1. How and when did you get interested in composing?
I was 20 years old and a course was offered at the university I was attending. We were the first composition students and we had a lot of fun writing some pieces. We had even more fun hearing them performed. I very quickly decided this was something very, very special.
2. Is composing your 'day job' or do you do something else as well?
Composing is my 'main job' but I do plenty of other things too, mostly related to music. For example, I play piano with Concorde contemporary music ensemble, organise the concert activities of Concorde, teach composition at the Royal Irish Academy of Music one day a week, attend lots of board meetings. I also spend many hours on the train between Galway (where I live) and Dublin (where most of my work happens!).
3. Where do you mostly get your ideas?
Sometimes in absolute silence, just listening hard and waiting to see what comes. Often just from starting with 'anything' and re-working it until something 'special' emerges. I like to put things down on paper in any shape or form (maybe just lines, images, words) and push them along until the music begins to take shape.
4. What are you working on at the moment?
I've just finished a short choral piece for Cantairi Óga Átha Cliath which they will perform at an international competition in France this June. It's for female voices only, a combination I particularly enjoy. Now I'm working on a piece for string orchestra. I love writing for strings -- such a glorious sound! This piece is for the chamber orchestra at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin.
5. Describe your typical working day.
Thankfully, no two days are ever the same for me. Some days I'm at meetings, some days I'm rehearsing or practicing, some days I'm just writing music all the time. I like to work intensely for certain periods of time and I sometimes go away from home to do that. I also spend far too much time writing emails. I'm quite addicted to the computer!
6. What is it like hearing a new piece played for the first time?
It's like giving birth to a child. There's a sense of relief and also of
distance as the piece leaves your imagination and becomes reality. Sometimes I find it hard to listen to a first performance and sometimes I can't believe that what I'm hearing is something I actually created! It's all really exciting but also quite terrifying.
7. What has been the highlight of your career so far?
My last piece (whatever it was) is probably my current highlight at any point in time. Many wonderful performances stay in my mind -- great performers, splendid audiences, interesting venues around the world.
8. What has been the lowlight of your career so far?
Early on I nearly gave up. There seemed so little encouragement, few performances, etc. Composers need interaction with performers and with audiences. They need to be an integral part of the music scene. Having got over that low period, I've never looked back!
9. What is your greatest ambition?
To be a better composer.
10. Which musician in history do you most admire and why?
Clara Schumann. What a brave and remarkable woman! Not only renowned throughout Europe as an incredible pianist -- on a par with Liszt -- but a truly admirable composer, devoted wife to Robert throughout his mental illness, and mother of eight children. Can you believe it?
11. Which present-day musician do you most admire and why?
All of them who perform contemporary music because they make it happen.
12. Which period of history would you most like to have lived in and why?
The present -- how could I live without my iMac?
13. What is the best thing about being a composer?
Getting to work with performers in creating something new; getting to travel the world to hear your music; enjoying the privilege of doing what you love.
14. What is the worst thing about being a composer?
The mood you're in when you haven't quite figured out how you're going to finish a piece!
15. If you weren't a composer, what other career might you have chosen?
Actually, I thought about pursuing the visual arts, but decided composers didn't take up as much space or collect as much stuff. I must have wanted to be ready to go anywhere with just a pencil, some manuscript paper and my imagination!
16. What is your concept of heaven?
A self-cleaning house!
17. What is your concept of hell?
Doing the same thing every day.
18. What is your favourite food?
Anything Italian, preferably lots of garlic! And preferably in Italy!
19. If someone gave you three months off with unlimited travel and living expenses, what would you do?
Eat as much as possible somewhere in Italy.
20. If you could have one thing in the world that would really help you as a composer, what would it be?
A complete orchestra in residence under my table, ready to try out anything I think of!
