Buaine na Gaoithe - The Damselfly Trio at the University of Limerick
Composer Ryan Molloy and poet Martin Dyar discuss their ground-breaking song cycle Buaine na Goaithe, a suite for soprano, harp and flute.
Chaired by Professor Frank Shovlin, this session was followed by an exclusive screening of the performance by Damselfly Trio, recorded at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in 2018.
Ryan Molloy
A native of Pomeroy in County Tyrone, Ryan Molloy’s compositional and performance work sits at the boundary of contemporary classical music and traditional Irish music, and is internationally recognised for its cross-genre innovation, musicality, and deep-rooted exploration of place and time, as well as its breadth in working with a range of musicians, from young amateurs to seasoned professionals. Ryan’s music has been performed to audiences on four continents for over fifteen years and has been broadcast internationally on BBC Radio 2, 3 & Radio Ulster, RTÉ Lyric FM, Radio 1 and Ráidió na Gaeltachta as well as on BBC 2, UTV, TG4 and BBC World. Ryan has been commissioned by a range of renowned performers such as Darragh Morgan, Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble & the Ulster Orchestra, and he has represented Ireland at ISCM New Music Days in Hong Kong, Vancouver and Auckland. 2019 saw the release of his critically acclaimed first solo recording ‘pianophony’, and 2020 also sees the release of a new CD of chamber works, featuring the 30-minute song cycle ‘Buaine na Gaoithe’ performed by its commissioners, the Damselfly Trio. 2020 additionally sees the première of works for the Dublin International Piano Competition and the ‘In Tune for Life Orchestra’ (a ‘trad orchestra’).
Martin Dyar
Martin Dyar grew up in Swinford in County Mayo. His first book of poems Maiden Names (Arlen House), described by Bernard O’Donoghue as ‘a thrilling new development in Irish poetry’ was shortlisted for the Pigott Prize and was a books of the year selection in both the Guardian and the Irish Times. He is the editor of the anthology Vital Signs: Poems About Illness and Healing, which will be published by Poetry Ireland later this year. He has also written a play, Tom Loves a Lord, about the Irish poet Thomas Moore. Martin won the Patrick Kavanagh Award in 2009, and the Strokestown International Poetry Award in 2001. His work has been added to the Leaving Cert prescribed poetry syllabus, and anthologised widely, including in Windharp: Poems of Ireland Since 1916 (Penguin Ireland). He has held writing fellowships at the University of Iowa, the Washington Ireland Programme, and at the University of Limerick. He previously taught for ten years in the School of Medicine at Trinity College Dublin, where he also completed a PhD in English Literature. He is presently the Arts Council appointed John Broderick Writer in Residence at the Aidan Heavey Library.
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