www.irishcomposerscollective.org/hugh-boyle

Four Miniatures for solo French horn — Hugh Boyle

ICC10 19th — 20th November 2014
Project Arts Centre
www.irishcomposerscollective.com/icc10

Day 1 // 13:10 // David Adams

Toghair by Breffni O'Byrne

"This work is a response to my impressions of Chopin’s first piano ballade after a lecture given on the Polish maestro’s ballades by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. A melodic shape was selected from the aforementioned piece and transformed by myself to produce the following work.

It was first performed by pianist Emil Duncumb in early 2013." — Breffni O'Byrne 


Toghair — Breffni O'Byrne

ICC10 19th — 20th November 2014
Project Arts Centre
www.irishcomposerscollective.com/icc10

Day 2 // 18:00 // Máire Carroll

Transcript No.4 by Peter Moran

"These Transcripts gave me the opportunity to step back and look at how I play and write for the piano. In an experiment to break my usual compositional habits I decided to video tape my own piano improvisations over a number of days, and then transcribe and refine my favourite moments. These are the results. The four Transcripts can be performed individually or together." — Peter Moran


Transcript No.4 — Peter Moran

doublebass w/Malachy Robinson 
Thursday, December 18th 2014 
Kevin Barry Room, National Concert Hall

Purr by Susan Geaney

Purr is a Sonic Meditation piece for Double Bass and Voice. It requires acute attention to listening and responding.

I could love my listening
I could listen to me listening
I could perform my listening
I could be my listening (Pauline Oliveros)

Susan Geaney is a Kerry composer/improviser currently residing in Dublin. She graduated with 1st class honours B.Mus degree in 2008 from University College Cork, and completed her Masters in Composition under the supervision of John Godfrey and Jesse Ronneau in 2010. In 2008, Susan studied under American composer Pauline Oliveros where she practiced deep listening. Her composition explores indeterminacy, extended techniques and electro-acoustics through a less is more approach; creating dense atmospheres through simple, minimal material. Intuitive listening and responding remains the primary focus of her work. Susan wrote Vacuum for The Quiet Music Ensemble in 2011 with repeat performances in The National Concert Hall, Hilltown New Music Festival and Kaleidoscope. Susan is currently working on ongoing projects in Dance and Film and is a member of Gamelan Nua.

www.irishcomposerscollective.com/composers/susan-geaney

Purr — Susan Geaney

Strung Series w/Zoe Conway 
19:00 19th May 

Tickets at www.eventbrite.ie/e/the-strung-series-tickets-15084085907

More info at www.irishcomposerscollective.com/strung-series-zoeconway

Strung Series w/Zoe Conway [TEASER]

Strung Series w/Zoe Conway
19th May 2015
Teachers Club

Irish Suite by Ryan Molloy @ryanmolloy

"Irish Suite (2015) takes the concept behind J.S. Bach’s French Suites as its starting point, using the rhythmic materials of traditional Irish music and its various dance forms to create short tunes that combine to form an overall suite. The intention here is that the performer should already be familiar with the stylistic features of traditional Irish music and, as with the Bach Suites, that these are not required to be notated. The suite is bookended by two airs which, due to their ametrical nature, have been recorded on a CD accompanying the score and the performer is required to learn these by ear. Each of the tunes in the suite is based on a modal prime of A. The suite starts with a completely chromatic pitch field (although centred on A) that gradually distils, through a process of elimination/alteration of certain pitches, to the mixolydian mode in the final slow air." — Ryan Molloy

From Pomeroy in Co. Tyrone, Ryan Molloy began his musical life on the fiddle, taught by Bríd Harper. The piano soon followed in his teenage years and it is in this instrument that Ryan now specialises. Described by the Irish Times as “...the funkiest piano this side of Dr John” and a “...secret weapon on rhythm” by the Irish Echo, Ryan has recorded on many critically acclaimed albums, amongst them Humdinger, with noted musicians Paul Brock and Enda Scahill, and By Heck and Tight Squeeze as a member of the Dave Munnelly Band. Ryan has performed in major international concert venues such as Tanglewood (U.S.A.), Lucerne Hall, KKL (Switzerland), Kölner Philharmonie (Germany), Holywell Music Room (England) and Waterfront Hall (N. Ireland).

www.irishcomposerscollective.com/composers/ryan-molloy

Irish Suite — Ryan Molloy

Kirkos Ensemble premiere Elis Czerniak's Cello And Clarinet at ICC TAKEOVER on 13th November 2015 in No. 45 Merrion Sq, the Irish Architectural Archive. 

