Composer Lab: composer interviews

On 16 February 2016 in the Contemporary Music Centre, we were visited by composers David Fennessy, Amanda Ferry, Eric Skytterholm Egan and Scott McLaughlin to mark the beginning of a new pilot initiative run by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and CMC, entitled Composer Lab.

The initiative is aimed at composers registered with CMC who have had their work performed professionally but who have not yet had their work performed by a professional symphony orchestra.

To begin the project, each of the composers met with David Fennessy for a one-to-one mentoring session in the CMC library. Having spent the morning reviewing their new orchestral pieces, David had this to say about the upcoming premieres in May:

As a group, they are three very interesting composers and I'm dying to hear what it sounds like with the real life human beings playing the music!

CMC had a chat with David Fennessy and each of the featured composers about their works and the project so far, and you can listen to each of these short interviews above.

Following this initial mentoring session, a public workshop will take place in April with each of the composers, David Fennessy, and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra with conductor Gavin Maloney. The project concludes with a public performance on Monday, 16 May 2016 by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and Gavin Maloney at the National Concert Hall.