Frank Corcoran
Encyclopedia
Frank Corcoran is an Irish composer. His output includes chamber, symphonic, choral and electro-acoustic music, through which he explores particularly Irish issues like language and history. He has worked with text by the poet Seamus Heaney
in the chamber piece Mad Sweeney (1996), and by the Irish-language writer Gabriel Rosenstock
.
Born in Tipperary in 1944, he studied at Dublin, Maynooth, Rome and Berlin. He was a music inspector for the Irish government Department of Education from 1971 to 1979, after which he took up a composer fellowship from the Berlin Künstlerprogramm
. In the 1980s, he taught in Berlin, Stuttgart and Hamburg, where he was professor of composition and theory in the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst
, Hamburg. He was a visiting professor and Fulbright scholar at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in the U.S. in 1989-1990, and has been a guest lecturer at CalArts, Harvard University
, Princeton University
, Boston College
, New York University
and Indiana University
.
He is the first Irish composer to have had a symphony premiered in Vienna (1st Symphony Symphonies of Symphonies of Wind in 1981).
Corcoran lives in Germany and Italy.
He has been a member of Aosdána
, the Irish Academy of the Arts which honours artists whose work has made an outstanding contribution to the arts in Ireland, since its inception.
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer. He lives in Dublin. Heaney has received the Nobel Prize in Literature , the Golden Wreath of Poetry , T. S. Eliot Prize and two Whitbread prizes...
in the chamber piece Mad Sweeney (1996), and by the Irish-language writer Gabriel Rosenstock
Gabriel Rosenstock
Gabriel Rosenstock is an Irish poet, haiku writer, translator and author. He was born in Kilfinane, County Limerick in 1949. He currently resides in Dublin.-Biography:...
.
Life
I came late to art music; childhood soundscapes live on. The best work with imagination/intellect must be exorcistic-laudatory- excavatory. I am a passionate believer in "Irish" dream-landscape, two languages, polyphony of history, not ideology or programme. No Irish composer has yet dealt adequately with our past. The way forward – newest forms and technique (for me especially macro-counterpoint) – is the way back to deepest human experience.Born in Tipperary in 1944, he studied at Dublin, Maynooth, Rome and Berlin. He was a music inspector for the Irish government Department of Education from 1971 to 1979, after which he took up a composer fellowship from the Berlin Künstlerprogramm
German Academic Exchange Service
The German Academic Exchange Service or DAAD is the largest German support organisation in the field of international academic co-operation....
. In the 1980s, he taught in Berlin, Stuttgart and Hamburg, where he was professor of composition and theory in the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst
Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg
The Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg is one of the larger universities of music in Germany.It was founded 1950 as Staatliche Hochschule für Musik on the base of the former private acting school of Annemarie Marks-Rocke and Eduard Marks.Studies include various music types from church music...
, Hamburg. He was a visiting professor and Fulbright scholar at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in the U.S. in 1989-1990, and has been a guest lecturer at CalArts, Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
, New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
.
He is the first Irish composer to have had a symphony premiered in Vienna (1st Symphony Symphonies of Symphonies of Wind in 1981).
Corcoran lives in Germany and Italy.
Works
Works include:- Sweeney's Smithereens (Crash EnsembleCrash EnsembleCrash 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...
for Expo 2000Expo 2000Expo 2000 was a World's Fair held in Hanover, Germany from Thursday, June 1 to Tuesday, October 31, 2000. It was located on the Hanover fairground , which is famous for hosting CeBIT...
) - Two Orchestrated Bach Fugues (National Concert HallNational Concert HallThe National Concert Hall is a concert hall located on Earlsfort Terrace in Dublin, Ireland, close to St. Stephen's Green, and is the principal national venue for classical music concerts in Ireland....
, 2002) - Sweeney's Total Rondo (GPA Dublin International Piano Competition, 2003)
- Quasi un Pizzicato, for large ensemble (Ensemble WireWorksGeorg HajduGeorg Hajdu is a German composer of Hungarian descent. His work is dedicated to the combination of music, science and computer technology. He is noted for his opera Der Sprung – Beschreibung einer Oper and the network music performance environment Quintet.net.-Biography:Hajdu was born to Hungarian...
, Hamburg, 2004) - Quasi un Canto, for large orchestra (Zagreb Philharmonic at the 2005 World Music DaysInternational Society for Contemporary MusicThe International Society for Contemporary Music is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music.ISCM was established in 1922, in Salzburg. Its core activity is the World Music Days Festival, held every year at a different location. The festival includes cutting edge productions...
) - Quasi una Visione (RTERTERTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
commission; Ensemble ModernEnsemble ModernEnsemble Modern is a chamber ensemble dedicated to the music of modern composers. Formed in 1980, the group is based in Frankfurt, Germany and made up variously of about twenty members from numerous countries....
premiere at the Living Music Festival, Dublin, 2005) - Quasi un Concertino (Cantus Chamber Orchestra, Zagreb, 2005)
- Quasi un Lamento, for chamber orchestra (National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland Horizons Concert, 2005)
- Mad Sweeney, for speaker and chamber orchestra (Boston Musica VivaBoston Musica VivaBoston Musica Viva is a Boston, Massachusetts-based music ensemble founded by its Music Director, Richard Pittman, in 1969 and dedicated to contemporary music.-Composers and compositions:...
, 2006) - Quasi una Fuga, for string orchestra (for IPME; premiere 26.11.2006, Irish Chamber OrchestraIrish Chamber OrchestraThe Irish Chamber Orchestra is a Irish classical music ensemble, administratively based at the University of Limerick. The ICO primarily gives concerts at the University Concert Hall, Limerick and at the RDS Concert Hall, Dublin...
at the National Gallery of IrelandNational Gallery of IrelandThe National Gallery of Ireland houses the Irish national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on Clare Street. It was founded in 1854 and opened its doors ten years later...
, Dublin) - Beyond Beckett, for soprano, violin, cello and bass clarinet (for Concorde Contemporary Music EnsembleConcorde Contemporary Music EnsembleThe Concorde Contemporary Music Ensemble, founded in 1976, is an Irish contemporary music ensemble. The group's purpose is stated as "[promoting] new music on a regular basis." It has released three full length albums and has gone on several international tours through Europe and North America. The...
; premiere 23.4.2006 at the Beckett Centenary Celebrations, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin) - Quasi una Sarabanda (for the Swiss Ensemble "Antipodes", 2007/2009)
- Four Orchestral Lieder (for the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, 2008)
- 9 Pratoleva Pearls (Andreas Skouras, 2009)
- Clarinet Quintet (RTÉ commission, 2009)
- Eight Haikus (National Chamber Choir, 2010)
- Songs of Terror and Love, to texts by Jacopone da TodiJacopone da TodiJacopone da Todi was a Franciscan friar from Umbria, Italy in the 13th century. He wrote several laudi in Italian. He was an early pioneer in Italian theatre, being one of the earliest scholars who dramatised gospel subjects.-Life:Jacopone studied law in Bologna and became a successful lawyer...
(New York, 2010) - 4 Orchestral Prayers, for mezzo-soprano and orchestra (National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, 2010)
Awards
Corcoran has won a variety of awards throughout his career. Recent awards include:- StudioAkustische Kunst, Cologne, in 1995 (Joycepeak Music)
- Bourges International Electro-acoustic Music Competition in 1999 (Sweeney's Vision)
- EMS Prize, Stockholm, in 2002 (Quasi Una Missa)
He has been 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...
, the Irish Academy of the Arts which honours artists whose work has made an outstanding contribution to the arts in Ireland, since its inception.