Ronan Hardiman (born 19 May 1961 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 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, famous for his

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

s to

Michael Flatley Michael Ryan Flatley (born July 16, 1958) is an Irish-American dancer. He became known for Irish dance shows ''Riverdance'', '' Lord of the Dance'', ''Feet of Flames'', and ''Celtic Tiger Live''. Flatley's shows have played to more than 60 milli ...

's dance shows '' Lord of the Dance'', ''

Feet of Flames ''Feet of Flames'' is an Irish dance show directed by Michael Flatley and scored by Ronan Hardiman. Flatley was known for the shows ''Riverdance'' and ''Lord of the Dance (musical), Lord of the Dance''. History Hyde Park 1998 The Hyde Park sho ...

'' and ''

Celtic Tiger Live ''Celtic Tiger Live'' or more often known ''Michael Flatley's Celtic Tiger'' or just ''Celtic Tiger'' was an Irish dance show. History Michael Flatley, known for Riverdance, Lord of the Dance and Feet of Flames, created ''Celtic Tiger'' whic ...

''.

Early life

Hardiman was born in Dublin on 19 May 1961. His father was an Irish broadcasting executive. Hardiman listened to rock & roll and pop as a child. He has 3 sisters and 1 brother, and they all play traditional musical instruments. He attended St. Kilian's German School and the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

Career

In 1978, at the age of 17, Hardiman began working as a clerk at the

Bank of Ireland Bank of Ireland Group plc ( ga, Banc na hÉireann) is a commercial bank operation in Ireland and one of the traditional Big Four Irish banks. Historically the premier banking organisation in Ireland, the Bank occupies a unique position in Iris ...

, a position he held for 12 years. He occasionally performed in local bands. In 1990, he quit his job and then began composing material based on Irish traditions for radio and television. He wrote the theme music to the documentary My Riviera. His TV work included commissions for the title music for RTÉ Irish National Television Network News, and the original score for the natural history series ''Waterways'', He also wrote music for commercials for

Guinness Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in ove ...

and the Irish National Lottery. In motion pictures, Hardiman earned acclaim for his score to the 1996 feature ''My Friend Joe'', which garnered the Crystal Bear for Best Children's Film at the

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

. Also in 1996, Hardiman was contacted by Michael Flatley, who needed a soundtrack to his new show, ''Lord of the Dance'', quickly. The show was an international hit. In 1997, Hardiman release his debut solo

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, ''Solas'', and a year later he resurfaced with ''Feet of Flames''. His 2000 release, ''Anthem'', blended the

Celtic music Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celtic people of Northwestern Europe. It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and recorded music and the styles vary considerab ...

sounds that he was famous for with more pop influences. The track "Ancient Lands" from ''Anthem'' was used by the 2002 Olympic men's figure skating champion,

Alexei Yagudin Alexei Konstantinovich Yagudin ( rus, Алексей Константинович Ягудин, , ɐlʲɪˈksʲeɪ̯ kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪt͡ɕ ɪ̯ɪˈɡudʲɪn, Ru-Alexei Konstantinovich Yagudin.ogg; 18 March 1980) is a Russian former co ...

, in his program "Overcome".

Other work

In 2016, Hardiman wrote

Sunlight Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when t ...

, along with

Wayne Hector Wayne Anthony Hector is a British songwriter who is best known for his work with pop artists such as Nicki Minaj, One Direction, the Wanted, Toše Proeski and Olly Murs. He co-wrote seven of Westlife's number one singles, including "World of O ...

and

Nicky Byrne Nicholas Bernard James Adam Byrne Jr. (born 9 October 1978) is an Irish pop singer, songwriter and radio and television presenter, best known for being a member of the pop group Westlife; he is the band's oldest member. Westlife has since rele ...

. This was Byrne's entry for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2016 The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw. Organised by the European Broadcasting ...

Discography

*1993 - ''Celtic Classics 1'' *1996 - ''Celtic Classics 2'' *1996 - ''Ancient Lands'' - MCA *1996 - '' Lord of the Dance'' *1997 - ''Solas'' *1999 - ''

'' *2000 - ''Anthem'' *2006 - ''

Personal life

Ronan's sisters include the notable neurologist

Orla Hardiman Orla Hardiman (BSc MB BCh BAO MD FRCPI FAAN) is an Irish consultant neurologist. She was appointed Professor of Neurology by Trinity College University of Dublin in 2014, where she heads the Academic Unit of Neurology, housed in Trinity Biome ...

and the filmmaker

Neasa Hardiman Neasa Hardiman is an Irish director of both fiction and nonfiction, predominantly known for her television work. Hardiman began her career producing a number of shows for the RTÉ network in Ireland and has since worked on both British and Ame ...

. He lives in Dublin, with his wife, Helen, and they have 1 daughter and 1 son.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hardiman, Ronan 1961 births Irish male songwriters Living people Musicians from County Dublin