Elis Czerniak - Cello And Clarinet - Kirkos Ensemble - ICC Takeover

Kirkos Ensemble premiere Raeghnya Zutshi's Kiwidinok at ICC TAKEOVER on 13th November 2015 in No. 45 Merrion Sq, the Irish Architectural Archive. 

Raeghnya Zutshi - Kiwidinok - Kirkos Ensemble - ICC Takeover

Kirkos Ensemble premiere Amy Rooney's Constellations at ICC TAKEOVER on 13th November 2015 in No. 45 Merrion Sq, the Irish Architectural Archive. 

Amy Rooney - Constellations - Kirkos Ensemble - ICC Takeover

Kirkos Ensemble premiere Christopher McAteer's Threads And Traces at ICC TAKEOVER on 13th November 2015 in No. 45 Merrion Sq, the Irish Architectural Archive. 

Christopher McAteer - Threads And Traces - Kirkos Ensemble - ICC Takeover

Kirkos Ensemble premiere Susan Geaney's Stumbling Block at ICC TAKEOVER on 13th November 2015 in No. 45 Merrion Sq, the Irish Architectural Archive. 

Susan Geaney - Stumbling Block - Kirkos Ensemble - ICC Takeover

Raeghnya Zutshi - Whispers of the Wild

Mark Francis Gillan - Duo Sonata in D Major

Stephen Kavanagh - Ripples

Richard Hughes - Re-lay

Sorcha Coller - In The Bleak Midwinter

Harpist Clare McCague performs six new works by ICC members in Lutheran Hall on 28th February 2016. 

waves of you - Éna Brennan - performed by Clare McCague

Sean Rocks talks to ICC Chairperson Sorcha Coller, Tonnta Music's Robbie Blake and cellist Adrian Mantu about “InSight” a new series of concerts bringing together artists and composers to perform new work. (for copyright reasons the music in this interview is not available.)

interviewContemporaryContemporary Classical


RTÉ Radio 1 – InSight interview with Sorcha Coller, Robbie Blake, Adrian Mantu

The Irish Composers' Collective presents the Rhombus Ensemble, performing seven new works by member composers. 

Programme:
Dylan Rynhart - Jim
Anna Murray - Polaris
Donal McErlaine - Four Aspects of the Irish Financial Crisis
Peter Moran - Netherhornpot
Richard Gill - Distraction
Sebastian Adams - Quadrilateral
Dennis Wyers - The way things look smaller the further you walk
Aristides Llaneza - Untitled

Richard Gill - Distractions (extract)

The initial concept of Pizza Party came from reading an article about people tweeting about pizza. Rather than using the graph that was generated from this, I just took the idea of a group of people going out and eating some pizza, and the ups and down of someone ravaging a pizza. Or at least how I eat pizzas. The piece is divided into six slices, The First Slice: Pipping Hot!, Marchgherita, Pineapple Knights, So cheesy, Crusts and Dips, and Cold Pizza.

Pizza Party - Kevin Free

This composition was inspired from my work with Tibetan sound bowls and gongs. It is a meditative work, beginning with a slow gong entry, modifying the structure to western timing. The kendhang enters giving a sense of movement to the moderate progressing through sensuous sound of the gamelan instruments, as emphasised by the inclusion of triple timings.

