Donnacha Dennehy (born 17 August 1970) is an Irish composer and leader of the Crash Ensemble specializing in

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is Western art music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st-century classical music, 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 Modernism (music), post-tonal music after the death of ...

. According to musicologist

Bob Gilmore Bob Gilmore (6 June 1961 – 2 January 2015) was a musicologist, educator and keyboard player. Born in Larne, Northern Ireland, he spent his early years in Carrickfergus. He studied music at the University of York, England, then at Queen's Un ...

, Dennehy's "high profile of his compositions internationally, together with his work as artistic director of Dublin’s Crash Ensemble, has distinguished him as one of the best-known voices of his generation of Irish composers".

Career and works

Dennehy was born 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 ...

, where he read music at Trinity College where he studied composition with

Hormoz Farhat Hormoz Farhat (; 9 August 1928 – 16 August 2021) was a Persian-American composer and ethnomusicologist who spent much of his career in Dublin, Ireland. An emeritus professor of music, he was a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. Described by ...

. He continued his studies in music at the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

(UIUC), with support from a

Fulbright Scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

, and earned his

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

and

doctoral degree A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

s at UIUC. His

post-doctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary academ ...

musical period included a stint at

IRCAM IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of Avant-garde music, avant garde and Electroacoustic ...

, with

Gérard Grisey Gérard Henri Grisey (; ; 17 June 1946 – 11 November 1998) was a twentieth-century French composer of contemporary classical music. His work is often associated with the Spectralist Movement in music, of which he was a major pioneer. Biograp ...

, and studies in the Netherlands with

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 ...

. In 1997, Dennehy returned to Dublin and subsequently co-founded the Crash Ensemble, which focuses on the performance and recording of contemporary music. His works for the Crash Ensemble include ''Junk Box Fraud'', ''Derailed'', and ''For Herbert Brun''. He later returned to Trinity College Dublin as a lecturer in music. His 2005 work for chorus and orchestra, ''Hive'', displays his developing interest in microtones and harmonies based on harmonic spectra. His composition ''Grá Agus Bás'', which was premiered in February 2007, incorporated music from the sean nós tradition and was a collaboration with the Irish vocalist

Iarla Ó Lionáird Iarla Ó Lionáird (born ) is an Irish singer and record producer. He sings in the traditional Sean-nós singing, sean-nós style. He was a member of the Afro Celt Sound System and is a member of the Irish-American supergroup (music), supergroup ...

. He 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 ...

, Ireland's state-sponsored academy of artists. NMC Records in London released the first portrait CD devoted to his music, ''Elastic Harmonic'' (NMC D133), in June 2007. In the spring of 2011, Nonesuch released an album with ''Grá Agus Bás'' and the

Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...

cycle ''That the Night Come''. His first opera, ''The Last Hotel'', an 80-minute chamber work with a libretto by

Enda Walsh Enda Walsh (born 1967) is an Irish playwright. Biography Enda Walsh was born in Kilbarrack, North Dublin on 7 February 1967. His father ran a furniture shop and his mother had been an actress. He is the second youngest of six children. Walsh ...

about a woman planning her suicide, received its premiere on 8 August 2015 in Edinburgh, followed by performances in Dublin, London, New York and Luxembourg. A recording (taken live from the Luxembourg performances) was issued in 2019. ''The Hunger'', about the

Great Irish Famine The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger ( ), the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland lasting from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a historical social crisis and had a major impact o ...

, premiered in June 2016 at a concert performance in Washington DC, and in a staged production in St. Louis and at the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a multi-arts center in Brooklyn, New York City. It hosts progressive and avant-garde performances, with theater, dance, music, opera, film programming across multiple nearby venues. BAM was chartered in 18 ...

, all with the orchestra

Alarm Will Sound Alarm Will Sound is a 20-member chamber orchestra that focuses on recordings and performances of contemporary classical music. Its performances have been described as "equal parts exuberance, nonchalance, and virtuosity" by the ''Financial Times ...

. Dennehy was a visiting scholar at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

from 2012 onwards. He served as composer-in-residence for the

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (FWSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Fort Worth, Texas. The orchestra is resident at the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall. In addition to its symphonic and pops concert series, the FWSO ...

in 2013/14. In the fall of 2014, he joined the faculty of the music department at Princeton University. He wrote ''Hard Landing'' about the " Miracle on the Hudson". It was commissioned by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, first performed by the

BBC National Orchestra of Wales The BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW) () is a Welsh symphony orchestra and one of the BBC's five professional radio orchestras. The BBC NOW is the only professional symphony orchestra organisation in Wales, occupying a dual role as both ...

on 6 February 2025, and had its radio premiere on

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

on 29 March 2025.

