Instrumental Music

2022

instr. vn/vc/hn/dm-mach/kbd/2synth/actor dur. 4min30sec

Commissioned by Kirkos Ensemble

30.07.2022 Unit 44 (Premiere)

In 1989 a high school senior and homecoming queen was discovered on the banks of a river outside the fictional town of Twin Peaks, Washington. So begins the weird and wonderful world concocted by David Lynch and Mark Frost which would garner a cult following to this very day. This piece is inspired by Lynch’s surreal world, and seeks to both unsettle and entertain in equal measure.

2021

instr. violin/flute/Electronics (dur. ~3min)

Commissioned, recorded and released by Crash Ensemble

During the course of the global pandemic, I ran. When there were no concerts to go to, no rehearsals, no performances, no events, I ran. To keep myself sane, I ran.

RUNAWAY is a musical and personal response to my time during the pandemic. I turned to running as an obsession to fill the void left by our cultural standstill. I used devices to analyse my runs and record and observe my progress. This data inspired the starting point for this piece. The main tempo map is a translation of my heart rate data from a run, whereby my BPM every 50 meters equals the BPM of the piece every 3 seconds. The performers follow this tempo map using a click track. The BPM of the live performers is also integral to the piece. Each performer’s heart rate data is monitored live using pulse sensors and used as an ever changing variable to inform FX on their playing. These include delay, pitch shifting and distortion. These FX as well as an abstract score allowing for aleatoric repetition and personal interpretation result in a piece that can never be performed the same way twice.

2017

instr. violin/percussion

May 2017 Éna Brennan & Alex Petcu, Lutheran Hall, Dublin

Alex and I performed in The Eurydice Project, a theatre production written by Joanna Crawley with music by Jane Deasy.

For this show we played some pre-theatre music that was completely improvised.

One of these went particularly well so Alex transcribed the piece and we performed it again as part of a recital in the Lutheran Hall on Adelaide Road, on Monday May 22nd.

2016

Tape piece premiered at InSight #3 Slipdraft on Saturday 4th June 2016.

Programme Note

In the month of madness I write to you
In the month of sadness I sing to you in my sleep

The dream world is a safe place where you can either escape or choose to confront your anxieties and deep thoughts. This piece is very much written for the specific environment each audience member will find themselves in on the night; lying in the dark and gazing up at a mesmering lighting installation. It is mostly made up of processed samples of recorded improvisation using a cosmic gong, the violin and my voice.

2015

Piece for solo pedal harp and also featuring bowed harp.

"waves repeatedly greet the shore line, but no two greetings are ever exactly the same"

Premiered by harpist Clare McCague Concert presented by @the-irish-composers-coll February 28th in Lutheran Hall 2015.

2015

instr. flute/clarinet/cello

Short film dir. Bob Gallagher

13.11.2015 ICC Takeover, Irish Architectural Archives, Dublin (Premiere

2015

commissioned by Co-Orch

for symphony orchesta

instr. 3[1.2/pic]3[1.2.3Eh]3[1.2.3.bcl]2/332[1.2/btbn]1/timp/str/8offstage vlns

dur. circa 13min

12.11.15 CO-ORCH concert Orchestrating Equality, The Complex, Dublin (Premiere)

Programme Note

murmur was born from an interest in abnormal rhythmic patterns which contrast with the safe and healthy association with the repetition of a constant beat, such as a heart beat. Book ended by contrasting development of a rhythmic cell of material, murmur takes syncopated phrases, abnormal relative to the engrained opening rhythmic sequence, breaks them down and builds up the texture towards a full-bodied and animated close.

2015

instr. solo fiddle

Work inspired by elements of Irish Traditional Music, and commissioned for solo fiddle player Zoe Conway.

