Cora Venus Lunny (born 1982) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

violinist The following lists of violinists are available: * List of classical violinists, notable violinists from the baroque era onwards * List of contemporary classical violinists, notable contemporary classical violinists * List of violinist/compose ...

, composer, singer, and actress. She is the daughter of Irish musician

Dónal Lunny Dónal Lunny (born 10 March 1947) is an Irish folk musician and producer. He plays left-handed guitar and bouzouki, as well as keyboards and bodhrán. As a founding member of popular bands Planxty, The Bothy Band, Moving Hearts, Coolfin, Mozai ...

and

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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 music curriculum and teaching philosophy dating from the mid-20th century, created by Japanese violinist and pedagogue Shinichi Suzuki (1898–1998). The method aims to create an environment for learning music which para ...

. 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. At the age of sixteen, she became the youngest ever winner of the

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...

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 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 ...

TV ad campaign to represent the new face of Ireland.

Music career

In 2001, she was a laureate of the

Sarasate Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués (; 10 March 1844 – 20 September 1908), commonly known as Pablo de Sarasate, was a Spanish (Navarrese) violin virtuoso, composer and conductor of the Romantic period. His best known works include ...

Violin International Competition in

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

, 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 on 8 December 1966; ) is an Irish singer-songwriter. Her debut album, '' The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Her second album, ''I Do Not Want Wha ...

'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 en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

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 violist. His early career was primarily spent performing classical music, and he has since expanded into jazz, klezmer, and other music genres. Early life and background Kenn ...

Dingle Dingle (Irish: ''An Daingean'' or ''Daingean Uí Chúis'', meaning "fort of Ó Cúis") is a town in County Kerry, Ireland. The only town on the Dingle Peninsula, it sits on the Atlantic coast, about southwest of Tralee and northwest of Killa ...

in 2002 (filmed for a Philip King documentary)Cora Venus Lunny
dublinphilharmonic.com resulted in an invitation to

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

with his band, to play some Polish folk music and some Jimi Hendrix tunes. Subsequently, she accompanied Kennedy on a tour of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

, Japan and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

as second soloist, playing

Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespre ...

Double Concerto A double concerto (Italian: ''Doppio concerto''; German: ''Doppelkonzert'') is a concerto featuring two performers—as opposed to the usual single performer, in the solo role. The two performers' instruments may be of the same type, as in Bach's ...

s and some pieces by Bartok. Lunny's musical travels took her as far as

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

and the

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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 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

Sinfonia Concertante Sinfonia concertante (; also called ''symphonie concertante'') is an orchestral work, normally in several movements, in which one or more solo instruments contrast with the full orchestra.Collins: ''Encyclopedia of Music'', William Collins Sons & C ...

with

Vladimir Spivakov Vladimir Teodorovich Spivakov (Russian: Влади́мир Теодо́рович Спивако́в; born 12 September 1944) is a Soviet and Russian conductor and violinist best known for his work with the Moscow Virtuosi chamber orchestra. Spiva ...

and the Ulster Orchestra at the

Waterfront Hall Belfast Waterfront is a multi-purpose conference and entertainment centre, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, designed by local architects' firm Robinson McIlwaine. The hall is located in Lanyon Place, the flagship development of the Laganside Co ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...

. 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 ...

'' (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 ''Truth about Kerry'' is a 2011 suspense film. It was written by Shaun O'Sullivan and Katherine Torpey, directed by Katherine Torpey, produced by Shaun O'Sullivan, Katie Torpey & Tony Zanelotti, and stars Stana Katic, Jessica Dean and Darren Kee ...

'' (2010), ''Men of Arlington'' (2011), and ''Mud Pies & Kites: Death & Resurrection in Haiti'' (2012).

Selected discography

;Solo albums * ''1943'' (2011) * ''Terminus (Conscientiae)'' (2014) ;With

* '' 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 singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He began his career as a member of the 1990s rock group Juniper, who were signed to Polygram Records in 1997. The band enjoyed moderate success ...

* '' 9'' (2006) * ''

My Favourite Faded Fantasy ''My Favourite Faded Fantasy'' is the third studio album by Irish singer, songwriter and producer Damien Rice. The album was released in Ireland on 31 October 2014 and subsequently in other territories on 3 November and then released on vinyl on 7 ...

'' (2014) ; With

Eivør Eivor, Eivør or Øyvor is a female given name in the Nordic countries. In Sweden, 4,922 people bear the name. The average age is 78. The name perhaps originated from either the Proto-Norse word ''auja'', which is thought to mean "good luck", ...

* ''Mannabarn'' (2007) ; With

Luka Bloom Luka Bloom (born Kevin Barry Moore; 23 May 1955) is an Irish folk singer-songwriter. He is the younger brother of folk singer Christy Moore. Early life Kevin Barry Moore was born on 23 May 1955 in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. His par ...

* ''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 The Dublin Gospel Choir are an Irish gospel choir that have been performing in Ireland since 1996. History The choir was founded as a school choir in Dublin's inner city in the mid-1990s. The choir have performed over several years at Ireland's a ...

* ''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