Four composers have been announced to take part in the 2019 RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra/Contemporary Music Centre Composer Lab project: Peter Fahey, Kerry Hagan, Daniel McDermott and Sam Perkin. 

Now in its fourth year, the initative provides an opportunity for composers to create short works for the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. 

The four composers will have individual mentoring sessions with Composer Lab composer David Fennessy, orchestral workshops with the section principals in the orchestra, and a public workshop with the full orchestra conducted by Gavin Maloney. The works are then given a full performance on 28 May. 

Last year’s participants included Michael Doherty, Maria Minguella and Anne-Marie O’Farrell.

About the composers
Peter Fahey was born in Ireland and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, Cornell University and Columbia Unviersity in New York. He has been given a number of awards, including the Franz Liszt Stipendium from the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar, the Susan and Ford Schumann Fellowship from the Aspen Music Festival and Next Generation Bursary 2018 from Arts Council Ireland. Fahey has written for orchestra before, including his Impressions for the American Composers Orchestra

Kerry Hagan’s work focusses on acoustic and computer media, especially algorithmic composition and spatialisation. She is Lecturer at the University of Limerick, and a founder and former President of the Irish Sound, Science and Technology Association (ISSTA). She regularly performs improvised electronics. Her orchestral output has included work with the La Jolla Symphony and the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic Orchestra.

Daniel McDermott is a composer, DJ, guitarist and producer, and studied at Dundalk Institute of Technology, from which he received a scholarship in composition, and Queen’s University Belfast. He has been selected for three Crash Ensemble Free State concerts, and been given the West Cork Chamber Music Award and the IMRO Music Award. As well as contemporary composition, he has released two electronica albums.

Sam Perkin studied at CIT Cork School of Music and Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon, who awarded him the Prix Salabert for Composition. In 2017 he was awarded a Next Generation Bursary from Arts Council Ireland. Perkin has written a number of works for the Irish Chamber Orchestra, and is currently Composer in Residence with Crash Ensemble. He has written a number of orchestral works, including pieces for the Co-Orch Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre du Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique de Lyon, the Irish Association of Youth Orchestras and CSM Symphony Orchestra.

For further information, visit www.cmc.ie.