Young Irish composers are increasingly making their work known outside the country. Three composers have recently achieved success in Britain. Both Deirdre McKay (b. 1972) and Andrew Hamilton (b. 1977) were selected for high-profile performance opportunities in London in January.
In the Park Lane Group's series at the South Bank Centre's Purcell Room on 11 January, McKay's string quartet, Little Sails, was played by the Tippett Quartet and her piano piece, Time, Shining, by Jessica Chan. Later in the month, Hamilton's orchestral work, big orchestra, very quiet, was one of three pieces selected for a reading by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins in a workshop organised by the Society for the Promotion of New Music (SPNM).
Thwaite, an opera in development by Jürgen Simpson (b. 1975) in collaboration with librettist Simon Doyle, has been short-listed for the Genesis Prize for Opera, a worldwide competition launched in Britain last year by Almeida Opera and the Genesis Foundation. The Foundation aims 'to give generous practical encouragement in the arts to those at the beginning of their professional careers' and Thwaite, together with eight other international projects, was chosen out of a field of 210 applications. Scored for seven voices and thirteen instruments, it also deploys live electronics and tape and marks a return to music theatre for both Simpson and Doyle, whose previous operas, Neshika and Obegon, were performed in the Dublin Theatre Festival Fringe in 2000.
Congratulations to all three in achieving success in the rigorous selection processes for these events.