Compositions

Orchestra / chamber orchestra

* ''Junk Box Fraud'' (1997) * ''The Vandal'' (2000) * ''O'' (2002) * ''Elastic Harmonic'' (2005); violin and orchestra * ''Hive'' (2005); voices and orchestra * ''Aisling Gheal'' (2007); voice and chamber orchestra * ''Grá agus Bás'' (2007); voice and chamber orchestra * ''Crane'' (2009) * ''That the Night Come'' (2010); soprano and chamber orchestra * ''If he died, what then'' (2012); soprano and chamber orchestra * ''Disposable Dissonance'' (2012) * ''The Hunger'' parts I–IV) 2013 soprano and chamber orchestra * ''Three Sean Nós Settings ''(2013); voice and orchestra * ''Dirty Light'' (2013) * ''Turn'' (2014) * Memoria (2021); symphony orchestra * ''Hard Landing'' (2024)

Small ensemble with voice

* ''Two Yeats Songs'' (1993); soprano and flute * ''Hinterlands'' (2002); two female voices and backing track * ''To Herbert Brun'' (2002); voice, saxophone, trombone, double bass, and live electronics * ''The Weathering'' (2004); soprano, recorder, percussion, violin, and video * ''Swift's Epitaph'' (2008); countertenor and percussion

Instrumental ensemble

* ''Pluck, Stroke, and Hammer'' (1997); piano quintet * ''The Traces of a Revolutionary Song'' (1998) * ''A Game for Gentlemen Played by Thugs'' (1999) * ''Severance'' (1999) * ''Ecstasis, full stop ''(1999); string quartet and backing track * ''Counting'' (2000); string quartet and backing track * ''Derailed'' (2000) * ''Composition for percussion, loops, blips and flesh'' (2002); percussion sextet * ''Glamour Sleeper ''(2002) * ''Streetwalker'' (2003) * ''The Pale'' (2003); saxophone quartet and percussion sextet * ''The Blotting'' (2004) * ''Table Manners ''(2004); percussion quartet * ''Mild, Medium-Lasting, Artificial Happiness ''(2004); saxophone quartet or any quartet of like-sounding instruments * ''Tilt'' (2006); electric guitar quartet * ''Bulb'' (2006); piano trio * ''Pushpulling'' (2007); string quartet * ''Fold'' (2008) * ''STAMP'' (2008); string quartet * ''As An Nós'' (2009) * ''An Irish Process'' (2009) * ''Céad Slán (One Hundred Goodbyes)'' (2011); string quartet and backing track

Solo/electroacoustic

* ''Work for Organ'' (1992) * ''GUBU'' (1995); tape * ''Begobs I–IV'' (1995); piano * ''Metropolis Mutabilis'' (1995); tape and optional video (by Hugh Reynolds) * ''Voitures'' (1996); oboe and tape * ''Curves'' (1997); amplified harp and tape * ''Swerve'' (1998); flute and tape * ''FAT'' (2000); flute and tape * ''Mad, Avid, Sad'' (2000); organ * ''pAt'' (2001); piano and tape * '' nterlands'' (2002); two female voices and tape * ''PADDY'' (2003); percussion * ''BRAT'' (2000/5); recorder and tape (arrangement of ''FAT'') * ''North Strand'' (2007); piano * ''North Circular'' (2007); piano * ''Reservoir'' (2007); piano * ''Stainless Staining'' (2007); piano and backing track * ''Overstrung'' (2010); violin and backing track * ''Misterman'' (2011); music for a play by Enda Walsh

Open ensemble

* ''Blips and Static'' (2002); multiple boomboxes * ''Flashbulb'' (2006); three melody instruments and one struck instrument * ''A Fatal Optimist'' (2008); for any instrumentation

Opera

* ''The Last Hotel'' (2015) * ''The Hunger'' (2016) * ''The Second Violinist'' (2017) * ''The First Child'' (2021)

Discography

* ''Elastic Harmonic''. NMC, 2007 (includes ''Glamour Sleeper; Paddy; Junk Box Fraud; Elastic Harmonic, pAt, Streetwalker'') * ''Grá agus Bás''. Nonesuch, 2011 * ''Stainless Staining''. Cantaloupe, 2012 ( Lisa Moore, piano ''Stainless Staining''; ''Reservoir'')

Notes

External links

*
''New York Times'' review

Details of Lisa Moore EP recording

Princeton University page on Donnacha Dennehy

WQXR 96.3 FM, New York City, ''Meet the Composer'': 'Donnacha Dennehy: I. "Mine is not the standard childhood"'. 26 August 2014

WQXR 96.3 FM, New York City, ''Meet the Composer'': "Donnacha Dennehy: II. Grisey, Andrissen and Gender Confusion". 26 August 2014

WQXR 96.3 FM, New York City, ''Meet the Composer'': "Donnacha Dennehy: Composing With Frequency ". 26 August 2014

NMC Records page on Donnacha Dennehy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dennehy, Donnacha 1970 births 20th-century Irish classical composers 20th-century Irish male musicians 21st-century Irish classical composers 21st-century Irish male musicians Academics of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Aosdána members Electroacoustic music composers Experimental Music Studios alumni Irish male classical composers Living people Modernist composers Composers from Dublin (city) University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign School of Music alumni 1990s in Irish music 2000s in Irish music 2010s in Irish music 2020s in Irish music