Kreasi Chi Gong - Elaine Nolan

Clusterfuck was (as the name suggests) composed in the midst of a deadline crunch! Musically speaking, the concept is based around a simple line of four even notes. One at a time, certain sounds in the melody morph into grace notes, leaving behind an expectant pause in their wake. As the piece continues, these grace notes build up. First only one, then two, three and finally four grace notes, where the beat itself becomes hidden within this cluster of grace notes. These different grace-note variations are heard one by one, and then in canon across four of the Balungan instruments: first Slenthem, then Demung, followed by Peking and, lastly, Saron. As this canon (peppered with grace notes) is repeated, long sustained notes on the Suling float above. The piece comes to a close after each of the four variations of the melody are heard simultaneously across the Balungan instruments, ending with the haunting sound of the Suling.

Clusterfuck - Sinéad Finegan

Dora and Sembodo
1. Hana caraka
2. Data sawala
3. Padha jayanya
4. Maga bathanga

The work gets its title from the two servants named in a Javanese legend developed by King Aji Saka. Inspired by a quadriptych of the legend the work contains a four movement structure: Aji Saka’s faithful servants Dora and Sembodo were sent a message to bring the pusoko (heirloom) to Java. When Dora came to Sembodo and told him Aji Saka’s order Sembodo refused since he remembered Aji Saka previous order: no one except Aji Saka himself was allowed to take the pusoko. Dora and Sembodo each felt suspicious towards another and suspecting each other tried to steal the pusoko. So they ﬁght each other to death.

Dora And Sembodo - Alan Perrin

Rupture IV

He never went away
She never went away
The dew is resting on your head
Can you feel it?
Can you see me fall apart?

Rupture IV is the fourth in a series; the breakdown of a distant conversation with oneself, harking back to ruptures past. The full series is inspired by the organic wall of sound & disruptions in thunder/storms and how the sound versus visual delay plays with our perception of time and distance.

Éna Brennan is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, songwriter, and graphic designer originally from Brussels. Since moving to Dublin she has obtained an MPhil in Composition from Trinity College Dublin and collaborated with a vast array of artists, weaving in between many of the layers of the Irish music scene. Her solo project Dowry, with the violin at its core,  is moving from strength to strength and her debut release In É is out now. More at www.enabrennan.com

Éna Brennan - Rupture IV

River Under Sea

The piece is in free time and much of the laptop parts of the performance are improvised, with the ebb and flow of SuperCollider’s droning and pulsing cueing the performer and the choices of the performer, in turn, influencing the timbre of SuperCollider and the progression of the piece.

Matthew Geoghegan is a composer and musician based in Dublin. Originally studying piano, his interests shifted to the bass guitar at the age of 15. In 2010, he graduated with a Diploma in Contemporary Music Performance at BCFE and spent the next few years performing in numerous bands, currently Grey Stag. In 2016, he graduated with a Masters Degree from Maynooth University in Creative Music Technologies studying under Dr. Gordon Delap and Dr. Iain McCurdy, producing a portfolio of electroacoustic music. A piece from this was selected to be played at the Csound 30 concert celebrating the 30th anniversary of the music programming language Csound.

Matthew Geoghegan - River Under Sea

Crossing the Firth

Crossing the Firth is my first work for electronics and manipulates vocal materials derived from a single plainchant melody and its spectral analysis. The plainchant was sourced from the Inchcolm Antiphon, a collection of Scottish chants used in the Abbey on Inchcolm, an island in the Firth of Forth. The piece explores interaction and dialogue over great distance or insurmountable barriers, hence the notion of crossing. By using references to sacred music and the ethereal effects produced by extreme reverb, the work touches on humanity’s estrangement from God, distanced by sin. This music will be used as the basis for a short film by Scottish filmmaker Oliver Mezger, reflecting on the changing terrain of Inchcolm due to erosion and using this as an analogy for Scotland’s distancingfrom its spiritual past.

Anselm McDonnell is a third-year PhD composition student studying under Professor Piers Hellawell. His instrumental and choral works often integrate extended techniques and theatrical elements such as vocalisation or stage directions alongside more conventional writing to increase the dramatic impact of the work. His music has been performed in Japan, Russia, France, Czech Republic, North America (New York) and various locations around the UK and Ireland.

