A work by Enda Bates was performed at the Gaudeamus Music Week in Amsterdam on 9 September.

His String Quartet No. 1 (2008) is one of 15 compositions chosen from 366 entries for this prestigious festival of new music in the Netherlands.

The annual International Gaudeamus Music Week is organized by Music Center the Netherlands (MCN) and takes place from from 7-13 September 2009. It focuses on music by composers under 30 years of age and Enda Bates will be part of a truly international group of young composers coming this year from Japan, Cyprus, Serbia, Italy, USA, Australia, The Netherlands, Greece, Poland and China.

The jury consisted of Huba de Graaff (The Netherlands), Akira Nishimura (Japan), and Julia Wolfe (USA) and, following performances of all the pieces at the festival, one work will be selected to receive the annual Gaudeamus Prize. The prize, currently € 4,550, is a commission for a new ensemble work which is generally performed during the following Gaudeamus Music Week.

Enda Bates, who has recently been accepted for representation by the Contemporary Music Centre, was born in County Tipperary. He is a graduate of the Music and Media Technology Masters Program in Trinity College Dublin, where he now lectures, and is working toward a PhD in spatial music composition with Donnacha Dennehy and Dr Dermot Furlong.

His music includes multi-channel electronic works and electro-acoustic works with a strong spatial element. His music has been performed by the Bridgewood Ensemble, Trio Scordatura, the Dublin Guitar Quartet, New Dublin Voices and Ensemble ICC, and at the 2008 International Computer Music Conference (ICMC2008), the 37th Florilege Vocal de Tours, the Printing House Festival of New Music, Dublin, and the Mantua Festival. He has performed original works for a hexaphonic guitar at the 2007 and 2008 Dublin Electronic Arts (DEAF) Festivals and at Soundings 0402 in Limerick.

He is an active member of the Spatial Music Collective, the Irish Composers Collective and the Alphabet Set and performs with bands such as the Spook of the Thirteenth Lock, Miriam Ingram and Fairlights.

Posted: 26 February 2009