Donnacha Dennehy (born 17 August 1970) is an Irish composer and leader of the Crash Ensemble specializing in

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included seria ...

. According to musicologist

Bob Gilmore Bob Gilmore (6 June 1961 – 2 January 2015) was a musicologist, educator and keyboard player. Born in Larne, Northern Ireland, he spent his early years in Carrickfergus. He studied music at York University, England, then at Queen's University ...

, Dennehy's "high profile of his compositions internationally, together with his work as artistic director of Dublin’s Crash Ensemble, has distinguished him as one of the best-known voices of his generation of Irish composers".

Career and works

Dennehy was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, where he read music at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

where he studied composition with

Hormoz Farhat Hormoz Farhat ( fa, هرمز فرهت; 9 August 1928 – 16 August 2021) was a Persian-American composer and ethnomusicologist who spent much of his career in Dublin, Ireland. An emeritus professor of music, he was a fellow of Trinity College, ...

. He continued his studies in music at the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

(UIUC), with support from a

Fulbright Scholarship 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 ...

, and earned his

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

and

doctoral degree A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

s at UIUC. His

post-doctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a Doctor of Philosophy, PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral rese ...

musical period included a stint at

IRCAM IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of avant garde and electro-acoustical art music. It is ...

, with

Gérard Grisey Gérard Henri Grisey (; ; 17 June 1946 – 11 November 1998) was a twentieth-century French composer of contemporary classical music. His work is often associated with the Spectralist Movement in music, of which he was a major pioneer. Biograp ...

, and studies in the Netherlands with

Louis Andriessen Louis Joseph Andriessen (; 6 June 1939 – 1 July 2021) was a Dutch composer, pianist and academic teacher. Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition. Although ...

. In 1997, Dennehy returned to Dublin and subsequently co-founded the

Crash Ensemble Crash Ensemble is an Irish new music ensemble, which performs a range of contemporary classical music, as well as touring and organising festivals. History The group was founded in 1997 by composer Donnacha Dennehy, conductor and pianist Andrew S ...

, which focuses on the performance and recording of contemporary music. His works for the Crash Ensemble include ''Junk Box Fraud'', ''Derailed'', and ''For Herbert Brun''. He later returned to Trinity College Dublin as a lecturer in music. His 2005 work for chorus and orchestra, ''Hive'', displays his developing interest in

microtones Microtonal music or microtonality is the use in music of microtones—intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of tw ...

and harmonies based on harmonic spectra. His composition ''Grá Agus Bás'', which was premiered in February 2007, incorporated music from the sean nós tradition and was a collaboration with the Irish vocalist

Iarla Ó Lionáird Iarla Ó Lionáird (born ) is an Irish singer and record producer. He sings in the traditional Sean-nós singing, sean-nós style. He was a member of the Afro Celt Sound System and is a member of the Irish-American supergroup (music), supergroup ...

. He is a member of

Aosdána Aosdána ( , ; from , 'people of the arts') is an Irish association of artists. It was created in 1981 on the initiative of a group of writers with support from the country's Arts Council. Membership, which is by invitation from current member ...

, Ireland's state-sponsored academy of artists. NMC Records in London released the first portrait CD devoted to his music, ''Elastic Harmonic'' (NMC D133), in June 2007. In the spring of 2011, Nonesuch released an album with ''Grá Agus Bás'' and the

Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

cycle ''That the Night Come''. His first opera, ''The Last Hotel'', an 80-minute chamber work with a libretto by

Enda Walsh Enda Walsh (born 1967) is an Irish playwright. Biography Enda Walsh was born in Kilbarrack, North Dublin on February 7, 1967. His father ran a furniture shop and his mother had been an actress. He is the second youngest of six children. Wal ...

about a woman planning her suicide, received its premiere on 8 August 2015 in Edinburgh, followed by performances in Dublin, London, New York and Luxembourg. A recording (taken live from the Luxembourg performances) was issued in 2019. ''The Hunger'', about the

Great Irish Famine The Great Famine ( ga, an Gorta Mór ), also known within Ireland as the Great Hunger or simply the Famine and outside Ireland as the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a ...

, premiered in June 2016 at a concert performance in Washington DC, and in a staged production in St. Louis and at the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...

, all with the orchestra

Alarm Will Sound Alarm Will Sound is a 20-member chamber orchestra that focuses on recordings and performances of contemporary classical music. Its performances have been described as "equal parts exuberance, nonchalance, and virtuosity" by the ''Financial Times' ...

. Dennehy was a visiting scholar at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

from 2012 onwards. He served as composer-in-residence for the

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (FWSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Fort Worth, Texas. The orchestra is resident at the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall. In addition to its symphonic and pops concert series, the FWSO ...

in 2013/14. In the fall of 2014, he joined the faculty of the music department at Princeton University.

