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 is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

in March 2017. She is a member of

Aosdána Aosdána ( , ; from , 'people of the arts') is an Irish association or academy of artists, each of whom must have produced a distinguished body of work of genuine originality. It was created in 1981 by the country's Arts Council on the initiati ...

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 Maynooth University (MU) (), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. Maynooth University was formerly known as National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; ). It was Ireland ...

, she was initially inspired by

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

'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 (s ...

'', 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 ornithology, ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century, he was also an ou ...

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 music, avant-garde composers in the latter half of the ...

. She continued her studies at

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

and

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

. 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 Einfachheit'' (New Simplicity) mo ...

. With the Italian composer

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone ( , ; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, Orchestration, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 film score, scores for cinema and televisi ...

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 ...

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 Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Symphony Orchestra and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra) is the largest professional orchestra in Ireland. Housed at the National Concert Hall, D ...

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 Vladimir Abramovich Altschuler, also Altshuler (; born 29 September 1946), is a Russian chief-conductor and artistic director of Saint Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra and Honoured Artist of Russia. Education and first appearance Altschul ...

conducting. It was performed by the RTÉNSO once again in June 2016, this time under the baton of

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

. 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-founder o ...

. 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 "dazzlingly 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 Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Roy ...

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 was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' 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 Irish classical composers 21st-century Irish women composers Alumni of Maynooth University Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Aosdána members Electroacoustic music composers Irish classical composers Irish women classical composers Women film score composers Women opera composers Irish film score composers Irish opera composers Living people Composers from Dublin (city)