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Cora Venus Lunny (born 1982) is an Irish
violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
ist, composer, and singer. She is the daughter of Irish musician Dónal Lunny and German photographer Julia Buthe. Established as a classical musician since her teens, Lunny is active as a soloist, chamber musician, interpreter of contemporary classical music, improvising violinist and composer. She has toured Europe, America and China as a violin soloist with the Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra.


Early years

Born into a musical family in Dublin, Lunny was given her first violin at the age of three, immediately showing a natural aptitude and love for the instrument. She was classically trained in the
Suzuki Method The Suzuki method is a mid-20th-century music curriculum and teaching method created by Japanese violinist and pedagogue Shinichi Suzuki. The method claims to create a reinforcing environment for learning music for young learners. Backgroun ...
. A brief fling with movie acting failed to distract her, and a life in music became her goal. From the age of thirteen she studied intensively with violin teachers around Europe, including Rimma Sushanskaya, Joji Hattori, Alexander Arenkov, Arkady Futer, Lara Lev and
Vladimir Spivakov Vladimir Teodorovich Spivakov (; born 12 September 1944) is a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian conductor and violinist best known for his work with the Moscow Virtuosi chamber orchestra. Spivakov was born in Ufa. He was taught by Yuri Yankelevic ...
. At the age of sixteen, she became the youngest ever winner of the
RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...
Musician of the Future competition, and was chosen by ''
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 ...
TV ad campaign to represent the new face of Ireland.


Music career

In 2001, she was a laureate of the Sarasate Violin International Competition in
Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...
, Spain, to which she would return again in 2007 as a member of the international jury. In 2002, Lunny was a guest musician on
Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada' Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor; , ; 8 December 1966 – 26 July 2023) was an Irish singer, songwriter, record producer and activist. Her debut studio album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and achieve ...
's album of traditional Irish songs, '' Sean-Nós Nua'', her first excursion into the non-classical world. This inspired her to improvise more and experiment with other genres of music. A few months in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
among the classical establishment became an unintentional sabbatical, and confirmed that despite her love for classical music, she needed to broaden her musical horizons. A jam with
Nigel Kennedy Nigel Kennedy (born 28 December 1956) is an English violinist and viola, violist. His early career was primarily spent performing classical music, and has since expanded into jazz music, jazz, klezmer, and other music genres. Early life and ...
in
Dingle Dingle ( or ''Daingean Uí Chúis'', meaning "fort of Ó Cúis") is a town in County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The only town on the Dingle Peninsula (known in Irish as ''Corca Dhuibhne''), it sits on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coa ...
in 2002 (filmed for a Philip King documentary)Cora Venus Lunny
dublinphilharmonic.com
resulted in an invitation to
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
with his band, to play some Polish folk music and some
Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...
tunes. Subsequently, she accompanied Kennedy on a tour of
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
,
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
and
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
as second soloist, playing
Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lif ...
Double Concertos and some pieces by Bartok. Lunny's musical travels took her as far as
Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
and the Faeroe Islands and, in 2004, she made her first foray into film score composition for ''Sangrail'', an unfinished short. In 2005, she made her debut as a violist in a performance of
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
's Sinfonia Concertante with
Vladimir Spivakov Vladimir Teodorovich Spivakov (; born 12 September 1944) is a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian conductor and violinist best known for his work with the Moscow Virtuosi chamber orchestra. Spivakov was born in Ufa. He was taught by Yuri Yankelevic ...
and the Ulster Orchestra at the Waterfront Hall,
Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
. Also in 2005, she joined Clodagh Simonds' Fovea Hex. Lunny has featured as a guest performer on other artists' albums (see Selected discography section). In 2011, Lunny released her first album, ''1943'', followed by ''Terminus (Conscientiae)'' in 2014.


Film career

Lunny has appeared in several Irish films: '' Rawhead Rex'' (1986), ''
Man About Dog ''Man About Dog'' is a 2004 Irish comedy film starring Allen Leech, Ciaran Nolan and Tom Murphy. The film was distributed by Redbus Film Distribution and directed by Paddy Breathnach. Plot The main characters are Mo Chara, Scud Murphy and C ...
'' (2004), ''Speed Dating'' (2007), ''Bachelors Walk Christmas Special'' (2006), and ''Mr Crocodile in the Cupboard'' (2008). She also contributed as a musician on the soundtrack of the following films and documentaries: ''Screw Cupid'' (2008), '' Truth About Kerry'' (2010), ''Men of Arlington'' (2011), and ''Mud Pies & Kites: Death & Resurrection in Haiti'' (2012).


Selected discography

;Solo albums * ''1943'' (2011) * ''Terminus (Conscientiae)'' (2014) ;With
Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada' Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor; , ; 8 December 1966 – 26 July 2023) was an Irish singer, songwriter, record producer and activist. Her debut studio album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and achieve ...
* '' Sean-Nós Nua'' (2002) ;With Fovea Hex * ''Neither Speak Nor Remain Silent'' (2005-2007) ** Part 1: ''Bloom'' (2005) ** Part 2: ''Huge'' (2006) ** Part 3: ''Allure'' (2007) * ''Hail Hope!'' (2010) * ''Here Is Where We Used To Sing'' (2011) * ''The Salt Garden 1'' (2016) ;With
Damien Rice Damien George Rice (born 7 December 1973) is an Irish musician, singer and songwriter. He began his career as a member of the 1990s rock group Juniper (band), Juniper, who were signed to Polygram Records in 1997. The band enjoyed moderate succe ...
* '' 9'' (2006) * '' My Favourite Faded Fantasy'' (2014) ; With Eivør * ''Mannabarn'' (2007) ; With Luka Bloom * ''Eleven Songs'' (2008) ; With Declan de Barra * ''A Fire To Scare The Sun'' (2008) ; With The Jimmy Cake * ''Spectre & Crown'' (2008) ; With Dublin Gospel Choir * ''Doing Their Thing'' (2009) ; With Yurodny * ''Evenset'' (2009) ; With Tiger Cooke * ''Fingertips Of The Silversmith'' (2010) ;With Laura Sheeran * ''Lust Of Pig & The Fresh Blood'' (2011) * ''Echo'' (2013)


References


External links

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lunny, Cora Venus 1981 births 20th-century Irish classical violinists 21st-century Irish classical violinists Living people Irish women classical violinists Musicians from County Dublin 20th-century Irish women musicians 21st-century Irish women musicians 2000s in Irish music 2010s in Irish music 2020s in Irish music Irish people of German descent