Anselm’s music has been performed by ensembles such as the BBC Singers, Ulster Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, St. Salvator’s Chapel Choir, C4 Ensemble, Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble,The Assembly Project, Rosetta Contemporary Music Ensemble (Japan) and Gallery of Actual Music Ensemble (Russia). His first recorded choral piece, Hinneni, is available from Presto Classical on the CD Annunciations by the St. Salvator’s Chapel Choir. Anselm has been commissioned to write four new works in 2019 by the CRASH Ensemble (for New Music Dublin Festival in March), Choir & Organ (choral work published in the magazine – premiere in April), guitarist Chris Roberts and chamber musicians from the Ulster Orchestra. A recent Ulster Orchestra performance of a movement from Anselm’s orchestral suite will be broadcast on Radio 3’s Hear & Now programme in the spring.

www.anselmguitar.co.uk

Anselm McDonnell - Crossing The Firth

A Conversation

Disengaging conversation gets to my head. Disengaging conversation gts to my head. Disengaging converation gts to my head. Disengaging converation gs to my head. Disenaging converation gs to my head. Dsenaging converation gs to my head. Dsenaging coveration gs to my head. Dsenaging coveration gs to my ead. Dsenaging cveration gs to my ead. Dsenaging cveration gs t my ead. Dsenaing cveration gs t my ead. Dsenaing ceration gs t my ead. Dsenaing ceration gs t y ead. Dsnaing ceration gs t y ead. Dsnang ceration gs t y ead. Dsnang eration gs t y ead. Dsnang eration gs  y ead. Dsnang eration s  y ead. Dnang eration s  y ead. Dnang eraton s  y ead. Dnang raton s  y ead. Dnang raton s  y ed. Dnng raton s  y ed. Dnng raton s   ed. Dng raton s   ed. Dng rton s   ed. Dng rton s   e. ng rton s   e. ng ton s   e. g ton s   e. g to s   e. g to    e. g to    . g o    . g     .      .

Richard Hughes is a composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist from Westport, Co. Mayo. He is currently studying mathematics and music in Trinity College. His interest lies mainly in electroacoustic composition and research into notation and performance of live electronics. Other musical outlets include arranging the pop music sets for Trinity Orchestra which are performed at festivals nationwide and performing regularly with friends in concerts in Dublin in association with the label Herzog TV.

Richard Hughes - A Conversation

Square

Taking an intuitive approach to the creative and editing process in this piece, I’ve taken a first step into creating music with a custom built circuit board instrument.  Building from my interest in noise aesthetic and diy instrument making, this piece comes from a series of improvisations using a square wave electrical instrument I made in January at a workshop in The Guesthouse, Cork, with Tara Pattenden (Phantom Chips).  Constructed out of a logic chip, some capacitors and a few different resistors, the instrument is temperamental, chaotic and noisy.  Following the improvisations, the final piece comes from an editing process that aims to retain the original sense of discovery and play achieved while using the instrument live. RB

Robbie Blake (b. 1989) is a vocalist, conductor and composer based in Dublin Ireland.  As an artist working across disciplines, Robbie has presented new work in festivals and venues across Ireland and internationally.  Drawing on a range of influences, Robbie’s work focuses on the live act and shared communal moments, and as a non-binary artist, this work often explores relational themes, the in-between, and identity.

Robbie Blake - Square

I am a composer from County Donegal now living in County Armagh. I focus mainly on solo instrumental and chamber music, however, I have written for a wide range of forces including electroacoustic, choral, mixed ensemble, and orchestral. I have won a number of awards, including the West Cork Chamber Music Composition Competition for 2009 (piano trio section), and I received a PhD in composition from Queen’s University Belfast in July 2014, having studied with Professor Piers Hellawell.

