Latest Appointments and Awards in Music (June 2022)

Singer Sue Rynhart – awarded the Music Network Performance Residency at the Centre Culturel Irlandais (Photo: Karl Burke and Anne O’Shea).

Latest Appointments and Awards in Music (June 2022)

A round-up of recent appointments and awards including Centre Culturel Irlandais, Platform 31, RTÉ Entertainment and Music, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, English Symphony Orchestra, Glyndebourne, Oireachtas na Gaeilge, the International Music Council, and the University of Nottingham.

The Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris (CCI) has recently announced the artists participating in this year’s residencies. The annual residency programme offers artists of all disciplines the opportunity to spend one to three months at the centre in Paris. Each resident artists also receives a monthly stipend. 

CCI partners with various organisations in offering specific residencies, including Music Network, Contemporary Music Centre, Moving on Music, Draíocht, Literature Ireland, Poetry Ireland, and more. 

Vocalist and composer Sue Rynhart has been awarded the Music Network Performance Residency; electronic musician Liam McCartan has been awarded the Moving on Music residency; composer John McLachlan has been awarded the CMC residency; and harper Deirdre Granville has been awarded the Ealaín na Gaeltachta residency. Singer-songer Joshua Burnside, pianist Fiachra Garvey, violinist Larissa O’Grady, and violinist Patrick Rafter have also been awarded artist residencies. Karen Cowley of Wyvern Lingo was awarded a Language Bursary, as well as Karen Ní Bhroin

For more, visit https://www.centreculturelirlandais.com/en/stay-create/creating-at-the-cci/artist-residency-programme

The recipients of the 2022 Platform 31 artist development scheme have been announced. Launched last year, Platform 31 is an initiative of the 31 local authority arts offices in Ireland and the Arts Council. The programme offers two levels of support to mid-career artists of all disciplines – financial and developmental. 

Successful artists include dance artist, choreographer and curator Ailish Claffey, based in Kildare; circus and street artist producer and facilitator Aoife Raleigh from Westmeath; contemporary dance artist Mintesinot Wolde, based in Roscommon; and dancer, actor and choreographer Stephanie Dufresne, based in Galway. 

Sinead O’Reilly of the Arts Council commented:

The Arts Council is proud to support the second year of this very thoughtful bursary programme for artists in partnership with local authorities; the response from last year’s artists to the networking and mentoring elements was very heartening and reflected back the benefit of an holistic approach to supporting artists of all disciplines as they navigate new opportunities for their practice.

For further information and a full list of participating artists, visit: https://platform31.localartsireland.ie/

RTÉ has appointed Alan Tyler as Group Head of Entertainment and Music. He began his new role in May and will have overall responsibility for the development of RTÉ’s entertainment and music genre. Tyler will work with the Director of Content and Deputy Director of Content and with the independent production sector, commissioning content across the genre.

Tyler has over twenty years of experience working with the BBC and in the independent sector across entertainment, comedy and events. He has worked in development, production, commissioning and management, with roles including Executive Editor and Acting Controller of Entertainment Commissioning at the BBC. He also held responsibility for shows such as Strictly Come Dancing, Michael McIntyre’s Big Show, All Round To Mrs Brown’s, and more. 

Commenting on his new appointment, Tyler said: 

RTÉ is an exceptional broadcaster, with an enviable portfolio of talent, content and channels. It is a privilege to be joining the team, especially at a moment when we are set to drive a search for a whole new generation of original content for our audiences. I truly believe that ambitious entertainment and music formats can play a key role in building an unbreakable bond with both viewers and listeners. I am incredibly excited about the opportunity that brings to the creative sector and I cannot wait to get started.

Visit https://about.rte.ie/2022/05/04/rte-appoints-alan-tyler-as-group-head-of-entertainment-and-music/

Trumpet player Guy Barker has been appointed Associate Artist with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. 

Barker has worked with the RTÉ CO several times in recent years as an arranger and conductor. In 2019, he conducted the orchestra in a concert of Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue. He has also worked with the orchestra on other projects including Aretha Franklin arrangements broadcast for RTÉ Radio 1, a Christmas set broadcast on RTÉ Lyric fm – recently nominated in the New York Festivals Radio Awards – and a Sixties Soul concert at the NCH. His first concerts as the RTÉ CO Associate Artist were two Jazz Legends events in Dublin and Cork in April. 

Throughout his career, Barker has worked in a variety of roles including jazz soloist and sideman, bandleader, composer and acclaimed arranger, also composing for theatre and film.  He has released eight solo albums and performed with musicians such as Paul Weller, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, Grace Jones, Peter Gabriel and George Michael.

Commenting on Barker’s appointment, RTÉ CO General Manager Joe Csibi said: 

Guy is an extraordinary talent and a perfect fit for the role of Associate Artist with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. Bringing a wealth of musical knowledge, his role will be to explore interesting projects combining the orchestral soundscape with jazz, blues, Motown and other world music genres. We’re very excited about developing the plans that Guy has for the RTÉ CO, and following the model we’ve used for Jazz Legends, we’ll be co-commissioning with partners in the EBU

For more, visit: https://orchestras.rte.ie/news-press/rte-concert-orchestra-announces-guy-barker-as-associate-artist

The English Symphony Orchestra has announced the appointment of Seb Lovell-Huckle as its new Chief Executive Officer. Lovell-Huckle will join the organisation from Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, where he has been Executive Director for three years. He will begin his new role in August.

