Siobhán Cleary (born 10 May 1970) is an Irish composer. Her most successful compositions have been her orchestral works ''Alchemy'' and ''Cokaygne'' and her choral piece ''Theophilus Thistle and the Myth of Miss Muffett''. Her opera ''Vampirella'' was first performed 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 ...

in March 2017. She 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 ...

Early life and education

Born in

, Cleary started to compose from an early age, often writing pieces while she was supposed to be practising at the piano. When she began to study music at

Maynooth University The National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; ga, Ollscoil na hÉireann Mhá Nuad), commonly known as Maynooth University (MU), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. It ...

, she was initially inspired by

Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Sequenza''), and for his pioneering work ...

's ''

Sinfonia Sinfonia (; plural ''sinfonie'') is the Italian word for symphony, from the Latin ''symphonia'', in turn derived from Ancient Greek συμφωνία ''symphōnia'' (agreement or concord of sound), from the prefix σύν (together) and ϕωνή (sou ...

'', and soon afterwards by the works of the Irish composer Gerald Barry, the French

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically ...

and the Hungarian

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century" ...

. She continued her studies 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 = ...

and

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. In addition, she has followed courses in composition with the Italian composer

Franco Donatoni Franco Donatoni (9 June 1927 – 17 August 2000) was an Italian composer. Biography Born in Verona, Donatoni started studying violin at the age of seven, and frequented the local music academy. Later, he studied at the Milan Conservatory ...

and the Dutch

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 ...

and received private tuition from the American Tom Johnson and the South African

Kevin Volans Kevin Volans (born 26 July 1949) is a South African born Irish composer and pianist. He studied with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Mauricio Kagel in Cologne in the 1970s and later became associated with the ''Neue Einfacheit'' (New Simplicity) mo ...

. With the Italian composer

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...

and the American Don Brandon Ray, she has also studied

film scoring A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

Composition

Inspired by the alchemists' ''Opus Alchymicum'' which describes how cheaper metals are transmuted into gold, Cleary's orchestral work ''Alchemy'' (2001) is, like the stages in the ''Opus'', presented in four parts: it evolves from the slow ''nigrendo'', the moderate ''albedo'', the strong ''citronatus'', and the burning ''rubedo''. The work was performed by the

RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO; previously known as RTÉ Symphony Orchestra and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra) is the largest professional orchestra in Ireland. Housed at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, since January 2022, it used ...

in January 2002. Her tone poem ''Cokaygne'' (2009), which, like ''Alchemy'', was commissioned by RTÉ for the National Symphony Orchestra, is based on a poem and old sources which evoke a land of extreme luxury and contentment. The elaborately orchestrated piece was performed by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra in November 2009, Vladimir Altschuler conducting. It was performed by the RTÉNSO once again in June 2016, this time under the baton of

Alan Buribayev Alan Buribayev ( kz, Алан Бөрібаев, ''Alan Börıbaev''; surname also spelled Buribaev in English) (born 30 May 1979) is a Kazakh orchestral conductor. Career The son of a cellist/conductor father and a pianist mother, he studied v ...

. Cleary's choral work ''Theophilus Thistle and the Myth of Miss Muffett'' (2010), commissioned by the Cork Choral Festival was first performed in April 2011 by Chamber Choir Ireland directed by

Paul Hillier Paul Douglas Hillier OBE (born 9 February 1949) is an English conductor, music director and baritone. He specializes in both early and contemporary classical music, especially that by composers Steve Reich and Arvo Pärt. He was a co-foun ...

. The work is based on a series of tongue twisters and other strange combinations of words popular in various European languages and dialects, moving from Italy, through Germany and Spain, finishing in Ireland. In 2013, it was performed twice by Chamber Choir Ireland in Dublin and Cork in connection with Ireland's presidency of the European Union. The journalist and music critic Terry Blain commented on the choir's "dazzingly virtuosic performance" in Belfast in 2013, qualifying the piece as "a tour de force of 21st century vocal chicanery, a clever and richly entertaining composition". ''Theophilus Thistle'' was also performed the same year in the United States as part of the "Imagine Ireland" festival. The chamber opera ''Vampirella'' with a libretto by Katy Hayes was first performed by students from the

Royal Irish Academy of Music The Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) in Dublin, Ireland, is one of Europe's oldest music conservatoires, specialising in classical music and the Irish harp. It is located in a Georgian building on Westland Row in Dublin. An institution which ...

and the Lir National Academy of Dramatic Art at Dublin's

Smock Alley Theatre Since the 17th century, there have been numerous theatres in Dublin with the name Smock Alley. The current Smock Alley Theatre () is a 21st-century theatre in Dublin, converted from a 19th-century church building, incorporating structural mat ...

in March 2017. Based on a short story by

Angela Carter Angela Olive Pearce (formerly Carter, Stalker; 7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992), who published under the name Angela Carter, was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picar ...

telling how a young English soldier is seduced by a vampire countess, it was directed by Conor Hanratty and conducted by Andrew Synnott. Michael Dervan of ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' found the electronic sounds in the score particularly effective, commenting: "Perhaps this is a case of a genuinely electronic opera trying to break out of a more conventional mold."

Awards

In 1996, Cleary received a young artists award from ''Pépinières européennes pour jeunes artistes'', followed in 1997 by the first prize in the Arklow Music Festival Composers' Competition. In 2008, she was invited to become a member of

, an Irish association of creative artists.

References

External links

Siobhán Cleary's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleary, Siobhan 1970 births 21st-century classical composers 21st-century women composers Alumni of Maynooth University Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Aosdána members Electroacoustic music composers Women classical composers Women film score composers Women opera composers Irish women classical composers Irish film score composers Irish opera composers Living people Musicians from Dublin (city)