Ben Hanlon is a De la Salle Brother. He has taught at De La Salle College, Waterford since 1979. He studied music at University College Dublin and in 2008 completed an MA in composition at Waterford Institute of Technology. At the moment he is working on a PhD under the guidance of Dr Eric Sweeney.
He became interested in composing through making arrangements for various choirs he worked with. Indirectly, the Cork Choral Festival became a great spur to his efforts as school choirs are expected to perform one Irish piece in the schools competitions. In 2001 he was a category winner in the anthem section of the RTÉ 75 years of Church Music Competition, with his piece ‘Marvin the Hermit’. Following this success he attended a number of courses in composition at Canford Summer School under Malcolm Singer. In 2006 he undertook an MA in composition under the direction of Dr Eric Sweeney.
He has had works commissioned by groups such as Association Of Irish Musical Societies, New Dublin Voices, Colaiste Laurel Hill, Limerick, Newtown School, Waterford, Ad Hoc Chorale and Cois Claddaigh. Many of his choral compositions and arrangements have been performed at the Cork Choral Festival. Evergreen Publications have published a number of Ben Hanlon’s works, including ‘Fite Fuaite’ ‘O Danny Boy’ ‘In Paradisum’ and ‘Psalm 62’.