19.05.2015 Strung Series w/Zoe Conway hosted by the Irish Composers Collective, Teachers Club, Dublin (Premiere)

Programme Note

‘and so the branches began to dance’ was inspired by my observations of Zoe’s visceral playing in workshop back in November. This new work takes typical Irish traditional elements and tweaks them slightly. It is structured as a work in two parts forming an arch from sparse ambient harmonics to frantic punchy ornamented rhythms. The piece begins with an Air on harmonics centered around one simple melodic phrase which is transformed as the piece progresses. The texture gradually thickens and leads into the second section where the melodic phrase becomes more playful borrowing from different Irish dance rhythms. As the piece quickens Zoe’s tapping foot also becomes a part of the piece, allowing you to grip on to the abnormal downbeat pattern of 12 12 123 12 123 123 12. Borrowing from the popular key of D major in Irish traditional music, Zoe’s violin is detuned to F#-D-A-D to allow for increased resonance of the open strings in this very special venue.

2014

instr. 2v/vla/carr. v/vla/c/db

03.02.2014 Kevin Barry room, NCH, Dublin (Premiere)

27.04.2014 CMC Salon Series, Kevin Barry room, NCH, Dublin

Violin Anita Vedres
Viola Robin Panter
Cello Kate Ellis
Double Bass Malachy Robinson

Awards & recognition
VHC (Very Highly Commended) Feis Ceoil 2014

2013

instr. 2violin/cello/3actors

Work based on Samuel Beckett's dramaticule of the same name, written in 1965.

The work aims to create an instrumental rhetoric, which parallels the interactions of Flo, Vi and Ru.

08.04.2013 MPhil Grad Show, Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin (Premiere)

Violin I Ioana Petcu-Colan (Avalon Ensemble)
Cello Gerald Peregrine (Avalon Ensemble)

Actors:
Flo Siobhra Quinlan
Vi Jane Deasy
Ru Éna Brennan [also Violin II]

2013

dur. cira 4min

19.06.2013 Kevin Barry room, NCH, Dublin (Premiere) performed by Éna Brennan

2013

Concerto for solo Trumpet & String Orchestra instr. solo trumpet/oboe/clarinet/trumpet/trombone/violin/viola/cello [*offstage]

dur. circa 15min (full concerto currently unperformed)

I. Dawn
II. Night Time
III. Beyond

07/07/2013 II. Night Time, SEE|HEAR, The Back Loft, Dublin (Premiere)

Recording by Rob Kearns

Nighttime Cadenza is a section of a larger work in progress for Solo Trumpet, String Orchestra and offstage Wind and Brass. It is taken from the second movement of the work and portrays an interpretation of the role of a cadenza within a concerto. Following the First movement played by only the Trumpet and String Orchestra, the Trumpet takes center stage playing short melodic passages that are echoed and embellished by the Oboe, Clarinet and Trombone, peering down from the balcony above. The phrases continue to length throughout the piece, resulting in the Trumpet stuck on loop like a broken record.

Players:
Trumpet - Eoghan Cooke
Oboe - Conor Cavanagh
Clarinet - Shane Kenrick
Trombone - Colin Jermyn

2013

instr. flute/oboe/clarinet/bassoon/3perc/violinI.II./viola/cello/doublebass

dur. circa 3min (currently unperformed)

Re-scoring of the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese's infamous short film The Big Shave (1967)
Original soundtrack: I Can't Get Started by Bunny Berigan

2012

instr. symphony orchestra & choir SSAATTBB

dur. circa 20min

Ô Capitale Infâme! is a mini-symphony for orchestra and choir in five movements based on the Épilogue of Charles Baudelaire's 'Petits Poèmes en Prose'. The final poem of this collection, originally named Le Spleen de Paris, depicts Baudelaire’s love for the city of Paris through debauched description. Each of the five movements treats the subject matter of the five verses and the piece comes to a close with the choir singing the whole text.

