Donnacha Dennehy
Encyclopedia
,
Donnacha Dennehy is a composer, born in Dublin in 1970. He gained his secondary education in Templeogue College, Dublin. He studied Music at Trinity College, Dublin
and later pursued graduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
. Upon returning to Dublin he founded the Crash Ensemble
in 1997, an ensemble of young players performing minimalist music and pieces incorporating electronics and multimedia.
His first work for the group, Junk Box Fraud, was a breakthrough in his output and marked a new style in Irish contemporary music. Subsequent works for the ensemble have included Derailed, For Herbert Brun and most recently Grá Agus Bás (premiered in February 2007), the latter featuring the Irish vocalist Iarla Ó Lionáird
and incorporating music from the sean nós
tradition. These works have established his reputation as one of the leading Irish composers of his generation.
Dennehy's music could be classified as post-minimalist and features energetic rhythms, hard-edged sounds (both acoustic and electronic) and an infectious sense of melody. Major works include pAt for piano and tape, the ensemble works Glamour Sleeper and Streetwalker and, for orchestra, The Vandal, O , the violin concerto Elastic Harmonic and, most recently, Crane, commissioned by RTÉ and premiered in September 2009. His 2005 work for chorus and orchestra, Hive, displays his developing interest in microtones and harmonies based on harmonic spectra
, an interest that resurfaces in his piano trio Bulb, Stainless Staining for piano and tape, and other works.
His music has been called "viscerally thrilling" (New York Times), "most spectacular" (De Volkskrant, Amsterdam), "gripping" (Journal of Music in Ireland), and a "love-affair with the very anatomy of sound" (Times, London). NMC Records in London released the first portrait CD devoted to his music, Elastic Harmonic (NMC D133), in June 2007.
He teaches composition at Trinity College, Dublin
and is a member of Aosdána
, Ireland's state-sponsored academy of artists.
In the spring of 2011, Nonesuch released his song cycle That the Night Comes with the American soprano Dawn Upshaw.
Donnacha Dennehy is a composer, born in Dublin in 1970. He gained his secondary education in Templeogue College, Dublin. He studied Music at Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
and later pursued graduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
. Upon returning to Dublin he founded the Crash Ensemble
Crash Ensemble
Crash Ensemble is an Irish new music ensemble, founded in 1997 by composer Donnacha Dennehy, conductor and pianist Andrew Synott and clarinettist Michael Seaver. It played its first concert in Dublin in 1997...
in 1997, an ensemble of young players performing minimalist music and pieces incorporating electronics and multimedia.
His first work for the group, Junk Box Fraud, was a breakthrough in his output and marked a new style in Irish contemporary music. Subsequent works for the ensemble have included Derailed, For Herbert Brun and most recently Grá Agus Bás (premiered in February 2007), the latter featuring the Irish vocalist Iarla Ó Lionáird
Iarla Ó Lionáird
Iarla Ó Lionáird is an Irish singer and producer well known for his involvement with the Afro Celt Sound System. He is one of the most prominent artists of the Irish Sean nós singing tradition, and has released three solo albums through Real World Records, the third being Invisible Fields,...
and incorporating music from the sean nós
Sean Nós
Sean Nós refers to "old style" Irish song and dance, which are discussed under:* Sean-nós song, Irish traditional song.* Sean-nós dance, Irish traditional dance.* Sean-nós dance in America, Irish traditional singing and dancing in the "old style" in America...
tradition. These works have established his reputation as one of the leading Irish composers of his generation.
Dennehy's music could be classified as post-minimalist and features energetic rhythms, hard-edged sounds (both acoustic and electronic) and an infectious sense of melody. Major works include pAt for piano and tape, the ensemble works Glamour Sleeper and Streetwalker and, for orchestra, The Vandal, O , the violin concerto Elastic Harmonic and, most recently, Crane, commissioned by RTÉ and premiered in September 2009. His 2005 work for chorus and orchestra, Hive, displays his developing interest in microtones and harmonies based on harmonic spectra
Frequency spectrum
The frequency spectrum of a time-domain signal is a representation of that signal in the frequency domain. The frequency spectrum can be generated via a Fourier transform of the signal, and the resulting values are usually presented as amplitude and phase, both plotted versus frequency.Any signal...
, an interest that resurfaces in his piano trio Bulb, Stainless Staining for piano and tape, and other works.
His music has been called "viscerally thrilling" (New York Times), "most spectacular" (De Volkskrant, Amsterdam), "gripping" (Journal of Music in Ireland), and a "love-affair with the very anatomy of sound" (Times, London). NMC Records in London released the first portrait CD devoted to his music, Elastic Harmonic (NMC D133), in June 2007.
He teaches composition at Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
and is a member of Aosdána
Aosdána
Aosdána is an Irish association of Artists. It was created in 1981 on the initiative of a group of writers and with support from the Arts Council of Ireland. Membership, which is by invitation from current members, is limited to 250 individuals; before 2005 it was limited to 200...
, Ireland's state-sponsored academy of artists.
In the spring of 2011, Nonesuch released his song cycle That the Night Comes with the American soprano Dawn Upshaw.
Discography
- Elastic Harmonic. NMC, 2007 (includes Glamour Sleeper; Paddy; Junk Box Fraud; Elastic Harmonic, pAt, Streetwalker )