Prior to working with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Lovell-Huckle held roles at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and City of London Sinfonia. He is Chair of the Board for Birmingham Conservation Trust, Chair of Stafford Sinfonia, and is a trustee of Constella OperaBallet. He is also an amateur cellist and performs with many orchestras across the UK Midlands.

Commenting on his appointment, Lovell-Huckle said:

I am enormously excited to join ESO at a critical moment in its history, and look forward to working with its outstanding musicians, its Artistic Director Kenneth Woods and the board and staff in its next phase of development.

Chair of Trustees Jonathan Godfrey added:

I am delighted that someone of Seb’s proven experience and enthusiasm is joining the orchestra to lead us in meeting the challenges we face as we emerge from the impact of Covid. Under the artistic direction of Kenneth Woods, the orchestra has a national reputation for the quality of its performances, innovative programming, education work and community projects and I am confident Seb will lead us to even greater heights.

For more, visit: https://eso.co.uk/eso-appoints-a-new-ceo/

Glyndebourne opera has announced the appointment of Richard Davidson-Houston as its new Managing Director. He will begin his role this autumn, succeeding Sarah Hopwood who is retiring from her executive role at Glyndebourne after 25 years at the end of October, when she will join the Board of Trustees.

Davidson-Houston has served as Director of Audience Development and Media at Glyndebourne for the past two years and previously held senior roles at Channel 4 and Microsoft.

Commenting on his appointment, he said:

It’s a dream come true to have the opportunity to lead this immensely skilled and creatively ambitious team and to invent the future of Glyndebourne together. Coming here has already been a life-changing experience and I am very excited about what lies ahead.

Executive Chair Gus Christie said:

It is especially pleasing that, after an extensive, externally led search, the top candidate is Richard. I am confident that he has the inclusive leadership style, strategic insight and executional excellence that are so important to a leading, innovative arts organisation, as we work together towards Glyndebourne’s 100th anniversary in 2034.

Visit https://www.glyndebourne.com/news/richard-davidson-houston-appointed-as-managing-director/

The annual Irish-language festival Oireachtas na Gaeilge has appointed Máirín Nic Dhonnchadha as Chief Executive Officer.

Originally from Béal an Daingin in County Galway, Nic Dhonnchadha has worked with An tOireachtas since January 2000, initially as administrative officer and serving in various other roles within the organisation. In 2014, she was appointed Deputy Director/Policy & Strategy Officer of the organisation and has been acting CEO for the past year. Her work has led to various new initiatives, including the development and promotion of performing arts competitions at the annual festival; developing and strengthening ties with other Celtic festivals across Europe; and establishing a new partnership with Maynooth University to promote Irish language-based performing arts, particularly those rooted in the oral tradition of the Gaeltacht areas.

Nic Dhonnchadha commenced her term as CEO on 17 May, the day the organisation celebrated the 125th anniversary of the first Oireachtas festival.

Stiofán Ó Móráin, Chair of An tOireachtas Board of Directors, commented:

I extend heartiest congratulations to Máirín on her appointment as CEO of this illustrious and historic organisation. An tOireachtas faces a challenging period ahead and, having demonstrated such energy, creativity and vision in her work with this organisation to date, I am certain that Máirín is the person to lead us into the next exciting phase of growth and development. I thank her for steering the organisation so skilfully over the past year and, on behalf of the Board of Directors, I wish her every success in the years to come.

Visit https://www.antoireachtas.ie/nuacht/2022/mairin-nic-dhonnchadha-ceaptha-ina-ceannasai-ur-ar-an-oireachtas.html

Dr Dorothy Conaghan has been elected to the board of the International Music Council – the world’s largest network of organisations and institutions working in the field of music. Conaghan is a former board member of the Irish Association of Youth Orchestras (IAYO) and is currently a Government of Ireland Postgraduate Research Scholar, an Affiliate Research Scholar at the UCD School of Education – Equality Studies, and an Associate Member at the Centre for Human Rights also at UCD. Her work focuses on the areas of music and social justice. 

Visit https://www.imc-cim.org/news-imc/imc-news/7763-international-music-council-elects-new-leadership.html

Lonán Ó Briain has been appointed Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Nottingham. 

Dr Ó Briain specialises in the area of music and minorities, global histories of music, musical infrastructures and audio technologies, and the politics of culture in East/Southeast Asia and northern Europe. 

He is the author of Voices of Vietnam: A Century of Radio, Red Music, and Revolution and Musical Minorities: The Sounds of Hmong Ethnicity in Northern Vietnam, and co-editor of Sound Communities in the Asia Pacific: Music, Media, and Technology and Made in Ireland: Studies in Popular Music.

He is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Authority (UK) and previously served as Chair of ICTM Ireland and Ireland representative to the International Council for Traditional Music. In 2021, he was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize, which recognises outstanding research. 

Visit: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/humanities/departments/music/people/lonan.obriain

For April appointments in music, see here

Published on 2 June 2022

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