Author: Press Officer

The end of this month sees the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO), Filmbase and the Contemporary Music Centre (CMC) host a networking event for film/TV music composers and filmmakers.

Trapped in an editing room or studio? Looking to connect with fellow composers or filmmakers, TV show creators and music industry professionals? Want to team up with others to make great shorts, documentaries, viral videos, features, animations or other types of broadcast content?  Then join us for this forthcoming event.

Date: Wednesday 31st October 

Time: 1:00pm – 5:30pm

Location:  Carolan Room, National Concert Hall, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2.

We have a limited number of places available for this event. To have your name included in a draw for places please send an email to: keith.johnson@nullimro.ie Please indicate if you are a film & TV music composer or filmmaker when replying.

Successful applicants will be notified by email by Friday 12^th October

Event Details:

1pm – 2pm

“How To Get The Best Score For Your Film”  –  Seminar by Derek Gleeson

In addition to composing music for film, Derek Gleeson is Director of Screen Training Ireland’s Film Scoring Program, Dublin. He served as Composer Advisor to Moonstone International (sister company to Sundance Festival) and as Jury Chairman of the Irish Film & Television Awards (IFTA). In 2009, as Music Director and Conductor, Gleeson and The Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra embarked on its inaugural United States ten week tour of 49-cities in 24 states, presented under the auspices of Columbia Artists Management, Inc. In July 2010, Gleeson and the all-Irish DPO toured China, performing at the Shanghai Grand Theatre’s World Expo Program, and two concerts opening the Beijing Festival summer season at the National Centre for the Performing Arts at the Opera House, televised throughout China to over 400 million people.
Web: http://derekgleeson.com/

2pm – 2:45pm 

Screening of the short film ‘The Girl with the Mechanical Maiden’ followed by an interview with film/TV music composer Liam Bates & Foley artist Caoimhe Doyle

Caoimhe Doyle

Caoimhe is an Emmy nominated Foley artist who began her career in 1997 in the cutting rooms of Ardmore Studios. She has worked extensively on many feature films on both sides of the Atlantic with such great directors as Robert Altman, Neil Jordan and Guy Maddin.

Web: IMDB link to Caoimhe Doyle

Liam Bates

Liam’s current and recent film productions include Last Passenger, directed by Omid Nooshin, Earthbound directed by Alan Brennan, Out of the Blue and I Hate Musicals directed by Michael Lavelle, Mr Crocodile in the Cupboard directed by Morgan Bushe and Ghostwood a horror movie produced by Ned Dowd. Liam has written music for films including Show Girls, Circle of Friends and Don Juan De Marco starring Johnny Depp and Marlon Brando. He produced songs for the romantic comedy Leap Year directed by Anand Tucker and is the recipient of a Promax World Gold Award for Best Original Music for his score, Part of Life. Liam has recently had his score for The Girl with the Mechanical Maiden performed by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, with performances at the National Concert Hall and Lincoln Centre in New York. Recent performances also include Moth Manoeuvre performed by Scottish flautist Aisling Agnew, Angel, performed by Cois Cladaigh Chamber Choir and a newly commissioned work Psalm, to be performed in the Vatican this October. Liam has also collaborated with choreographer Norman Morris and Royal Ballet dancer David Drew MBE, developing new works by choreographers from the Royal Ballet Company and Royal Ballet School and has been commissioned to write a new work for Irish ballet dancer and choreographer, Monica Loughman. Liam is regularly engaged as an arranger and conductor both in the concert hall and the recording studio having previously worked with Pete Townsend, Nancy Gustavson, Luciano Pavarotti, Bon Jovi, Meat Loaf, Bryan Adams and Dave Stewart.

Web: http://www.dna-music.com/liam_bates.html

2:45 – 3:15  Tea/Coffee Break

3:15 – 4:15      

Interview with Jonathan Tester | Head of Creative | Bucks Music Group | Interviewed By Phil Udell   

Jonathan started his musical journey playing drums in The Busking Shagwagon who were cruelly awarded last place at a Battle of the Bands final. It was then he realised he was not destined for a career as a musician and joined Songseekers International (now The Soundlounge) in 1998. He worked there for four years as a music supervisor for ad agencies working on campaigns including Pirelli, GO! Airlines, Adidas, Levis, Hugo Boss, KFC, Ford and Guinness. In 2002, he joined Bucks Music Group and is responsible for the Creative placement of their music in Commercials, Film, TV and Computer Games and Digital. Recent campaigns and placements include Hugo Boss, Juicy Couture, Burberry, Heinz, Unilever, Hovis, and Film & TV including Battleships, Kill List, Magic Mike, Waterloo Road, Beaver Falls and This Is England ’88. In 2012, Jonathan won ‘Best Sync In Film’ at the inaugural Music & Sound Awards for ‘It Could Have Been Better’ – Joan Armatrading in Kill List

 www.bucksmusicgroup.com

4:20 – 5:00   Interview with Ciarán Hope | Interviewed by Jonathan Grimes (CMC)