I. Le Coeur Content Andante – Agitato – Tempo Primo
II. Patron de ma Détresse Lento – Allegretto - Andante
III. Enivré de l’Enorme Catin Giocoso – Grave
IV. Lourdes, Obscures, Enrhumée Grave
V. Épilogue Grave – Agitato – Lento – Grave

18.01.2013 Performance with Trinity Orchestra and Trinity Singers at Exhibitions in Moxie Studios, Dublin (Premiere)

Recorded by Rob Kearns with visuals by LeTissier

Poem:

Le cœur content, je suis monté sur la montagne
D’où l’on peut contempler la ville en son ampleur,
Hôpital, lupanars, purgatoire, enfer, bagne,

Où toute énormité fleurit comme une fleur.
Tu sais bien, ô Satan, patron de ma détresse,
Que je n’allais pas là pour répandre un vain pleur;

Mais comme un vieux paillard d’une vieille maîtresse,
Je voulais m’enivrer de l’énorme catin
Dont le charme infernal me rajeunit sans cesse.

Que tu dormes encor dans les draps du matin,
Lourde, obscure, enrhumée, ou que tu te pavanes
Dans les voiles du soir passementés d’or fin,

Je t’aime, ô capitale infâme ! Courtisanes
Et bandits, tels souvent vous offrez des plaisirs
Que ne comprennent pas les vulgaires profanes

Translation:

My heart content, I ascend the mountain
From which one can contemplate the city in all its amplitude,
Hospital, brothel, purgatory, hell, prison,

Where all enormities flourish like a flower.
You well know, oh Satan, patron of my distress,
That I did not go there to shed a vain tear;

But like an old lecher with his old mistress,
I wanted to get drunk on that enormous harlot
Whose infernal charm ceaselessly rejuvenates me.

But like an old lecher with his old mistress,
I wanted to get drunk on that enormous harlot
Whose infernal charm ceaselessly rejuvenates me.

I love you, oh infamous capital! Courtesans,
And bandits - to such you often offer pleasures
That the vulgar herd does not understand.

Players:

Violin 1 Carla White, Cillian O'Breachain, Tessa McKenna, Ksenija Zaporozceva, Eamonn Bell, Lisa Boyle, Michael McCrohan, Orla O'Rourke, James O'Doherty, Laura Morley, Laura Greene, Camille NiArgain and Nora Moroney.
Violin 2 Orla Daly, Naoise Dack, Olivia Brown, Anna Keary, Cathy O'Neill, Sophie Lee, Eve Kelly, Caroline Richards, Ciara Corrigan, Bebhinn Sheil and Mick Crosse.
Viola Michael Whelan, Caitriona Sheil, David Wilkins, Aoife Loy, Laura Dungan, Sarah Sarsfield, Eve Roseingrave, Niall Cosgrave, Conor Larney and James O'Leary.
Cello Seraphim Dempsey, Matt Rafter, Meadhbh O'Rourke, Ronan Denyer, Ella Hasset, Clare Joy and Roisin Phelan.
Double Bass Colin Mealey and Sarah Jaeger.
Harp Deirdre NicChárthaigh.
Flute Damien Thomson, Aedín Donnelly, Maeve Johnston and Dervla Ni Flionn.
Oboe Seamus Sutton and Sadhbh Abbey.
Clarinet Francesca Fitzpatrick and Alex Daudet.
Bassoon Eoin Silke.
Horn Hannah Miller and Sean Dexter.
Trumpet Patrick Goodliffe, Steven Scramuzzo and Eoghan Cooke.
Trombone Colin Jermyn.
Percussion Brian Dungan.

Singers:

Soprano Siobhra Quinlan, Aisling Barrett, Roisin Whelan and Raeghnya Zutshi
Alto Dominica Williams, Kayla Flynn, Alison Morrisoe and Judith Lyons
Tenor Emmet Kiberd, Mark O'Donnell, Robbie Blake and Garret Farrell
Bass Robbie Kitt, Daniel Cummins, Robbie Kitt, Jack Hurley, Alex Ryan and Eoghan Desmond