Compositions

Orchestra / chamber orchestra

* ''Junk Box Fraud'' (1997) * ''The Vandal'' (2000) * ''O'' (2002) * ''Elastic Harmonic'' (2005); violin and orchestra * ''Hive'' (2005); voices and orchestra * ''Aisling Gheal'' (2007); voice and chamber orchestra * ''Grá agus Bás'' (2007); voice and chamber orchestra * ''Crane'' (2009) * ''That the Night Come'' (2010); soprano and chamber orchestra * ''If he died, what then'' (2012); soprano and chamber orchestra * ''Disposable Dissonance'' (2012) * ''The Hunger'' parts I–IV) 2013 soprano and chamber orchestra * ''Three Sean Nós Settings ''(2013); voice and orchestra * ''Dirty Light'' (2013) * ''Turn'' (2014) * Memoria (2021); symphony orchestra

Small ensemble with voice

* ''Two Yeats Songs'' (1993); soprano and flute * ''Hinterlands'' (2002); two female voices and backing track * ''To Herbert Brun'' (2002); voice, saxophone, trombone, double bass, and live electronics * ''The Weathering'' (2004); soprano, recorder, percussion, violin, and video * ''Swift's Epitaph'' (2008); countertenor and percussion

Instrumental ensemble

* ''Pluck, Stroke, and Hammer'' (1997); piano quintet * ''The Traces of a Revolutionary Song'' (1998) * ''A Game for Gentlemen Played by Thugs'' (1999) * ''Severance'' (1999) * ''Ecstasis, full stop ''(1999); string quartet and backing track * ''Counting'' (2000); string quartet and backing track * ''Derailed'' (2000) * ''Composition for percussion, loops, blips and flesh'' (2002); percussion sextet * ''Glamour Sleeper ''(2002) * ''Streetwalker'' (2003) * ''The Pale'' (2003); saxophone quartet and percussion sextet * ''The Blotting'' (2004) * ''Table Manners ''(2004); percussion quartet * ''Mild, Medium-Lasting, Artificial Happiness ''(2004); saxophone quartet or any quartet of like-sounding instruments * ''Tilt'' (2006); electric guitar quartet * ''Bulb'' (2006); piano trio * ''Pushpulling'' (2007); string quartet * ''Fold'' (2008) * ''STAMP'' (2008); string quartet * ''As An Nós'' (2009) * ''An Irish Process'' (2009) * ''Céad Slán (One Hundred Goodbyes)'' (2011); string quartet and backing track

Solo/electroacoustic

* ''Work for Organ'' (1992) * ''GUBU'' (1995); tape * ''Begobs I–IV'' (1995); piano * ''Metropolis Mutabilis'' (1995); tape and optional video (by Hugh Reynolds) * ''Voitures'' (1996); oboe and tape * ''Curves'' (1997); amplified harp and tape * ''Swerve'' (1998); flute and tape * ''FAT'' (2000); flute and tape * ''Mad, Avid, Sad'' (2000); organ * ''pAt'' (2001); piano and tape * '' nterlands'' (2002); two female voices and tape * ''PADDY'' (2003); percussion * ''BRAT'' (2000/5); recorder and tape (arrangement of ''FAT'') * ''North Strand'' (2007); piano * ''North Circular'' (2007); piano * ''Reservoir'' (2007); piano * ''Stainless Staining'' (2007); piano and backing track * ''Overstrung'' (2010); violin and backing track * ''Misterman'' (2011); music for a play by Enda Walsh

Open ensemble

* ''Blips and Static'' (2002); multiple boomboxes * ''Flashbulb'' (2006); three melody instruments and one struck instrument * ''A Fatal Optimist'' (2008); for any instrumentation

Opera

* ''The Last Hotel'' (2015) * ''The Hunger'' (2016) * ''The Second Violinist'' (2017)Winner of Best Opera at the Irish Times Theatre Awards
/ref> * ''The First Child'' (2021)

Discography

* ''Elastic Harmonic''. NMC, 2007 (includes ''Glamour Sleeper; Paddy; Junk Box Fraud; Elastic Harmonic, pAt, Streetwalker'') * ''Grá agus Bás''. Nonesuch, 2011 * ''Stainless Staining''. Canteloupe, 2012 ( Lisa Moore, piano ''Stainless Staining''; ''Reservoir'')

Notes

External links

*
''New York Times'' review

Details of Lisa Moore EP recording

Princeton University page on Donnacha Dennehy

WQXR 96.3 FM, New York City, ''Meet the Composer'': 'Donnacha Dennehy: I. "Mine is not the standard childhood"'. 26 August 2014

WQXR 96.3 FM, New York City, ''Meet the Composer'': "Donnacha Dennehy: II. Grisey, Andrissen and Gender Confusion". 26 August 2014

WQXR 96.3 FM, New York City, ''Meet the Composer'': "Donnacha Dennehy: Composing With Frequency ". 26 August 2014

NMC Records page on Donnacha Dennehy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dennehy, Donnacha 1970 births 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers Academics of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Aosdána members Electroacoustic music composers Irish classical composers Living people Irish male classical composers Modernist composers Musicians from Dublin (city) University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign School of Music alumni Experimental Music Studios alumni 20th-century male musicians 21st-century male musicians