Irish composer Ciarán Hope studied composition at the DIT Conservatory of Music and at the Prague Conservatory before attending the UCLA film scoring programme. His work on the Hollywood feature film ‘The Insider’ was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and he recently completed the score for ‘Truth about Kerry’, a movie starring Stana Katic. He is also working on music for an upcoming epic on the life of Mother Teresa, which is being shot by Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Jack Green and directed by award winning director Bill Riead. He is a recipient of numerous composition awards including the International Solstice Composition Prize, a Fulbright Scholarship in Film Music, a National Training Commission for Film and Television Bursary, an Arts Council of Ireland Postgraduate Award and the IMRO prize at the RTÉ Musician of the Future. Ciarán Hope has given master classes on composing for film at a variety of venues including Trinity College Dublin, the Dundalk Institute of Technology, the University of Colorado at Denver and the Solstice Arts Centre in Navan. He has written and produced songs for the Raleigh Studio’s motion picture ‘Manfast’, and for the closing credits of the feature film ‘The Man In The Iron Mask’. He has also, among others, arranged and produced tracks for ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’.

Web: http://www.ciaranhope.com/

5:00 -5:30

In coversation…Filmmaker Paddy Breathnach and composer Stephen Rennicks discuss the relationship between filmmaker and composer and the process of composing for screen

Paddy Breathnach

Paddy Breathnach started his directing career making natural history documentaries for Eamon de Buitlear. He went on to direct a number of sports documentaries and observational documentaries for his company Treasure Films. His first feature, Ailsa, won the Euskal Media Award for Best First/Second Film at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Breathnach’s second feature I Went Down (BBC films) starring Brendan Gleeson, also won the New Directors at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 1997. At Thessaloniki, Paddy won the Best Director Award. In 1997/98 Breathnach produced SouthPaw, a feature that was selected for Sundance in 1999. Breathnach then went on to direct Blow Dry, which was released in the US, UK and Ireland in Spring 2001, for Miramax. His next film Man About Dog was released in 2003 becoming one of the most successful independently produced Irish films at the Irish box office. Recent work include horror films ‘Shrooms and Redmist in 2008. He is currently working on an adaptation of Conor McPherson’s play “The Good Thief”, he is working with Mark O’Halloran on Perdido Amor, a film set in Cuba and is in post-production on a documentary “An oiche a gineadh m’athar” for TG4.

Web: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0106456/

Stephen Rennicks

Stephen Rennicks is a composer with extensive experience in composing for film with numerous feature, documentary and short credits to his name. Most notably, Rennicks has composed for some of the most successful Irish films in recent years including Man About Dog, which was directed by Paddy Breathnach, and two Lenny Abrahamson films Garage and Adam & Paul. Stephen has also composed the original music for Abrahamson’s latest film What Richard Did which is in Irish cinemas now.

Web: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0719673/

This networking event will be followed by Psycho – Live! 

A Live Screening with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra

In the Main Auditorium at the National Concert Hall

Tickets for this performance are available through the NCH booking office: https://www.nch.ie/online/

Following sell-outs in 2010, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra presents a very special Halloween screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Psycho. This cinematic masterpiece comes alive in a big-screen presentation accompanied by a live performance of Bernard Herrmann’s spine-tingling score. Imagine the impact of the iconic shower scene on the big screen with the screeching violin music live underneath! Actress Janet Leigh claimed that she never took a shower again after making Psycho – we could see another wave of shower phobia hit Dublin after this. Anthony Perkins is unforgettable as Norman Bates, one of cinema’s most notorious psychopaths, and the evocative black-and-white photography and all-strings score all add to the tension, thrills and terror. Bernard Herrmann is a film music master. As well as his close association with Hitchcock that also included the scores for North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Vertigo, his music enriched other classics from Citizen Kane to Taxi Driver.

The Contemporary Music Centre’s new music::new Ireland salon series resumes on Thursday, 25 October with a concert by cellist Martin Johnson which will feature two world premieres.

Johnson will give the first performances of Snapshot for solo cello by Frank Corcoran (b.1944) and …as if nothing had happened for cello and electronics by Rhona Clarke (b.1958).  Completing the programme is Five Hofer Photographs by David Fennessy (b.1976), which was first performed by Johnson as part of Concorde’s 35^th anniversary season earlier this year.