This piece explores the idea of repetitiveness in daily life. Focusing on my own experience of groundhog day syndrome I reflected on the struggle of breaking away from my normal routines and rituals to attempt to fit in time for composing. This is explored in the piece through a theme and variations format where a few different ideas are repeated and developed throughout. In keeping with the underlying theme, this piece is somewhat a variation, or reimagining, of my first piano trio, which also begins with a short motif on the piano and uses canon and contrapuntal writing to develop my material. One idea I attempted to explore in this piece was the experience of time and, in particular, the idea that time seems to speed up as we age. This is explored through the use of accelerando (the music getting faster) and there are a few places where the note values/lengths of one of the instrumentalists get progressively shorter.

Hugh Martin Boyle - Variations of a Day

Martin Devek is a music composer and visual artist whose main focus is in contemporary issues and interdisciplinarity. His music compositions were performed at the National Concert Hall, MAC Theatre, Ulster Museum, Dance Ireland, and Belfast Children’s Festival amongst many others. His music was broadcasted in BBC Radio 5 and BBC Radio Ulster.

His films include Me and My Thoughts— Award Winner at Awareness Festival, LA and at the West Virginia Film Festival (2017); Finalist at Cardiff Film Festival (2017), Wales and FastNet Film Festival, Cork (2016); Cruz (2017); Paranoia (2016) and None (2006). His Fine Art pieces were exhibited in solo and groups exhibitions at the Millennium Hall, City of Derry, Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast and the Galway City Gallery. His works are held in private collections in the UK, Ireland, Germany, United States, and Argentina.

Martin holds a BA in Music, from CONSUDEC (Argentina), a Masters Certificate in Composing music for Film and TV from Berklee College of Music (USA), and an MA in Computer Music from Maynooth University (Ireland). In 2018 he won a four-years scholarship to pursue a PhD in Music Composition at Dublin City University.

Written in nine short movements, Tierra Sellada explores the devastating impact of plastic in the world’s oceans. Using extended techniques on both violin and cello, the piece draws upon words specially written by the poet Maria McManus.

Martin Devek - Tierra Sellada

Martin Keary is a composer and visual designer based in London. He currently works as a consultant at Microsoft.

He studied a Masters degree at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland from 2013–15 , where he was awarded a first-class degree along with the Craig Armstrong prize and the Patron’s Fund Prize (Royal College of Music) for composition.

Martin has also been awarded the Claxica International prize for hispiece ‘Herostratic’ (for guitar and string trio) in 2015 and the West Cork Music Festival Prize for his string quartet in 2017. His visual music work is performed at various conferences and exhibitions around the UK, including ‘Seeing Sound’ (2016, Bath Spa University) and ‘SOUND/IMAGE’ (2015, 2017, University of Greenwich).

In May 2016, his large scale visual music piece, ‘NEW’ - for amplied chamber orchestra, electronics and synchronised animation — was performed by the Scottish ensemble ‘Red Note’ as part of the opening night of the PLUG festival in Glasgow. In November 2016, his piece ‘Beat Fatigue’ was performed by the renowned jazz musician Peter Brötzmann in Dublin.

Martin is currently working on the soundtrack to a short film called The Field by the award winning director Sandhya Suri - to be released in 2018 and a video game called ‘Thrust’ by Hayemaker Games. He lectures on the topic of visual music and can be contacted about this at martin.keary@gmail.com. He also has an active YouTube channel under the name ‘Tantacrul’, where he regularly posts videos on a variety of musical topics.

Martin Keary - CIMIM

Santiago Kodela is an Argentinean classical guitarist and composer working in the areas of concert, solo, chamber, and choral music. His works explore the ethereal aspects of sound and harmony, exploring intensely the areas of iso-rhythms and metric modulation.

He creates ever-so-slight variations of pre-defined rhythmic cells through harmony, melody, and rhythm, preventing the listener to anticipate the music yet retaining engagement throughout. His works combine elements of both classical and contemporary eras aiming to create unique and tantalising musical colours.

