Barry

Gerald Barry was born in Ireland in 1952 and studied composition with Stockhausen and Kagel. He first came to public attention in 1979 with his radical ensemble works ‘__________’ and ‘Ø’.

Many of his works have been commissioned by the BBC, including Chevaux-de-frise for the Ulster Orchestra at the 1988 Proms, The Conquest of Ireland and Day for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, The Eternal Recurrence, a setting of Nietzsche for voice and orchestra, and Hard D for the Orkest de Volharding. In 1997 Hessischer Rundfunk commissioned The Road for the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.

His first opera The Intelligence Park, commissioned by the ICA, was first performed at the 1990 Almeida Festival, and a second opera, The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit, written for Channel 4 Television, opened the 2002 Aldeburgh Festival, followed by performances in London and the Berliner Festwochen. It will receive its North American premiere with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2006, followed by performances in Paris and Amsterdam in 2007.

Barry has enjoyed a long assocation with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group: Wiener Blut, commissioned by the BCMG for the 2000 Aldeburgh Festival, received its London premiere at the 2000 BBC Proms, and the work has since received numerous performances both in the UK and abroad. God Save The Queen for choir and the London Sinfonietta was commissioned by London's South Bank Centre for the fiftieth birthday of the Royal Festival Hall in 2001.

In 2002, Barry celebrated his own fiftieth birthday, the festivities of which were started with the world premiere tour of Dead March by the BCMG in Birmingham, London and Paris. The piece was later nominated for an Ivor Novello Award. Barry was a featured composer in the 2002 Almeida, Aldeburgh, and Huddersfield festivals.

Barry’s music has been performed at the Warsaw Autumn, Musik Triennale Köln, Musica Viva, Festival Présences, Huddersfield and St Denis Festivals, the ISCM and many others. His music has been recorded on the NMC, Largo, Black Box, Marco Polo and Challenge labels.

In 2005 the stage premiere of The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (recorded on RTE) was given at English National Opera and the German language premiere will be given at the Basle Opera in 2008. His most recent works are Lisbon, written for the 25th anniversary of the Nieuw Ensemble and La Plus Forte (The Stronger), a one act opera on the Strindberg play commissioned by Radio France for the 2007 Festival Presences.

Recent commissions include a string quartet, First Sorrow, for Crash Ensemble premiered in October 2007, a work for piano solo, Los Angeles which received its premiere in a special Barry portrait concert at the Miller Theatre, New York in November 2007, and an orchestral work for the BCMG based on letters of Beethoven to be premiered in March 2008.

There is more information about Gerald Barry and his music on the Irish Contemporary Music Centre website.

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