Deirdre Gribbin (born 14 May 1967) is a composer from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

Career

Gribbin was born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

. She studied at

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

where, at the age of twenty, she began to compose. Further studies were in London (at the

Guildhall School of Music The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

with (Robert Saxton) and in Denmark (with

Per Nørgård Per Nørgård (; born 13 July 1932) is a Danish composer and music theorist. Though his style has varied considerably throughout his career, his music has often included repeatedly evolving melodies—such as the infinity series—in the vein o ...

). Her first professional success came when her piano piece ''Per Speculum in Aenigmate'' won the

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (also known by the acronym HCMF, stylised since 2006 as the lowercase hcmf//) is a new music festival held annually in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Since its foundation in 1978, it has featured ...

Composition Prize. Subsequent major works have included the piano quartet ''Jack B.'' (inspired by the work of the Irish painter

Jack B. Yeats Jack Butler Yeats RHA (29 August 1871 – 28 March 1957) was an Irish artist and Olympic medalist. W. B. Yeats was his brother. Butler's early style was that of an illustrator; he only began to work regularly in oils in 1906. His early pict ...

), the piano trio ''How to Make the Water Sound'', the opera ''Hey Persephone!'', the violin concerto ''Venus Blazing'', which was directed by Lou Stein with lighting by Jeff Ravitz, and ''The Binding of The Years,'' for piano and orchestra. ''Celestial Pied Piper'', was published as part of Faber's Millennium Series. She lived in New York where she was a

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

Fellow. Several of her works respond to the political climate of her homeland, such as the ensemble piece ''Tribe'', the orchestral work ''Unity of Being'', which was performed by the Ulster Orchestra as part of the UK WITH NY Festival in New York after 9/11, and her epic percussion concerto ''Goliath'', premiered at the Belfast Festival in 2006. She has written extensively for radio including music for ''The Possessed'', starring Benedict Cumberbatch and ''Embers'', starring Patrick Stewart. She wrote the music for Sky Picture's ''My Kingdom'', starring Richard Harris and her string quartet ''Hearing your genes Evolve'', based on DNA was featured in the Filmtank Production ''The Dark Gene''. She won an award in the 2003 UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers with her orchestral work ''Empire States'', and an Arts Foundation Award for her first opera ''Hey Persephone!''. She was Artistic Director of the London-based

Society for the Promotion of New Music The Society for the Promotion of New Music (SPNM), originally named The Committee for the Promotion of New Music, was founded in January 1943 in London by the émigré composer Francis Chagrin, to promote the creation and performance of new music in ...

(SPNM), 2003–05. Richard Morrison of the ''Times'' wrote of her in June 2004: "This Belfast born composer is one of the most original thinkers in years." In 2019, The Arts Council of Northern Ireland awarded Gribbin a Major Individual Award. Gribbin lectures in composition at

Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music and dance conservatoire based in London, England. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. The conservatoire has ...

in Greenwich. In 2020 Gribbin won a PRS Composers' Award.

External links

www.deirdregribbin.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gribbin, Deirdre 1967 births 20th-century classical composers 20th-century women composers 21st-century classical composers 21st-century women composers Classical composers from Northern Ireland Women classical composers from Northern Ireland Women opera composers Irish classical composers Irish women classical composers Living people Musicians from Belfast Opera composers from Northern Ireland Pupils of Per Nørgård