In 2018, Santiago completed a Master’s degree in Music and Media Technologies (Trinity College Dublin) where he specialised in audio production and contemporary music composition. His thesis focused on composing a classical-guitar quartet suite based on the works of composers Allan Holdsworth and Fredrik Thordendal. The suite, mastered by Grammy-winner Mastering Engineer legend Bob Katz, is set to be released by North-American classical-music label PARMA Recordings.

Current works include music for solo guitar, more classical-guitar quartets, and chamber music.

Bewildered Soliloquies is an exploratory piece that focuses on dark yet relatable dialogues, shifting yet recognisable moods, and an overall familiar yet distant melancholy. The work revolves on temporary monologues, pairing of conversations, and inclusive discourses.

A piece that develops slowly and gives prominence to the different characters within their own realms. A play with protagonists that work diversely. Sometimes in consonance, at times individually, and often as one.

Each characters fulfils a much needed role within the overall scene. Intertwining their importance, and often allowing their fellow colleagues to gain leadership throughout the piece.

Each character plays a role that when analysed from a broader perspective gives meaning and sense to the overall auditory scene. Hence, Bewildered Soliloquies.

Santiago Kodela - Bewildered Soliloquies

Seán Ó‘Dálaigh is a composer/performer from and based in Kerry, Ireland. His music is concerned with things like space, silence and the physicality of sound production. He has recently been engaged with a personal investigation of his practices relationship to place, heritage and the Irish language.

His practice includes writing for ensembles and musicians, composing for/collaborating with and performing in contemporary theatre and dance works and performative installations incorporating improvisation, electronic music and audience participation.

He has worked/work-shopped with, among others, The Zafraan Ensemble (Berlin), Ensemble Meitar (Israel), DissonArt Ensemble (Greece), the Asko|Schönberg ensemble (Amsterdam), Musicatreize (Marseilles), the Kirkos Ensemble (Dublin), the Niuew Ensemble (Amsterdam), the Kelvin-Helmholtz ensemble, (The Hague/Amsterdam), Amit Dolberg, piano and Yoonhee Lee, violin. His works have been performed in Ireland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Israel and Switzerland. As an improviser he has performed in Cafe OTO (London), the Dublin Dance Festival (2018) and at KFest Arts Festival (Kerry, 2018). In January 2018 he founded the arts collective, éisteacht, for the production and dissemination of new work centred in rural Ireland related to practices of Listening. Their first production, ‘(de)nature’ was programmed at the KFest Arts Festival in Killorglin, Kerry, 2018, where it was selected as a finalist for the Screaming Pope Prize. 

He was a recipient of the 2016 Next Generation Bursary from the Irish Arts Council, one of 16 in the country selected across all disciplines as well as other individual artist bursaries and commissions in 2017 and 2018. He won the 2018 Valentia Chamber Music commission competition to compose a new site-specific sound installation for the festival in the Lighthouse on Valentia Island, Kerry.

He has most recently studied composition with Jennifer Walshe. Before this he studied at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Richard Ayres and Wim Henderickx, graduating with a master’s degree in composition in 2015. He attended the one-year course at the institute for Sonology in Den Haag in 2015/16.

He has been invited to present work at several international festivals and workshops including the Music Current Festival workshop in Dublin, 2019 with Steven Kazuo Takasugi and RETRO DISCO, the CEME festival and workshop 2018 in Tel Aviv with Ensemble Meitar and Georg Friedrich Haas, the Mixtur Festival, Barcelona 2016 & 2018 with Rebecca Saunders and Ensemble Zafraan, the Labiritmo Composers workshop 2017 with Yannis Kyriakides, Sardinia and the TENSO composers workshop 2015.

fragility
exposure
silences spun out like threads

Seán Ó'Dálaigh - threads (fragments) of silence

The Irish Composers Collective was founded in 2003 and is committed to creating high-quality performances of music by its composer-members.

‘The ICC is a ready-made community of creators, performers, and listeners, and they are blazing a trail for 21st-century music in Ireland.’ - The Guardian

Irish Composers Coll

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