Ronan Hardiman (born 19 May 1961) is an Irish

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, famous for his

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

s to Michael Flatley's dance shows '' Lord of the Dance'', '' Feet of Flames'' and '' Celtic Tiger Live''.

Early life

Hardiman was born in Dublin on 19 May 1961. His father was an Irish broadcasting executive. Hardiman listened to rock & roll and pop as a child. He has three sisters, including film director Neasa Hardiman and one brother, and they all play traditional musical instruments. He attended St. Kilian's German School and the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

Career

In 1978, at the age of 17, Hardiman began working as a clerk at the

Bank of Ireland Bank of Ireland Group plc () is a commercial bank operation in Ireland and one of the traditional Big Four Irish banks. Historically the premier banking organisation in Ireland, the bank occupies a unique position in Irish banking history. At ...

, a position he held for 12 years. He occasionally performed in local bands. In 1990, he quit his job and then began composing material based on Irish traditions for radio and television. He wrote the theme music to the documentary My Riviera. His TV work included commissions for the title music for RTÉ Irish National Television Network News, and the original score for the natural history series ''Waterways'', He also wrote music for commercials for

Guinness Guinness () is a stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at Guinness Brewery, St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in the 18th century. It is now owned by the British-based Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic bever ...

and the Irish National Lottery. In motion pictures, Hardiman earned acclaim for his score to the 1996 feature ''My Friend Joe'', which garnered the Crystal Bear for Best Children's Film at the

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

. Also in 1996, Hardiman was contacted by Michael Flatley, who needed a soundtrack to his new show, ''Lord of the Dance'', quickly. The show was an international hit. In 1997, Hardiman released his debut solo

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, ''Solas'', and a year later he resurfaced with ''Feet of Flames''. His 2000 release, ''Anthem'', blended the

Celtic music Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celts (modern), Celtic people of Northwestern Europe (the modern Celtic nations). It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and ...

sounds that he was famous for with more pop influences. The track "Ancient Lands" from ''Anthem'' was used by the 2002 Olympic men's figure skating champion, Alexei Yagudin, in his program "Overcome".

Other work

In 2016, Hardiman wrote

Sunlight Sunlight is the portion of the electromagnetic radiation which is emitted by the Sun (i.e. solar radiation) and received by the Earth, in particular the visible spectrum, visible light perceptible to the human eye as well as invisible infrare ...

, along with

Wayne Hector Wayne Anthony Hector is a British songwriter who is best known for his work with pop artists such as Nicki Minaj, One Direction, the Wanted, Toše Proeski and Olly Murs. He co-wrote seven of Westlife's number one singles, including " World ...

and Nicky Byrne. This was Byrne's entry for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2016 The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Heroes (Måns Zelmerlöw song), Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw. Organis ...

Discography

*1993 - ''Celtic Classics 1'' *1996 - ''Celtic Classics 2'' *1996 - ''Ancient Lands'' - MCA *1996 - '' Lord of the Dance'' *1997 - ''Solas'' *1999 - '' Feet of Flames'' *2000 - ''Anthem'' *2006 - '' Celtic Tiger Live''

Personal life

Ronan's sisters include the notable neurologist Orla Hardiman and the filmmaker Neasa Hardiman. Hardiman lives in Dublin, with his wife, Helen. The couple have a daughter and a son.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hardiman, Ronan 1961 births Irish male songwriters Living people Musicians from County Dublin