I had walked that path many hundreds of times before and through all of the seasons, which express themselves more fiercely there than they do in Belfast. It was late summer then, a day with a warm sun that would sprawl in the heat for hours before sinking into the ocean not long before midnight […]
Writing the Edge of Nation: Cultural Histories of the Arctic
Introduction For many of us who are south of the Arctic Circle, the northernmost region of the planet has historically been imagined as cold, desolate, and remote: an icy wilderness at the end of the earth. It has been imagined as a space that is outside of politics, culture, and human history, and yet precisely […]
quietwild
It was late in October of the previous year when I pulled into the carpark of the forest, a couple of miles past the last village, opposite the abandoned farmhouse. The ruins of the old manor were clawing over the hill and I could hear the low, sloshing wash of the sea as I stepped […]
weavers
January 2017 saw the release of Siren, the wonderful debut EP from weavers, an on-going project of the singer Dónal Kearney on which I collaborated. The project aims to weave together the various influences that have shaped Dónal’s music over the years, threading folk music around soulful harmonies and electronic beats. At the centre of […]
a patriarch in mosul
I recently read about a man called David Eubank, a US veteran who runs a Christian humanitarian army in Mosul, Iraq. He was a special forces soldier in the US Army for much of his career and now heads a team of former soldiers in Mosul and previously Burma. His organisation in Iraq rescues civilians […]
Burial at Sea
During 2016, artists across Ireland presented work that sought to commemorate the Easter Rising and the changes that a century has brought to the nation. As part of an Irish Composers’ Collective concert held in November 2016, I curated a concert entitled Speaking with the Past, which aimed at creating ambitious and challenging new works for mezzo […]
Threads and Traces
Threads and Traces is a work for solo viola and ensemble that explores the space between notes and the traces they leave behind. It was premiered by Sebastian Adams and the Kirkos Ensemble during the annual Irish Composers’ Collective Takeover concert on 13th November 2015. The first movement, Chorale, features a slow and meditative viola […]
Casement opera
With support from the Arts Council of Ireland, I will be spending 2015 developing and writing the libretto and score for a brand new opera based on the life of Irish revolutionary Roger Casement. A deeply contentious figure in Irish history, Casement will make a fascinating subject for a dark and probing opera. For some […]
Intaglio to be performed at West Cork Chamber Music Festival
My fears that taking on a full-time internship in a field entirely unrelated to music – namely human rights – would herald the demise of my musical output seem to have been misplaced, at least for the meantime. In April, I entered the West Cork Chamber Music Festival Composers’ Bursary, and found out a few […]
New opera scene and libretto: The Wood That Weeps
Late last year I wrote a scene for an opera I’ve been wanting to write for a long time. The opera is going to be based on the life of Roger Casement and it’s something I initially decided to write an opera about around 5 years ago. For some reason it’s been a struggle trying […]