Now in its ninth season, the Contemporary Music Centre’s new music::new Ireland salon series aims to encourage newcomers and enthusiasts alike to engage with the music of Irish composers.  Each performance takes place in an informal atmosphere with dialogue encouraged between composers, performers and audience.

The premiere of Snapshot will come in the week before Corcoran’s Violin Concerto is given its first performance by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra.

Admission to the concert is free but booking is strongly recommended.  To book please contact the National Concert Hall (tel: 01 417 0000 / www.nch.ie).

Further ahead:

The new music::new Ireland salon series will continue in November with a concert by the RIAM-based contemporary music ensemble Kirkos on Thursday, 29 November.  Details of the programme will be announced in October.

new music::new Ireland salon

Date: Thursday 25 October 2012, 6-7pm

Venue: Kevin Barry Room, National Concert Hall, Dublin 2

Admission: FREE (booking recommended)

 Performer: Martin Johnson, cello

Programme:

Rhona Clarke: …as if nothing had happened (2012) (World Premiere) 11’

Frank Corcoran: Snapshot (2012) (World Premiere) 6’

David Fennessy: Five Hofer Photographs (2011/12) 12’

 Booking information: National Concert Hall box office (tel. 01 417 0000 / web site: www.nch.ie)

Martin Johnson

Martin Johnson was born in 1975 and studied cello under the direction of Anna Shuttleworth (a former student of Pablo Casals), Andrew Shulman (Principal Cello, The Philharmonia) and the British soloist Alexander Baillie. 

In 2000, he joined the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and moved to Dublin, where he was subsequently appointed Section Leader.  In January 2008 he made his Irish solo debut with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, performing Saint-Saëns Concerto No. 1 in A minor.  In February 2012, he made his fifth appearance as soloist with the orchestra in Delius’ Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, performing alongside the orchestra’s Leader, Alan Smale.  As a soloist, Martin Johnson has given performances of concerti by Corelli, Joseph Haydn, Schumann, Lalo, Saint-Saëns, Ibert, Tippett, as well as Beethoven’s Triple Concerto and Richard Strauss’s tone poem Don Quixote with the RTÉ NSO.  Much in demand as an orchestral musician, Martin is also a regular Guest Section Leader with orchestras in the UK, recently including Opera North and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Welsh National Opera.  In recognition of his orchestral work, in 2006 he was invited to become a member of the World Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 2011 he completed an MA at the CIT Cork School of Music with First Class Honours and was honoured with the Presidents Award at CIT, awarded to the most outstanding student across all faculties at the institution during the academic year 2010-2011.

More recently he collaborated with Irish Composer Brian Byrne and Singer Sinead O’Connor on the title track to the film Albert Nobbs, starring Glenn Close.  The song – Lay Your Head Down – was nominated for Best Original Song at the 2012 Golden Globe Awards.

Martin Johnson plays a fine cello by Thomas Kennedy of London c.1810.

MIDEM is the world’s largest music industry trade fair, which has been held annually at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France, since 1967. Bringing together music creators, business people, cultural policy makers, and journalists from many countries, it provides a forum for business talks, discussing political and legal issues, and showcasing new artists, musical trends and music-related products.

MIDEM is a one stop destination for the world’s music community, providing a platform to exchange valuable knowledge and connections.

REGISTRATION DETAILS

Visit: http://www.midem.com/ for full details.

DELEGATE RATES

Until 30th Sept 2012 €495 (early bird rate)
Until 30th Nov 2012 €690
Until 24th Jan 2013 €795
Until 29th Jan 2013 €895
Performing Artist Rate €295 (IMRO songwriter members can avail of this rate)
Student Rate €295

IMRO TRAVEL GRANTS

IMRO will be making a travel assistance grant available to IMRO members attending MIDEM 2013. Due to budget restrictions there is a cap on the total amount of money available from this fund and grants will be issued on a ‘first come first served basis’. Additionally if you are an IMRO member and are in receipt of a grant to attend MIDEM from another source IMRO will be unable to provide you with a travel grant in such circumstances.

The Galway Music Residency has announced the appointment of Dr. Karen Power from Mallow, Co. Cork as its first ever Composer in Residence.  As part of the role, Karen has also been commissioned to write a work for the resident ensemble – ConTempo String Quartet who will premiere the work at the organisation’s 10^th Birthday Celebration Festival in February 2013.

Karen is one of Ireland’s most exciting young talents in the world of contemporary composition. Her work has been played and celebrated both nationally and internationally. The introduction of a guest Composer in Residence is an exciting new development in the ten year history of the residency. Guests play an active role in the overall programme during their period in Galway and Karen will pay regular visits to the city, leading workshops with local primary and second level students as well as working closely with ConTempo throughout.

