Life
1952- ; b. Co. Clare, ed. Clarecastle NS; St. Flannan’s, Ennis; entered UCD 1969, graduating with First; proceeded to Netherlands on scholarship (‘I’m brilliant at finding out grants’), stuying composition with Peter Schat and organ with Piet Kee; completed MA at UCD: teveeled to Cologne, 1975, studying under Karl Stockhausen; worked at organist in Protestant Church at Cologne; held scholarship in Vienna, 1977, studying under Freidrich Cerha; first works “Things that Gain by Being Painted” and “Solid Line” reflect influence of painter Rothko; Lect. in Music, UCD, 1982; works include The Intelligence Park, opera; Unkrautgarten, ballet; Things that Gain by Being Painted, for soprano, speaker, cello and piano; Lessness and All the Dead Voices, for both voices and orch., based on Beckett; Beethoven WoO 80 [sic]; Décolletage; Mr Volans His Rest; Ó [crossed]; Four Chorales, two pianos; Deus Ox; Sur les Pointes; Au Milieu; numerous awards and fellowships; Dublin Symphony Orch. Composers Competition, first prize 1972; Chevaux de frise (1988), commemorates the Armada; The Intelligence Park, opera with libretto by Vincent Deane (Almedia Th., London (July 1990); member of Aosdána; divides time betwen Fanore, Co. Clare, and Arbour Hill, Dublin.
Criticism
Eileen Battersby, interview-article, in The Irish Times (Thurs., 15 June 2000); Lyric FM Gerald Barry Fest., 21-26 June 2000.
Quotations
‘Qualities which attract me are coolness and a bizarre artificiality which allow extreme careering at tangeens.’ (Quoted in Battersby, interview [op. cit.])
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