Pictured above: Ciarán Farrell

President Michael D. Higgins was the guest of honour at the Aosdána General Assembly on 5 March at the Royal Hospital Kilmainhman where 11 new members were elected. This brings the total membership to 250. Those elected were composers Elaine Agnew and Ciarán Farrell, visual artists John Byrne, Marie Hanlon, Geraldine O’Neill and Joe Walker, architect Tom de Paor, and writers James Harpur, Mary Morrissy, Michael O’Loughlin and Enda Wyley.

Elaine Agnew was born in County Antrim. Her works have been commissioned and performed worldwide by artists such as the Vogler Quartet, Lontano, the European Union Chamber Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestras, and by pianists Angela Hewitt and Romain Descharmes. In 2008, Agnew was appointed as the first RTÉ Lyric fm Composer-in-Residence in association with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. Her first two commissions in this role, Hiccup and Curoo Curoo are included in the CD Hiccup:  RTÉ Lyric fm commissions. Agnew has devised and directed many major education and community projects with orchestras and arts organisations, including Camerata Ireland and the Pushkin Trust. She is the artistic adviser of Music Network’s Continuing Professional Development Training Programme

Recent works include Twilight, commissioned by the Irish Chamber Orchestra, and Love is a Simple Thing, a collaboration with writer Veronica Coburn on a live radio drama score for the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. Commissioned by the BBC Proms, Agnew’s work, Dark Hedges was premiered in the Royal Albert Hall in London in August 2012.  

Ciarán Farrell was born in Dublin and studied in Trinity College Dublin, DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena. He has worked with and received commissions from the BBC, RTÉ lyric fm, RTÉ Performing Groups, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Ulster Orchestra, Craig Ogden, The Smith Quartet, Gerard McChrystal, John Feeley, Feeley/Dowdall duo, Katie McMahon, Cois Céim, Irish Modern Dance Theatre, The Degani Ensemble, Concorde, and Codetta amongst others. Farrell’s recent works for guitar include Skeletons in the Cupboard, Songs for Guitar and Travel Piece and the EP collaboration with guitarist Damien Kelly, Jolt, which was released internationally on iTunes and was #1 in the Irish classical iTunes charts.

Aosdána was established in 1981 by the Arts Council in order to honour those artists whose work has made an outstanding contribution to the arts in Ireland. Membership of Aosdána, which is by peer nomination and election, is limited to 250 living artists, who have produced a distinguished body of work. The membership includes creative artists working in a wide range of disciplines including architecture, choreography, music, literature and the visual arts. Members of the body must have been born in Ireland or have been resident here for five years. Aosdána members are eligible to receive a ‘cnuas’ from the Arts Council – an annuity for a term of five years – to assist them in concentrating their time and energies in the full-time pursuit of their art.

http://aosdana.artscouncil.ie/