Speaking of the appointment, Bernard Kirk, Chairman of the Board said, “We are delighted to make this announcement – a composer in residence is something which we have been working towards for some time. We were thrilled with the response received to our call for submissions and impressed by the calibre of candidates coming forward. We are very proud to name Dr. Karen Power as our first ever Composer in Residence and look forward to an enjoyable time working with her”.

The Galway Music Residency is the oldest residency programme in Ireland and the only one of its kind in existence in this country. This year’s 10^th Birthday season is a year- long retrospective which sees special guest artists returning for concert events throughout the year playing highlights from the decade gone by. The Galway Music Residency is currently on tour, playing  Bray, September 29^th; Cork, October 19^th and Galway, October 26^th. The Celebration Festival takes place in Galway in February 2013. The Galway Music Residency is a performance, education and community based programme based in Galway.

This November 9th-12th, multi-platinum songwriter, producer and mentor Martin Sutton will be hosting an exclusive Songwriting Retreat in a 15th century Castle in Co. Laois, Ireland for a group of 18 songwriters, with a focus on going back to the basics of writing a great song with guitars and keyboards. It is a residential, fully catered long weekend, running Friday afternoon to Monday morning. Daytimes will be spent collaborating with other writers, working towards real time briefs for artists from around the World and the evenings will be filled gathered around a huge open fire in the dining room.

After dinner there will be a playback and discussion of the newly written songs and a chance to enjoy the company of like minded writers in this amazing venue. Martin will be available throughout the weekend for ongoing mentoring and advice, and will also be taking part in the co-writing sessions. Booking is now open and places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

For full details and availability visit www.thesong.co.uk/ireland.html

Martin Sutton has been in the music business for nearly twenty years as a songwriter, producer, session musician and mixer. He has sold over seven million records worldwide for artists including Celine Dion, The Backstreet Boys, LeAnn Rimes, Olivia Newton John, Mike & The Mechanics and pop idol winners around the world. He works in a variety of styles from R&B, Pop and Rock to Country and has written with Gary Barlow, Pixie Lott, Duncan James, Mike Rutherford and many of the world’s best songwriters.

He has also worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Kim Wilde, Andrew Roachford, Des’ree, Heather Small, Beverley Craven, Mica Paris and has composed special commissions for film & TV.

Martin is currently signed to Universal Music Publishing and works from his home in Buckinghamshire where he has a recording studio, but also spends time writing in Nashville, Los Angeles, New York and across Europe.

Join songwriters from Canada, Denmark, Sweden and the US who have already signed up for the the 9th Annual Inisheer, Ireland Listening Room Songwriters Retreat Oct. 7-14 2012.

The 875 Euro fee includes bus & ferry transport from Galway to the island, hotel housing, meals, workshops, individual career consultations and two concerts, in Inisheer and Galway.

Participants on Listening Room International Songwriter Retreats work daily with different co-writing partners and assignments designed to stimulate inspiration and help shape rough ideas into completed works – using everything that comes up along the way within inspiring, supportive community settings. 

This year’s retreat is being presented in partnership with Swedish artists Annika Fehling and Grammy nominee Eva Hillered. Further info at www.listeningroomretreats.com or by writing Brett Perkins directly: brettperkinsdk@nullgmail.com

During this year’s Britain’s Got Talent final, one hopeful was a marked contrast to the show’s reliably entertaining magicians, performing pets and dance squads – one man, an acoustic guitar and his own songs stole the hearts of the millions of viewers tuning in.

After his appearance on BGT, Ryan O’ Shaughnessy was signed to Sony Music and earlier this month released his debut self titled album which went straight in at Number 1 in the Irish Chart and Top 10 in the UK.

The mini album, which was recorded in May 2012 features all original songs written exclusively by Ryan. The lead track “No Name” is the song he performed on Britain’s Got Talent and which won him a place in the final and is a beautiful, heartfelt lament to unrequited love that showcases Ryan’s stunning voice and songwriting ability.

It’s a collection of hauntingly delicate songs that see Ryan comfortably sit next to the musical peers he admires, like Ed Sheeran and John Mayer. (Ed has Tweeted his admiration for Ryan, saying of “No Name” – Great voice, great song) Ryan O’ Shaughnessy simply put, is one of the countries hottest young artists.

Interview/Performance Details

Date: Friday 7th September
Venue: IMRO, Copyright House, Pembroke Row, Lower Baggot St., Dublin 2
Time: 7:00pm

Interviewer: Paddy McKenna RTÉ 2FM

BOOK NOW! (OPEN TO NON IMRO MEMBERS | BOOKING REQUIRED)

To reserve a place at this event send an email to membership@nullimro.ie